Montana: Blast efforts for locked gates, minimum wage, abolishing English-only law all fail

[TexasTowelie]

HELENA – Last-chance efforts to revive Democrat-carried bills related to public access, increasing the minimum wage and repealing English-only all failed Monday at the Legislature as the deadline to move general bills loomed.

Rep. Tom Jacobson, D-Great Falls, tried to "blast" his House Bill 295 out of committee, where it had been tabled. It would have increased fines for not removing a locked gate from $10 a day to up to $500 a day, as well as let counties issue a permit for encroachments on a county road in the case of something like a structure.

The bill, which was supported by sportsmens' groups and the Montana Association of Counties, failed to pass out of the House Judiciary committee with 10 voting against the bill and nine voting for it to advance.

“This bill really does nothing more than identify locked gates across identified county roads,” Jacobson told the House on Monday. “It just gives more ability for counties to address this and more deterrent for people who just want to keep people out of public lands.”

Read more: http://missoulian.com/news/government-and-politics/blast-efforts-for-locked-gates-minimum-wage-abolishing-english-only/article_bd36e68f-4e70-54b9-8967-af5c3d4091d6.html

[uppityperson]

1. Thanks for the interesting stuff, funny you usually put them in the states, not GD?

I'm not complaining, but noticed and wondered if I'd remembered wrongly