The ‘Ditch Bill’ tabled in Senate on 8-3 vote
By BEN PIERCE Chronicle Outdoors
House Bill 309 – aka the “Ditch Bill” – which aimed to amend Montana’s stream access law, has been tabled in the Montana Senate after stiff opposition from angler and sportsmen groups across the state.
HB 309 grew out of the 2008 Montana Supreme Court ruling on Mitchell Slough along the Bitterroot River. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeffery Welborn, R-Dillon, proposed revisions to the stream access law that would have altered the definition of an irrigation ditch to include “natural features” and eliminated areas of the law which were deemed unconstitutional by the Montana Supreme Court in the 1986 Galt decision.
The bill drew staunch criticism from opponents at a Senate Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Committee meeting on March 8. More than 300 people packed the hearing, many to voice concern over the bill’s impacts.
Proponents of the bill argued HB 309 was necessary to protect private property rights and to clarify the definition of an irrigation ditch. Opponents claimed the legislation was an assault on the state’s stream access law, alleging it would reclassify thousands of miles of rivers, side channels and streams as irrigation systems, and therefore off limits to recreational use.
HB 309 cleared the House on a 57-43 vote. It was tabled on an 8-3 vote in a Senate Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Committee meeting late Tuesday.
Related posts:
- ‘Ditch Bill’ heads to Senate panel on Tuesday; Amendments to stream access law tied to Mitchell Slough Creek ruling
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- Scouring the Gallatin Valley’s complex plumbing system for signs of trout
- 2010 fishing regulations now in effect, Trail Creek opened, reservoirs redefined
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