The Montana Senate on Thursday advanced a measure to change what programs receive more than $60 million in funding from recreational marijuana tax revenue.
Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, is carrying Senate Bill 307 to shift marijuana tax revenue away from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks programs, and bolster marijuana prevention and enforcement operations.
McGillvray framed the bill as a “simple” policy choice, and asked legislators whether they care more about children and those impacted by marijuana, or wildlife habitat.
“I would submit to you that the deer, the elk, the ducks, the geese are all doing pretty good in Montana,” McGillvray said, adding that FWP has “buckets” of money they could spend.
“I’m asking [us] to prioritize the babies, the moms, the teenagers, the children, the adults that are addicted to this and need a way out,” he said.
But opponents said that the funding was allocated for FWP programs for a reason, and that if the Legislature wants to address prevention efforts, they should tackle that separately.
Sen. Sara Novak, D-Anaconda, served on the Business and Labor Committee during the 2021 session, when recreational marijuana was legalized with support from conservation groups counting on some of the revenue.
“We worked very hard on a big piece of legislation that put all the guiderails around the legalization of marijuana, and it included the allocation of revenue sources,” Novak said. “I do wholeheartedly think we need to take a hard look at prevention, education, treatment, the crime that goes along with all of that and the whole trickle effect, I just don’t think that this bill is the way to go about doing that.”
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