JP for Montana

'JP for Montana Legislature'

2012-01-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

'JP for Montana Legislature': We're fundraising at ActBlue for JP for Montana Legislature!

Click the link for a convenient way to contribute to my campaign, and THANK YOU, as always, for your support!

JP for the House in District 66!

2012-01-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

Jan. 12, 2012

Veteran Legislator Seeks District 66

BOZEMAN – Jennifer “JP” Pomnichowski of Bozeman has filed for election to the state legislature to represent House District 66, comprising downtown and the southcentral and west central parts of the city. A Democrat, she previously served in the House in 2007 and 2009 and currently is a member of the Montana Board of Labor Appeals.

A lifelong Montanan and Bozeman resident for 27 years, Pomnichowski has been a firefighter/EMT on the Bridger Canyon Volunteer Fire Dept. An MSU graduate, she has served on the Bozeman Board of Adjustment, Zoning Commission, Planning Board and Inter Neighborhood Council.

“I have carried, co-sponsored or supported several bills of direct benefit to District 66,” said Pomnichowski, who lived in the heart of the district when attending college. “After the 2009 downtown explosion and fire, I carried a bill to shield city core property values from deterioration after disasters, and I fought for $1.2 million to clean up asbestos and other contaminants from the site of our showpiece new public library.

“I also voted to freeze college tuition for the first time in 20 years, for all-day kindergartens and to provide $28 million for the renovation of Gaines Hall at MSU. I oppose any reduction in benefits or services to senior citizens, and I endorse educational, medical and housing aids for veterans.

“I have a progressive outlook, but a conservative grip on taxpayers’ money,” Pomnichowski, 44, declared at her filing announcement Thursday. “I have voted for a balanced budget every time, with ample reserve for emergencies like wildfires, and I also have voted to retain full funding for public schools and law enforcement, plus services like Meals On Wheels and senior and disabled transportation. I have voted to create jobs and to develop business opportunities, and I’ve encouraged small business with a measure to foster employee medical coverage and by voting to abolish the business equipment tax. I support unlimited stream access, alternative energy, and clean water and air guarantees.”

Pomnichowski previously has been endorsed for election by Montana Education Association/Montana Federation of Teachers, Montana State AFL-CIO and the Montana Game Wardens Association.

JP and her husband own a home in south Bozeman patrolled by cat Fitz.

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Gubernatorial Appointment

2011-03-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

I'm proud to accept an appointment from Governor Schweitzer to the Montana Board of Labor Appeals!

The board hears appeals of worker and employer disputes and hearings examiners' decisions, and is administered by the Department of Labor and Industry's Employment Relations Division.

Upon Senate confirmation of my nomination, I'll immediately begin my service. The appointment is for a four-year term, and the board is just three members who act in a quasi-judicial fashion: decisions by the board are, for most intents and purposes, final. They can be appealed only to District Court.

The board is incredibly busy. Some of its agendas have 35-40 cases, and the board meets monthly.

I'm happy to bring my experience from serving on another quasi-judicial body, the Bozeman Board of Adjustment, to this role. The Bozeman BofA is one of just two decision-making bodies at the city level; the other is the city commission. I've served on city advisory boards (Bozeman Planning Board, Bozeman Zoning Commission), county task forces (Gallatin County Transfer of Development Rights), and the Board of Adjustment, as well as in other organizations. I serve on the board of directors of the Montana Business and Professional Women Foundation, Art Mobile of Montana, Greater Gallatin Watershed Council, and the Bozeman Cultural Council. I served two terms in our state legislature, too, in the Montana House of Representatives, 2006-2010.

In all these groups, I serve with talented, dedicated people. I'm increasingly convinced that the effort of everyone doing all that he or she can is the reason that our democracy not only succeeds, but thrives. For the opportunity to participate and to contribute, I am truly honored to serve on the Montana Board of Labor Appeals.

Bob Green and his best Greenisms

2011-02-18T14:19:00.000-08:00

This week has been a helluva time at the Montana Legislature, so I offer this as a bit of a mental break.

The best thing in today's mail was this month's edition of Montana Tech M News. Montana Tech is in Butte, and for 24 years, Bob Green coached the Orediggers football team.

Bob is legendary.

So are his sayings.

From the time I worked in TV, some of my all-time favorite sports interviews were from Bob. His normal speaking voice is anyone else's full-throated shout. And he's downright creative with analogies, idioms, and the like, in the most humorous, original, honest way. In this month's M News, there's a page of the top Greenisms. Here are some of the classics:

"I'm a perfectionist. I expect Jennifer Lopez to know how to cook."

"We gotta be like a homely girl on her honeymoon. Busy, busy, busy."

"I hate to sound like an old coach, but I am an old coach. I was coaching when the Dead Sea was only sick."

"Kind of a math thing. If we lost our last one, we lost 2 out of 3, but if we won our last one, we would have won 2 out of 3."

After a close loss: "It's kinda like watching your mother-in-law go off a cliff in your brand new Cadillac. You got mixed feelings."

"There are no ugly wins. Kind of like marriage: there aren't any ugly brides, and there aren't any good-looking ex-wives."

On a football opponent: "They're gonna be very good. They're rougher than a pine cone toilet seat."

After a big win: "I feel like I just had a Viagra cocktail with a Cialis chaser."

"We're kinda like a woodpecker in a petrified forest. We just keep busy."

"I really feel like our team is ready to go hit individuals from another institution of higher learning."

"We got to practice a little bit. I want these guys to be bouncing around like a pogo stick on Viagra."

"We had an interception chance, and we caught the ball. An interception chance is like a date with the homecoming queen: close the deal. Don't waste an opportunity."

"It's like you're trying to sell bubble gum in a lockjaw ward. You just can't get much done."

"I don't like bottled water. I like that Butte water. You can eat and drink at the same time."

"We played two games that were very winnable. Unfortunately, they were very loseable."

"We were lower than a snake's vest button."

"It was a team effort. Everyone contributed with poor play."

"What a difference a week makes. This week I feel like a football coach. Last week I felt like Britney Spears' choreographer."

"I'm not a big Yankee fan. It's kinda like living in ancient Rome and rootin' for the lions." [This one reminds me of a favorite saying from Chicago, where my mighty Southside White Sox play, and, oh, so does another team: "What can you tell me about the guy? Is he a fan of the great game of baseball, or is he a Cubby-lover?"]

"We're like the kid that plays second French horn in the school band. We gotta play better."

"The game is going to come down to playing football. We've got to play football. We're not trying to split the atom."

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

A Citizen's Right to Vote Shall Not Be Denied or Abridged

2011-02-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

I was interviewed Monday by our local CBS affiliate, KBZK in Bozeman, on the vote-by-mail bill that failed in the House last week. I mentioned this in my previous blog post: in Gallatin Valley alone, an overwhelming majority of ballots were cast by mail--sixty-eight percent--in the last primary election, and 55% in the last general election. The number of permanent absentee voters--mail-in ballot voters--increases all the time.

After second reading on the bill, when the bill is debated and explained on the floor of the House, 57 representatives voted for the bill. But overnight, the Republican majority in the House wood-shedded (strong-armed their Republican representatives) to vote against the Republican-sponsored bill, and the next day, on third reading (the vote that determines the fate of a bill), 57 representatives votes against it and it died in the House. It will not move forward.

The story is posted online here: http://www.ktvq.com/news/montana-legislature-debates-voter-issues/

and here it is in text.

Montana Legislature debates voter issues
Posted: Feb 1, 2011 7:54 AM by Associated Press

BOZEMAN - The mail-in ballot bill was killed in the Montana House last week, so we decided to take a look at all sides of the debate.

The mail-in ballot is just one of many voter issues being discussed in the legislative session. We spoke with three Montanans who have strong opinions on voting to get their take on the happenings in Helena.

Bozeman Democrat JP Pomnichowski told us that voting isn't something you need to earn, it's a natural born right. And this is why she thinks mail-in ballots are a good thing. She said they give people more time to consider the issues and make informed decisions.

But, Conservative Carl Graham disagreed, saying that voting isn't about sitting on the couch and checking a box.

"Rights come with responsibilities. If you're going to exercise your rights you take on certain responsibilities and that responsibility is to inform yourself and be a responsible part in our Democratic process," he added.

The mail-in ballot bill would have made all the state's main elections mandatory mail-in only. Similar bills were introduced to the legislature in 2007 and 2009, but they did not pass.

Election administrator Charlotte Mills worked on the committee for the 2011 bill and said their goal was to simply increase voter turn-out. Some 5,000 more people are voting by mail this year in Gallatin County alone.

Mills explained why she thinks the bill didn't make it through.

"I think there is a lot of mistrust from both sides of the fence if we did a mail-in ballot for 2012 that we might mess up or some sort of fraud might happen."

A bill which would limit the time period in which someone could register to vote is still up for debate in Helena. The current law allows someone to register up until 8:00 pm on the day of the election and the proposed measure would limit this to 30 days prior.

Pomnichowski told us why she is against it.

"Just because someone moves here and doesn't remember to register to vote along with buying a house, starting a job, getting electricity on, that doesn't mean they lose their civil right to participate in a Democracy."

62nd Legislature--One Month Down, Three to Go

2011-01-13T09:22:00.000-08:00

Since the 62nd Montana Legislature convened, there have been many opportunities to blog, but I hadn't waded in...until today. Although the session is just four weeks along, it's been weird for weeks.

Let's start from today and work backwards...which is what the Republican-controlled House seems to be doing. (Important reminder, going forward: Republicans hold a 68-32 majority in the House of Representatives, and a 28-22 majority in the Senate.)

Today, on a vote of 60-40, the House passed on second reading a bill that removes the requirement that our State Superintendent of Public Instruction have a college degree. Currently, Denise Juneau, our State Superintendent, is the first Native American woman elected to state office. She's HARVARD EDUCATED, and pursued her undergrad degree at Montana State University. I am so proud that someone who's passionately pursued a career and public service in education serves our state as supertintendent. And I do NOT expect that vetting a candidate to hold that office means that I have to review his or her curriculum vitae to find out if he or she has earned a college degree in education, has taught, or has even a passing interest in schools!

Unfortunately, this is not the first affront, nor will it be the last, to sound processes which Montanans have built for years. Last week, a popular vote-by-mail bill in the making for years (and introduced, and failed, in at least the past two legislative sessions) was defeated. One day, 57 representatives voted for it. The next, after some Republican wood-shedding (strong-arming to change peoples' votes) 57 representatives voted against it. The County Clerks and Recorders supported it, and helped over the past two years to draft the bill. A former elections official and Republican representative, Pat Ingraham, carried the legislation. In Gallatin County alone, 68% of voters cast their ballots by mail in the last primary election. In the general election, 55% voted by mail. And the numbers of people voting by mail (permanent absentee ballot) have risen each election.

There are also bills to restrict voter registration. Let's back up just a second: on Day 1 of the legislature, all 100 representatives and all 50 senators swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and the Montana State Constitution, both documents that guarantee voting rights. The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads in part, "a citizen's right to vote shall not be denied or abridged," yet Champ Edmunds, R-Missoula, proposes to end voter registration 30 days before an election, and not to allow same-day voter registration on Election Day. Ted Washburn, R-Bozeman, proposes limiting the types of identification voters can present at polling places or the elections office to be only Montana driver's licenses. Are these efforts upholding the constitutional right that voting shall not be denied or abridged?

For the first gauntlet-throwing this session, we can go back to the House Bill 1, otherwise known as the "Feed Bill", because it's the bill that pays legislators their salaries and per diem, legislative staff for the session, etc. On January 12, morning committees convened and Republicans slashed state agency budgets an additional five percent. (State agencies were directed last year by Governor Schweitzer to decrease their budgets 7-10%, and in time for the legislative session, agencies submit a proposed budget, and, pursuant to state statute, a five percent decreased budget, too.) Then, AN HOUR LATER in the floor session, Republicans INCREASED their own per diem payments, passed themselves a laptop computer allowance of $1000, and increased their mileage reimbursement by...five percent. House Bill 1 passed on a party-line vote, all Republicans voting for their own increased monies, all Democrats voting against.

When the legislature convened Monday, January 3, Secretary of State Linda McCulloch opened the session and in her speech, gave sage advice to legislators: "Just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do."

Senate Minority Leader Carol Williams cautioned her fellow senators in her opening speech that (I'm paraphrasing) "the voters didn't elect us to rewrite the constitution."

That's right. In fact, that very question was ON the November ballot. Shall we have a Constitutional Convention? Voters said no. Yet, there are bills that propose changing our state constitution. One from Senator Dan Kennedy proposes adding a phrase to Article II, Section 3: "Inalienable rights. All persons are born free and have certain inalienable rights. They include the right to a clean, and healthful, [and economically productive] environment..." Really? Economically productive? How would that be defined? If a gold mine were next to a blue-ribbon trout stream, who'd figure out the "economically productive" value of each? Would one trump the other?

Montanans expect progress on issues from legislators. If legislative policy and laws cannot improve our systems or processes or livelihoods, we certainly don't want to lose any ground. To use a football analogy, if you can't move the ball down the field, at least hold the line. Montanans also do not expect that the year-long campaign that Republicans ran focusing on jobs and economic development suddenly changes into morality-based legislating. But that's what's happening.

In one of the more depressing and defeating actions thus far, Republicans voted against providing some meager funds for the counseling of children living in homes where crimes of domestic violence had been committed.

My former opponent, now the representative for House District 63, Tom Burnett, joined 44 House Republicans who voted against paying for the caskets of impoverished murder victims and mental health counseling for kids who witness domestic violence. The bill, HB 114, was recommended by the Department of Justice. It was not going to cost the State any money; the funds are paid by criminal restitution and federal match dollars.

A fellow legislator said, "Apparently they agreed with Rep. Krayton Kerns, who said that such children should not become dependent on or place themselves under the grip of oppressive government, but instead should turn to "their God, family, and friends." So apparently an 8 year old girl who has repeatedly witnessed her father beating her mother should simply pray, or ask a family member (who? her abusive father? her traumatized mother?) or a friend (who? the little girl next door?) to somehow help her through this nightmare?"

A staffer friend at the capitol said, "They [Republicans] voted no because they don't want government programs, at all costs."

This is the party that ran on the economy and family values.

And this has been just Month 1.

Happy New Year 2011!

2010-12-31T17:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to you and yours with celebrations from around the globe! My best wishes for peace and kindness in 2011.

From Sydney, Australia, from Edinburgh, Scotland, and from Hong Kong, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T17:28:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas to All, and to All, a Good Night!

My best wishes to you and yours for a peaceful Christmas.

Merry Christmas Eve!

2010-12-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone, and my best wishes for a wonderful Christmas Day!

A Sadness

2010-12-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

Today, our dear kitty Frodie went to Cat Heaven. She was 18 1/2 years old, and tonight's the first time in all that time that we haven't had a cat in the house.

She and other wonderful cats through the years (many of whom lived really long kitty lives--Growl was 18 1/2 when she went to Kitty Heaven last year) have been such good company for us. If it hadn't been for failing health, her little kitty spirit would have continued unquenchably.

Here's a remembrance to our wonderful companion, and best wishes for good care to and good company from your pets always.

We miss you, Frode.

Busy!

2010-12-22T07:15:00.001-08:00

In the past month or two since the election, I've been really busy. In the words of Calvin and Hobbes, the days are just packed!

I traveled to Dillon, Montana, with two of my compatriots and friends with whom I serve on the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council. It was a beautiful trip through southwest Montana, and great quality time with my pals. (I also contributed well to the economy of the Dillon area, at the Patagonia outlet store and Sparky's Diner, and at the second-hand store and the quilt shop in downtown Whitehall.) Nice!

Next, on to Chicago, to see the Monsters of the Midway, the Bears, play against the Vikings (Bears win!) While in the Windy City, visited the Field Museum, the Adler Planetarium, and saw two Further shows (former members of the Grateful Dead) at the pavilion. Got some early Christmas shopping done, too, on the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Avenue)!

Enjoyed Thanksgiving with good friends, and the next weekend, kept statistics for the Mighty Bobcats of Montana State University in their playoff game against the Bison of North Dakota State University (Bison won, Rats! but what a glorious season for my beloved Cats.)

I've been really busy with policy, too, drafting language for legislation and state agencies for Western states water policy. This past weekend, just before Christmas (and two weeks before most legislatures call to order), I presented to legislators from five northwestern states on water law and water policy, with suggestions for changes to water law to bring all of us into better compliance with one another. We all share our water resources; our laws mesh well, but could be better, and I presented information and draft legislation on the commonalities and differences on water law, along with recent court decisions in our states.

An hour after the end of the conference and my presentation on water policy, the Seahawks played the Falcons in a bird-v-bird football game. The Seahawks fought valiantly, but the Falcons were victorious. A little time on the Seattle waterfront, then home again.

I'll be serving in many ways, though not in the 62nd Montana Legislative Session. The days are just packed! Work well, everyone!

A loss by 64 votes

2010-11-03T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well, rats. I've lost my race for re-election to the Montana House. Tally from the Gallatin County Elections Office is Burnett 2682, JP 2618. I'm down 64 votes. There are 68 provisional ballots that will be counted Monday, but for all intents and purposes, it appears this race is over. Thanks for your support, everyone! I'm really proud of my work as a representative. Now, a new chapter begins.

On the Campaign Trail, it's me and my mini-JPs!

2010-10-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest ad, which ran in yesterday's Bozeman Daily Chronicle!

You can see me and the mini-JPs in action in this internet ad, also starring Little Mo, the skateboarding bulldog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vULzCC2zbYE

And visit me and the mini-JPs at the "What Women Want" Expo this coming Saturday, Oct 30, at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman!

In my campaign for re-election, I also have strong canine support:

Vote JP!

Wow! Campaign internet ad with the Mini-JPs!

2010-10-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

I have support from all quarters, and from all kinds of wonderful people. Here's a real peach: an internet "ad" for my re-election campaign, starring the Mini-JPs and Little Mo, the skateboarding bulldog!

Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vULzCC2zbYE

And remember to Vote Pomnichowski, the longest name on the ballot!

Latest from the Campaign Trail

2010-10-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

I have mini-JPs with me on the campaign trail!

This past weekend, October 9, the Re-elect JP contingent marched in the MSU Homecoming Parade.

I had red, white, and blue cars, all decked out with balloons, signs, and ribbon.

Twins rode in the back of the white convertible, throwing JP mini-footballs to the crowd, while my fellow representatives Mike Phillips and Franke Wilmer threw footballs to onlookers from the red smart car and blue PT Cruiser convertible.

The good Senator Jon Tester drove a tractor, which we followed down Main Street Bozeman.

My dear friends Linda and Kathy threw footballs, too, and Kim, Becky, and Barb drove, while supporters cheered the JP parade entry all the way down the route.

THEN, my wonderful and creative friend Casey and I and the mini-JPs marched the parade route to wild acclaim! The mini-JPs did a cheer: Two, Four, Six, Eight! We Want JP to Legislate! Go, JP! Go, JP!

To cap it all off, the Bobcats won their Homecoming game against Portland State, with 41 unanswered points from the second quarter on. Great Homecoming action!

More photos of the MSU Homecoming Parade on my Facebook page (you don't have to be "on" Facebook to see them):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079236&id=1002190929&l=03824a5fa4

My Latest Campaign Ad

2010-10-05T23:13:00.000-07:00

Endorsement for JP from Bozeman Daily Chronicle

2010-10-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Sunday, October 3, 2010

Daily Chronicle editorial board picks candidates

Voter dissatisfaction is as apparent here in Montana as it is elsewhere in the nation, and the Nov. 2 mid-term election offers state voters a chance to vent their frustrations.
Southwest Montanans go to the polls to decide on some critical local government and legislative races. The field of candidates offers some clear choices and, after interviewing most of the hopefuls, the Chronicle editorial board found that some offer clearly better options than the others.

House District 63
Incumbent Democrat JP Pomnichowski faces Republican Tom Burnett in this race, and Pomnichowski deserves a return trip to Helena. Her reasonableness and experience is needed, and she was successful in her last two terms in carrying legislation that has done good things for southwest Montana, particularly downtown Bozeman. Burnett is a sincere candidate, but we believe he is too ideologically rigid to be effective in the Legislature.

Celebrations of Education

2010-09-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

In the past week, we've celebrated some landmark achievements for education in Bozeman, with dedications of new buildings at our learning institutions and new leadership for our university!

Last Friday, Waded Cruzado was inaugurated the 12th president of Montana State University. I am so proud that she now leads my alma mater! She embodies academic achievement, a vision for the university's future, and diversity. Cruzado was born in Puerto Rico, graduated magna cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico and earned her master's and doctorate degrees at the University of Texas--Arlington. She is a product of the land-grant university system. Most recently, she was interim president of New Mexico State University.

Cruzado says that one of the most important missions of a land-grant university like Montana State University is to provide students with at least a few tools to cope with adversity and appreciate the world and their place in it. Another important land-grant mission? Education for a career. Cruzado said, "When you put education in the hands of the sons and daughters of the working class, you give them the power to pursue their aspirations and to participate more fully in their families, their careers, their communities, and their nation."

I'm a proud graduate of a land-grant university, too, our own Montana State University. I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in technical communications and a minor in English. I studied architecture and physics at MSU, too, and was a student senator. With my fellow architecture students, I fought to keep the state’s and region’s only accredited architecture program, now a top architecture school. (One of my fellow architecture students, Scott Bechtle, now an architect here in Bozeman, worked on the Bozeman High School renovation and build. That dedication was this week, too. Nice!)

I was proud to vote in my first legislative session to freeze tuition for Montana university students for the first time in twenty years. I voted for $28 million to renovate Gaines Hall on the MSU campus, the building which houses chemistry and natural science labs, and in which nearly every MSU student attends classes sometime in his or her college career. Gaines Hall was just dedicated in a ceremony yesterday!

The new Gaines Hall retains the structural bones of the original building, but now houses the College of Letters and Science, as well as the labs for chemistry classes, classrooms, beautiful new auditorium rooms, and workspaces where students can get help with chemistry classwork anytime. Nearly every MSU student takes classes in Gaines Hall, and now it's updated, safe, and technologically renewed. The dedication ceremony featured Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns, Governor Schweitzer, MSU President Cruzado, members of the Gaines family (Gaines, after whom the building was named, was a prominent chemistry professor at MSU for forty years), and the Dean of the College of Letters and Science.

Keeping a world-class university and research institution is key in offering students success. Montanans support higher education. In my first session, I carried the bill to place on the ballot the six-mill levy for university funding, a levy that voters have approved since 1947, and passed again in 2008. Bozeman's own Senator Bob Hawks was the senate sponsor of that bill, too.

Thursday afternoon I attended the dedication and official opening of the newly-renovated Bozeman High School. It was a wonderful event! School board members past and present, honored alumni (some of whom designed and helped to build the new BHS), students and faculty, elected officials, and proud Bozemanites all attended the ceremony.

The project was nine years in the making, a $36 million effort that included improvement to the existing high school and middle school as well as more than 270,000 added square feet of space.

With the new high school, every teacher has a classroom. Students have a more easily accessible campus, with much better circulation and added programs, including the Bridger Alternative High School, moved to the BHS campus last year. Students contributed to the new school design, too; in the courtyard is a raised cement feature that will be painted so that, when viewed from above (as from Google Earth), the Bozeman Hawks logo will be visible!

On the way home from the dedication ceremony at the new high school, I passed a wonderful sight: a BILLBOARD advocating my re-election by the Montana Education Association/Montana Federation of Teachers! It is FANTASTIC! Thank you so much, MEA-MFT! The teachers' groups have endorsed me in this campaign and in my two previous campaigns, and their support is vital and very much appreciated. As I've received a stellar public education, I'll fight to keep quality education a foundation for all Montana kids, and for ample, not minimal, funding for education.

Education is a cornerstone of our society, and the key to success and advancement, both personally and societally. I hope my record of strong support for education, schools, teachers, and students speaks for itself.

I'm proud to support alternative and expanded educational opportunities, too. I serve on the Gallatin College of Technology advisory board. The Gallatin COT offers two-year education tracts in Bozeman in aviation/aeronautics, welding, interior design, and design drafting, as well as developmental instruction in math and writing, and will offer expanded courses in the immediate future. I also voted for the Montana Virtual Academy, to make distance learning opportunities available to all school-age children through public school districts in Montana.

Dedication to quality public education runs deep in my family; my aunt taught 26 years in Great Falls public schools before serving as a principal in two elementary schools there. I was the second person in my family to earn a college degree.

Pursue your lifelong education, and support Montana public schools. I'm proud to!

Teachers Institute at the Capitol

2010-07-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

In the July edition of The Interim, the legislative newsletter, there's an article on the first annual Teachers Institute. I participated with other legislators in some panel discussions, and got, as the article says, rave reviews!

Here's the story from The Interim (online at http://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/Interim-Newsletter/2009-Interim-Newsletter/7-10-interim-newsletter.pdf)

First Teachers Institute on Rep. Democracy Draws 28 Participants, Gets Rave Reviews

Twenty-eight teachers from every corner of Montana came to the state Capitol June 14 for the first Teachers Institute on Representative Democracy and the Legislative Process. They went home two days later raving about the experience and the knowledge they gained.

Photo: Rep. Dennis Himmelberger, at right, discusses the role of the citizen legislator during a panel discussion at the Teachers Institute on Representative Democracy and the Legislative Process. Other panelists were, from left to right, Rep. Diane Sands (just outside photo frame), Sen. Bob Story, Rep. Jesse O’Hara, Sen. Trudi Schmidt, and Rep. JP Pomnichowski.

“It was excellent in every way,” said one participant. “It was well organized, all of the speakers, legislators, and presenters were wonderful, the keynote speaker was excellent. There was literally nothing that was not done well.”

The Legislative Council was one of the primary sponsors of the event, which attracted mostly middle school and high school teachers of government, history, and social studies. The educators attended presentations by legislative staff on redistricting and budgeting, as well as a session on voting and elections by Secretary of State Linda McCulloch. They also participated in a realistic mock committee hearing with legislative staff after being assigned roles as senators, lobbyists, and citizen opponents and proponents.

McCulloch introduced the keynote speaker, Dr. Alan Rosenthal, at a dinner June 14. Rosenthal is a professor of public policy and political science at Rutgers University. His visit was sponsored by the National Conference of State
Legislatures.

Photo: Dr. Alan Rosenthal, professor of public policy and political science at Rutgers University, impresses teachers with the importance of teaching their students about representative democracy.

Rosenthal discussed efforts by NCSL and partnering civic education organizations to improve the teaching of civic education in the schools. He provided the teachers with a set of lesson plans he has developed to teach an appreciation of representative democracy, how legislators make decisions, and “what makes lawmakers tick.”

Members of the Legislative Finance Committee, in town for an interim meeting, also attended the dinner and got a chance to visit with the teachers.

Perhaps the highlight of the legislative portion of the institute was a pair of panel discussions with Montana legislators that offered a glimpse into their motivations and perspectives. The panelists, who volunteered their time, were Sen. Bob Story, Sen. Trudi Schmidt, Rep. Dennis Himmelberger, Rep. Jesse O’Hara, Rep. JP Pomnichowski, and Rep. Diane Sands. They discussed their views on the topics “What Does It Mean to Be a Citizen Legislature?” and “How Does a Legislator Represent Constituents?”

Rosenthal, who attended the first discussion, said he thought it was the best legislator panel he has seen in his 40-year career of working with state legislatures.

The legislative panel discussions and other aspects of the institute are being broadcast periodically on TVMT, the state government public-access television network. You can find your local TVMT channel at leg.mt.gov/tvmt.

Other sponsors of the event were Humanities Montana, Project Citizen, Teaching Representative Democracy in America, and the Secretary of State’s Office. For more information, contact Gayle Shirley, legislative information officer, at 406-444-2957 or gshirley@mt.gov.

Happy Fourth of July!

2010-07-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day, everyone! Best wishes for a happy and safe Fourth of July!

I extended my best holiday wishes in this ad in today's Bozeman Daily Chronicle. I hope you and yours have a great Fourth.

Yesterday, I went whitewater rafting on the Gallatin River, south of Bozeman. It was a rollicking good time, with great water levels for this time of year, and an enthusiastic group of rafters!

Some pictures of the raft, and rafters. The first is our raft going around House Rock, on the Mad Mile of Class 3 and 4 rapids on the Gallatin. Many thanks to Montana Whitewater for a great trip, and especially to Alejandro, our guide. Ale was great!

Summer Hail Storm in Bozeman

2010-07-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, June 30, a thunderstorm and hail storm hit Bozeman and really caused some damage.

I took pictures of the storm as it approached from the south. The clouds were really dark and roiling, and had a strange greenish hue to them. The clouds were moving fast, and what had been a still afternoon was suddenly chaotic.

Strong winds preceded the hail storm by a couple of minutes, and the winds bent trees and plants over, broke tree limbs and sent them crashing onto my roof and into the yard and street, and the temperature dropped fifteen degrees or so a few minutes before the hail hit.

The first to hit was golf-ball sized hail; the big stuff hit first, and hard. It was sustained for 8-10 minutes, and the hail bounced high off the lawn and street. The hail pounded cars and broke windows, windshields, house siding, eaves.

Lighter hail followed and piled up against curbs and stairs, and in planters and eaves troughs. It was quite the storm event; I dragged big downed limbs away from the house, but one is still on the roof (our arbor care guys are here next week, and will get it cut down).

Some pictures from the storm. Most are mine, but some have been posted to twitter, facebook, and the newspaper site, and they're courtesy of Jessie Smania, Suzy Taylor, Scott Brennan, Rebecca Soule, and Joseph Shaw, a doctor at Montana State University.

The Today Show in Bozeman!

2010-06-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

Al Roker and the Today Show on NBC is in Bozeman, Montana, this morning, at Eagle Mount, in my district and just south of my house! The Today Show spearheads an effort called Lend a Hand, and Al's on the road to five cities across the nation this week, visiting charitable organizations deserving of the Lend a Hand effort.

I joined an excited crowd of Bozemanites at 4:45 a.m. at Eagle Mount on Goldenstein Lane in Bozeman. It was a mild morning with no rain, and we all watched the sunrise over the Bridgers together, in between Al's weather forecasts and introductions of the fabulous donations to Eagle Mount!

It was a record-giving day for Lend a Hand! More than $566,000 in donations of land, construction, vehicles, supplies, and four solar energy disks to heat the pool were donated!
Lend a Hand, from the NBC website:

With the hard-hit economy, many Americans are in need of a little help this year.

That's why TODAY's Al Roker is packing up the Penske truck once again to hit the road for the annual "Lend a Hand" trip. In its ninth consecutive year, "Lend a Hand" continues its mission to help small charities across the country that work toward improving conditions in their communities. Roker’s goodwill road trip kicks off in San Francisco, Calif. The trip continues throughout the week in Bozeman, Mont. (Tuesday), Des Moines Iowa, (Wednesday), Memphis, Tenn. (Thursday), and Rye, N.H. (Friday). This year, one special surprise charity located in a city in need will receive a “Lend a Hand” donation.

Read more: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37817545/ns/today/#ixzz0raoaaoFC
And more on our most excellent Eagle Mount program:

Eagle Mount creates therapeutic recreational opportunities for people of all ages and disabilities. Through Eagle Mount, persons with special needs are challenged to achieve the previously unthinkable in skiing, ice skating, swimming, horseback riding, golfing and more. Children with cancer are given the freedom of normalcy by participating in one of three summer camps. Through the use of nature, activities, equine therapy and just good old outdoor fun, children and adults are offered life-changing opportunities as well as the chance to move beyond their personal disability and "soar like eagles."

Read more: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37817545/ns/today/#ixzz0randBYgM

Memorial Day 2010

2010-05-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

On this day to honor our US servicemen and women, I honor one of those in my family who've served.

My grandfather, H. Earl Haggerty, was a saddlemaker and a veteran of World War II. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and was transferred to the newly-formed Beach Patrol Station, where he was in charge of leather repair in all stations in Oregon and Washington. Fortunately, he had a crew of five to help him. After the threat of Japanese invasion had passed, he was transferred into supervising the loading of ammunition aboard ships bound for Guadalcanal, Bougainville and other war zones. He was discharged with a CPO rating in late 1945 and returned to Great Falls, Montana, where he raised a family and owned the H Bar O Saddlery.

Gramp died last July, and this is my first Memorial Day without him. I'm thinking of you, Gramp, and thanking you for your service, with so many who've served.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.

Sweet Pea Festival poster entry

2010-05-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Bozeman hosts a celebration of the arts every first full weekend in August. It's the Sweet Pea Festival, and includes a parade and children's run, chalk on the walk (sidewalk drawings), the Bite of Bozeman (a foodfest on Main Street), a ball (this year with Jeni Fleming and a swing band), and three days of music, art, dance, culture, and theatre (including performances by MSU's own Shakespeare in the Parks).

There's a poster contest each year, and I've painted entries in the past. This year, I submitted a watercolor and pen-and-ink entry . My entry for this 2010 festival wasn't the winner, but I gave it the old college try.

Here's my entry. I hope you enjoy it, and come to Bozeman in August for the best small-town, rousing arts festival around. We love the Sweet Pea Festival!

Honoraria: the Swimming Upstream Awards

2010-04-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

BOZEMAN – The Gallatin County DUI Task Force and Gallatin County Alcohol & Drug Services presented their seventh annual Swimming Upstream Awards Tuesday evening to outstanding local individuals and businesses who have helped at many levels to rehabilitate people with substance abuse problems instead of sending them to more expensive jail time.

“All these award recipients reached out in a big way to provide help to people who made mistakes with drugs and alcohol, and Bozeman and Gallatin County reap the benefits of citizens restored to productive lives,” said Glenda Howze, assistant to the county commissioners who was among organizers of the event at the Gallatin County Courthouse.

Awards and categories:

Public service – County Commissioner Joe Skinner.
Public policy – Rep. JP Pomnichowski (D-Dist. 63).
Criminal justice – Jim Anderson, crisis intervention training; Jessica Betley, assistant city attorney, and Nick Guthneck, Bozeman Police Dept.
Public safety – Bozeman policemen Ben Green, Nick Guthneck, Hal Richardson, Tracy Senenfelder and Jeremy Tankink; Gary Landers of Elite Towing, and Half Moon Saloon.
Collaboration – Drew Ingraham, Montana State University assistant athletic director for marketing; Robert Putzke, MSU police chief, and Tom Stump, MSU auxiliary services director.
Education – Brian Bagley, West Yellowstone superintendent of schools, and Three Forks High School’s Family, Career & Community Leaders of America.
Alcohol-free entertainment – Nova Café, Bozeman.
Workplace – Rosauer’s supermarket.
Community involvement – Matthew Cyr, Michael Dunham, Rodney Golladay and Dennis Houska.
Mental health – Courtnay Duchin, Gallatin Mental Health Center, and John Watson, Mental Health Drop-In Center.
Media – BoZone and the Quam Family.
Faith community – Bozeman Prison Ministry, Salvation Army.

Dist. Judge John Brown was featured speaker.
Assisting Howze with the recognition program were Jenna Caplette, Gallatin County DUI Task Force coordinator; Shelly Johnson, Gallatin County Alcohol & Drug Services director; KC McLaughlin, of the task force, and Jason Karls, alcohol and drug prevention specialist.
Other participants included Lt. Mark Johnson, Bozeman Police; Marty Kent, Bozeman Police acting chief; Deputy Doug Lieurance, Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office; Brandi Okeyo, AAA MountainWest, and Glenn Puffer, MSU associate dean of students.

####

Springtime in the Rockies

2010-04-13T11:11:00.001-07:00

Over the last week or so, we've had a couple of impressive spring snowstorms. Some pictures:

Montana Conservation Voters Endorse JP!

2010-04-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Montana Conservation Voters has endorsed me in my re-election campaign for the Montana Legislature! I'm honored, and very grateful.

Thanks, MCV!

Vote Pomnichowski, the longest name on the ballot!

New (and former) opponent

2010-03-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

There's a challenger in my race for re-election to the Montana Legislature. My new--and former--Republican opponent, Tom Burnett, filed for office today.

Montana Public Schools

2010-02-17T11:38:00.000-08:00

In the interim between legislative sessions, the work goes on. Our Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction, Denise Juneau, has been traveling the state and meeting with legislators about our excellent Montana public schools. There are changes at the national level, and from our state Office of Public Instruction. I'm a proud product of Montana public schools, and I'll always do all I can to ensure that every Montanan has the opportunity for a quality education.

Pictured here are some of the Bozeman delegation (Rep. Brady Wiseman, a candidate for legislature Kathleen Williams, Rep. Mike Phillips, Sen. Bob Hawks, me, and Denise Juneau) a week ago.

My opponent withdraws

2010-02-13T16:41:00.000-08:00

Late Thursday night, I learned that my opponent has withdrawn from the race for the legislature for my district, HD 63.

2010 Winter Olympics

2010-02-13T12:57:00.000-08:00

I've just finished watching the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and it was simply spectacular. I loved the visuals, the welcome by the First Nations, the Parade of Nations, the music (especially k.d.lang singing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah--incredible), the poetry slam, the fiddles and tap dancing and tartans of the NE part of Canada, the imagery of the mountains, plains, oceans and ice, and the city of Vancouver. I love a city.

This Olympic Games began with crushing news--that Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died on the first day on the luge track. Remembrances to him in the Opening Ceremonies were solemn and for those of us who are fans of the winter sports, an athlete's death on the first day of competition sombers the celebration of Olympic sport.

I've always loved the Winter Olympics best. Of course, it's easy to love--and I do--the stud events like giant slalom, moguls, and hockey, but last Winter Games I became completely enamored of curling.

Brooms and rocks, baby. Brooms and rocks.

PRESS RELEASE JP Pomnichowski files for third term in Montana Legislature

2010-02-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

BOZEMAN – Rep. Jennifer Pomnichowski of Bozeman today announced her filing for a third consecutive term in the Montana Legislature serving House District 63 as a Democrat.

“I like being in public service for Montanans,” said Pomnichowski, 43. “Making sure that adequate public services are provided at reasonable cost is very rewarding work and the citizens of my district are great at giving me their ideas and opinions. That’s why I attend so many civic meetings and club gatherings. I’d far rather have input upfront instead of reactions after the fact to top-down government. No one has all the answers, so all the facts and opinions I’m provided by the people in District 63 every week are invaluable in developing progressive legislation.”

Pomnichowski strongly supported the $28 million measure to renovate Gaines Hall at Montana State University, $1.6 million for removing hazardous material at the site of the Bozeman Public Library and a $40 million firefighting fund to protect all state residents. She also supported state disaster help in the wake of last year’s explosion and fire downtown.

“I have supported lowering business, income and property taxes during my years in the legislature, and voters can expect more of the same if they re-elect me,” Pomnichowski said.

“They also can expect me to keep supporting adequate funding for public schools, because I firmly believe that free public education is the cornerstone of our democracy. I was among those who voted to freeze college tuition for the first time in 20 years. Veterans and senior citizens have my thanks and support, and I’ll keep voting for their interests. I voted to guarantee solvency of the retirement fund for teachers and other public employees, and I always have supported job-creation measures.

“I will continue working to keep Montana a great place to live and work. Our clean air and water, vibrant cities and western lifestyle must continue on.

“The state legislature passes a balanced budget every session. It’s required in the state constitution. People on both sides of the aisle have different ideas on how to reach that equilibrium, but it gets done. I always have supported a substantial reserve fund, too, because it’s difficult to forecast income 24 months into the future, and that’s why Montana is one of only two states at the moment that aren’t in the red because of the national economic recession.”

Pomnichowski is a fifth-generation Montana native who has lived in Bozeman for 25 years. She is a longtime member of the Bozeman Planning Board and Zoning Commission, chair of the Bozeman Board of Adjustment, past president of the Southeast Neighborhood Association and a former EMT-firefighter on the Bridger Canyon Volunteer Fire Department.

An MSU graduate, she is a self-employed computer programmer and award-winning technical writer. A committed Bobcat sports fan, she has been a member of the football pressbox gameday statistics crew for more than 20 years.

Pomnichowski and her husband make their home in District 63 in southwest Bozeman.

Gravel and the Practical Application of House Bill 678

2010-01-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

--Here's an editorial from the Great Falls Tribune today that praises new policy set by House Bill 678, a bill on public notice, fees, and state agency review of gravel pits. I was the sponsor of the bill, which was composite legislation from several different bills proposed last session, most by me. The bill was vetted and amended by industry, neighbors of gravel pits, county representatives, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, and others; it's nice to see some recognition that the bill succeeds in bringing public notice and transparency to proposed opencut mining operations.

Gravel pits: Problem presented; problem (almost) solved
Great Falls Tribune, Tuesday, January 26, 2010

It is reassuring to witness a government initiative that actually seems to be working.

Today's case in point stems from a dispute over the proposed reopening of a gravel pit and operation of an asphalt-mixing plant southwest of Great Falls, northeast of the Hardy Creek exit. Both would be temporary, serving an upcoming reconstruction project on the nearby Interstate 15.

Under a new law passed by the 2009 Legislature, gravel pits such as the one proposed south of Cascade now come under closer environmental scrutiny, and the approval process for them is much more transparent.

As a result in this case, landowners in the vicinity of the existing but not-recently-used 29-acre open-cut gravel source, as well as the county commissioners, have been notified by mail of the Montana Department of Transportation's plans. Signs notifying passers-by of the plans also have been posted near the property, and a hearing on a special use permit is set this Friday in Great Falls.

The gravel and asphalt are needed by contractor Schellinger Construction for a $16.7 million I-15 reconstruction project scheduled to begin when weather permits this spring and last into November.

We have no stake in the specifics of this case, but we would observe that roads have to be maintained, that materials for that maintenance have to come from somewhere, and that obtaining materials close to the site of the work makes economic sense. Should this gravel and asphalt operation be set up where proposed? That's for others to decide.

But we join Chris Cronin, supervisor of the Department of Environmental Quality's open-cut mining program, in applauding the operation of the new law.

Having been notified of the contractor's plans, a couple who live in the vicinity have challenged the permit, objecting to the location of the gravel mine.

"One of the intentions of the law was to make sure the public had knowledge of this early on, and that is definitely occurring," Cronin said.

Had this project come up a year ago, chances are few people would have known about it until the trucks started rolling.

Just as important, the law imposes a small tax on the product of such gravel operations, and money from that is helping Cronin's agency clear a backlog that was clogging up the works.

A legislative audit in 2008 found that only four people were responsible for overseeing about 2,000 gravel operations, and that there was a permitting backlog of about 300.

Thanks to revenue from the new tax, additional scientists have been added and the backlog is shrinking.

There's still some distance to go, but the Cascade-area gravel pit dispute shows that the solutions crafted by the Legislature can work for an informed citizenry and more efficient regulatory processes — no matter how the Hardy Creek couple's protest turns out.

Day Before Birthday!

2010-01-25T09:17:00.001-08:00

This Hallmark card says it all for birthdays:

And in the spirit, here I am with my sister on an Easter Sunday in the 1970s. Both in pigtails, Easter dresses, and black patent Mary Janes! Oh, and I was rockin' the cat-eye glasses; they were pale pink with silver sparkles in the frames. Fancy.

Mercury Dangers, and Recycling CFLs

2010-01-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

Have you been stockpiling your used compact fluorescent light bulbs, long fluorescent bulbs, mercury thermometers, or old mercury thermostats? Well, stockpile no more! Bozeman has a household hazardous waste collection every month!

I’ve stockpiled bulbs for quite a while now, refusing to just throw them out because of their mercury content. CFLs, like all fluorescent lamps, contain mercury as vapor inside the glass tubing. Because mercury is poisonous, even these small amounts are a concern for landfills and waste incinerators where the mercury from lamps may be released and contribute to air and water pollution.

CFLs are good because they can use at least two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer (average lifespan of a CFL is five years). CFLs generate 70 percent less heat, making them safer to operate. And they can save the user $30 or more in energy costs over each bulb's lifetime. But their disposal requires more care because of the mercury inside each bulb.

Bozeman’s solid waste superintendent, Steve Johnson, says that products containing mercury can be collected together (mercury thermometers, thermostats, CFLs, etc.) and taken to the Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection site located at the former City Landfill (on Story Mill Road). The second Saturday of each month, 9 am to 12 pm, hazardous materials can be dropped off at the site. Saturday, January 9th, 2010 is the next available Saturday for disposing of HHW. The phone number to the scale house is 587-7890.

Tell everyone you know, and recycle your CFLs safely!

New Year's Work on Water

2010-01-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

My new year starts with continued work on water: water records updates for the Montana Water Court, planning the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council annual meeting (January 21), continued work on the legislative Water Policy Interim Committee (which meets this month in Helena), and info-gathering on a controlled groundwater area in Bozeman: the Bozeman Solvent Site, polluted with tetrachloroethene (PCE) by a dry cleaner 20 years ago.

Before Christmas, I attended a presentation by the Department of Environmental Quality about the Bozeman Solvent Site. The DEQ will begin an indoor air investigation in January for homes in the plume, closest to the site of the pollution, to determine if PCE vapor has infiltrated homes and affects people's health.

The Bozeman Solvent Site is located north of West Main Street and east of North 19th Avenue and extends north of the East Gallatin River. It includes the shopping center (now the Hastings/CVS stores). Soil and groundwater at the site have been contaminated by PCE and PCE has been detected in indoor air at the shopping center.

By way of history, a dry cleaner in the Buttrey Shopping Center in central Bozeman released PCE, a solvent and degreaser, into the city sewer line and into a septic field in the 1980s. The toxin contaminated the soil and groundwater, and the plume of contamination now extends 2 1/2 to 3 miles, to the north of the East Gallatin River. In 1990, an assessment was done to determine if the site could be declared a Superfund site; in 1994, it was declared one. Since 1998, the plume and surrounding area has been a controlled groundwater area (CGA), with restrictions on use of groundwater: no drinking wells, and all previous well-users must be connected to the municipal water supply. The sewer line and septic tank were removed, but not before the contamination spread. Contaminated soil and water are still on-site, and the plume grows.

Tetrachloroethene (PCE) is a carcinogen. Long-term exposure can cause leukemia and cancer of the skin, colon, lung, larynx, bladder, and urogenital tract. Long-term exposure may also damage the central nervous system, liver, and kidneys; can cause respiratory failure, memory loss, confusion, and dry and cracked skin. Short-term exposure to high levels of perchloroethylene can cause buildup of fluid in the lungs, eye and respiratory irritation, severe shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, sleepiness, confusion, difficulty speaking and walking, and lightheadedness. (From the National Library of Medicine, http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=22)

PCE can break down in an anaerobic environment, but groundwater and homes with indoor air are aerobic environments. PCE sinks in water because of its poor water solubility and its high density. Thus, it may accumulate in and be carried by groundwater and surface water. PCE is classed as very hazardous to water. It is toxic to aquatic organisms and decomposes slowly to form trichloroacetic acid and hydrochloric acid.

PCE can degrade when its chlorine atoms are lost; from four chlorine atoms to three, it becomes trichloroethene (TCE); from three to two chlorine atoms, dichloroethene (DCE). Most unfortunately, degradation will not occur in the Solvent Site situation because the environment is not anaerobic. Our PCE stays PCE and volatizes to vapor.

PCE volatizes from liquid to a vapor form, and indoor air vapor collects from contaminated soil and groundwater. The depth to groundwater is shallow in the area, 5-25 feet, which contributes to the problem; it keeps moving the contaminant, and keeps it too close to the surface.

Major human exposure is from inhalation of contaminated urban air, especially near point sources such as dry cleaners, drinking contaminated water from contaminated aquifers and drinking water distributed in pipelines with vinyl liners, and inhalation of contaminated indoor air in metal degreasing and dry cleaning industries.

PCE tests in our north central neighborhood yielded shocking results. Soil vapor probes 9-12 feet below the surface and above groundwater showed staggering numbers. The EPA standard for levels of PCE acceptable for human health exposure are 4.1 micrograms per cubic meter. Montana DEQ determined that a level ten times higher, 41 mg/m3, would be acceptable. But the tests showed levels as high as 1700 mg/m3. One of the DEQ staff said that they thought the lab equipment had malfunctioned when they first saw that number. But no, it really is that high. An "acceptable" limit of 4.1, and a test result of 1700.

Municipal water is now provided to the homes in the neighborhood, the sewer line and septic tank have been removed, but the site is still contaminated, and there are restrictions on any groundwater use. Now the focus is concentrations of PCE in indoor air.

I asked about continued contamination removal. Soil removal, which is unmanageable just for the scale of such a project, is not an option because the PCE, which sinks lower than the groundwater table, would still be in place and would still migrate up, through new, clean soil.

I asked if anything neutralizes PCE. Is it possible to inject compounds into the contaminated soil and water and counter the PCE? No.

I asked how much material remains on the original site. Can we remove the soil from the septic site, if that would help to relieve the amount of PCE that will contaminate the plume for years to come? How large will the plume become? What are the concentrations down-grade?

The mitigation for vapor intrusion is venting the vapors out. That means pressurizing a home or business so that PCE vapors don't come in, or if the PCE is detected inside, continuously blowing the indoor air out.

I asked about the effects of PCE on human health and that aspect of the indoor air testing. The response from DEQ: "That's not within DEQ's scope to do." I was referred to the Department of Public Health and Human Services, to ask if they could provide some help for the human health effects. Hmmph.

Since the meeting, I've been in contact with DEQ staff about establishing a dry cleaner clean-up mitigation fund, much like state's Petroleum Storage Tank Cleanup Fund.

If I'm re-elected, I'll pursue a solution to PCE contamination. There's a site in Livingston, too, with PCE vapor intrusion, and my DEQ contact says that there are many, many potential sites in the state rife for PCE contamination.

Know that I'll keep on this issue for the health of my friends and neighbors, wherever they are in the state, and for health of our water.

On a separate note, here's a hawk on my porch fence this morning, scoping the backyard for tasty songbirds and squirrels, both abundant here.

2009: A Year of Good Works

2009-12-31T08:36:00.000-08:00

On this last day of the year, many of us reflect on what's passed, and on what's to come. 2009 has been a tough year, but everyone I know--through adversity and worry--has kept working hard to stay afloat, to keep their families and friends upright, and to persevere. That's the Montana way.

2009 was action-packed. On January 5th, I took my oath of office in Montana's House of Representatives, serving my second term, and got right to work. I carried legislation to protect people's privacy with House Bill 155, which requires state government to develop processes to secure personal information and to notify people if ever that information is compromised or stolen. Just think of how much personal information is maintained in state computers: social security numbers, birth dates, property codes, maiden names, addresses and phone numbers, and it’s easy to realize that it’s imperative to protect that information. I presented HB155 on Day 4 of the 61st Legislative Session and I'm proud to have sponsored a good government bill, a pro-privacy, anti-identity theft bill.

Recently, I've worked to help Bozemanites get their unemployment claims processed and paid, and looking back on 2009, I was working on other unemployment and workers compensation details. In February, I presented a bill to the House Business and Labor committee to revise state statutes that discriminate between claims of injury and occupational disease for workers compensation. There are people whose workers compensation claims are being denied even though the Montana Supreme Court has clearly stated a problem with the statute. Unfortunately, the bill didn't pass, but the issue is being reviewed by an interim legislative committee.

I brought bills about gravel pits: for public notice and public hearing of proposed gravel pit operations with adjacent neighbors, and for county authority to establish conditional use permits for livability issues (dust control, weed management plans, truck routes, traffic control, hours of operation, lights at the site, noise) that the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which issues gravel mining permits, does not manage. I presented bills for annual fees on gravel pit operators to fund the Opencut Mining Division of the DEQ, another to require reclamation and to limit the expansion of acreage, and to require monitoring wells and water samples and surface water runoff control for gravel pits that dig into the groundwater aquifer. These and other gravel legislation were either defeated or combined into a 'gravel omnibus' bill, which passed near the end of the session.

On March 5, Bozeman suffered a great loss: the downtown explosion took the life of one of our citizens and destroyed three buildings and six businesses. It damaged many more. I came to Bozeman an hour after I heard about the explosion, as did Governor Schweitzer, to offer all the resources of the state in helping Bozeman combat a raging natural gas fire that wouldn't be contained for another 22 hours and to help Bozeman recover from the blast. Our own local Montana National Guard troops helped at the site for 72 hours in inclement weather and with our city, county, and state emergency services. The morning after the explosion, I brought legislation to allow financial districts, like downtown Bozeman, to re-value the district after a disaster, a provision that didn't exist in state law. It was one way I could help my city. I worked hard with the governor's office to secure small business loans, on trying to get answers from NorthWestern Energy about the gas leak, explosion, and uncontrollable fire, and to help business owners recover. I'll do all I can until the block and businesses are back and better than ever, and to remember and honor Tara Bowman, our citizen killed in the blast.

One of my proudest moments in the legislature was the passage of the cancer drug donation program. House Bill 409 established the donation program to help cancer patients get drugs they cannot afford by distributing thousands of dollars of unused medication to patients instead of destroying the drugs. Now, unused, unopened cancer drugs can be donated to participating pharmacies and care facilities and re-dispensed to qualifying patients, who otherwise could not attain them because of their astronomical cost. The Montana Board of Pharmacy will soon adopt rules for the program, and I've helped friends and fellow Montanans with coverage trouble for cancer treatment; soon, one more aspect will be easier with donated cancer meds.

I serve on the Board of Directors of three organizations, all of whom have done great work this year. The Greater Gallatin Watershed Council released the results of E. coli bacteria sampling on Sourdough/Bozeman Creek. I designed a pamphlet with recommendations for people to minimize the contamination in the creek, to ask for volunteers to continue taking water samples for testing, and which warned of the health risks of some types of E. coli bacteria exposure. The pamphlet was distributed at the Watershed Festival and at points along the creek, and the Council board continues its monitoring.

I serve on the board of the Montana Business and Professional Women Foundation, and this year, we launched the Shooting Star financial assistance program for Montana women trying to gain education and professional development.

The Bozeman Cultural Council finished the Bozeman Cultural Plan, which inventories and promotes the arts, lifestyle, and culture of Bozeman. Other board members and I presented the plan to groups and hope to have it adopted by those groups, so that Bozeman culture in all its forms is appreciated, protected, grown, and promoted.

I traveled to Washington, D.C. with Montana business owners to lobby for health care reform. I serve also on the National Conference of State Legislatures committees for Energy and Natural Resources.

My home became more energy-efficient with the installation of solar hot water heat, a solotube for natural light, and a new roof. My energy footprint became smaller with a smart car!

I defended my alma mater and its sports teams (Go, Bobcats!). The NCAA issued a decision that would have prohibited states that allow sports games in lotteries and sports betting from hosting NCAA playoff games. After I spoke with the Attorney General's office and officials in the university system familiar with the policy, I felt sure that the NCAA would determine that the fears of influencing games could not happen in Montana; we don't have live sports betting, but lottery games with sports themes. It took two months and a meeting of chancellors and presidents in June in Indianapolis, but the NCAA found that all's well with NCAA sports and post-season game-hosting in Montana.

I serve on two legislative interim committees: the Water Policy Interim Committee (I'm a water wonk), and the Information Technology Board (I'm a computer geek, too.) I attended conferences and meetings about energy policy, renewable energy, coal, coalbed methane gas and the pumping of water to release that gas, and any number of other energy policies.

Recently, I've been working with the Montana Water Court to get updated water rights ownership information from the Department of Revenue and Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in the state database of water users. There are eleven decrees that the Water Court is waiting to issue until ownership records are updated.

I've helped Montanans get their unemployment claims processed and paid, and I've asked the Unemployment Insurance Division for information on the increased numbers of claims, the federal stimulus dollars that extend some benefits, and how to help the agency better and more quickly process claims.

As a report card, I hope this serves well to document some of the events and efforts of 2009.

I'm blessed with work on behalf of Montanans, and so proud to serve.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Merry Christmas, Everyone

2009-12-24T13:15:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas Eve, our neighborhood lights luminaria. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle featured the practice in their Christmas Day edition, with this photo, of our neighbor lighting the luminaria Christmas Eve.

And some other festive images to celebrate the holiday. Merry Christmas!

White House Christmas Card

2009-12-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

Today, I received in the mail a Christmas card from President and Mrs. Obama.

Wow.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

December work

2009-12-15T10:01:00.000-08:00

In this holiday season, there's much to be done, and my days are filled.

I've been working with the Montana Water Court to get updated water rights ownership information from the Department of Revenue and Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, who are working to update the state database of water users. There are eleven decrees that the Water Court is waiting to issue until ownership records are updated.

I've helped Montanans get their unemployment claims processed and paid, and I've asked the Unemployment Insurance Division for information on the increased numbers of claims, the federal stimulus dollars that extend some benefits, and how to help the agency better and more quickly process claims.

My work with the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council includes preparation for our annual meeting in January, work on TMDL (total maximum daily load) measurement of contaminants in Gallatin County streams and rivers, and notice to the public of water quality.

On Thursday, I'll attend a meeting by the Department of Environmental Quality on one of Bozeman's controlled groundwater areas, the Buttrey Shopping Center Superfund Site. The area was contaminated with compounds from a dry cleaning establishment, since relocated, ruining groundwater, soils, and now, indoor air. Testing will begin for risks from concentrations of PCE (tetrachloroethene) in the shops still in the area, and in homes to the north, where the plume extends.

The board of the Montana Business and Professional Women Foundation, on which I serve, announced a new financial assistance program for women to help with personal advancement, education, business efforts, and professional endeavors, and we'll start reviewing applications in January to make awards to Montana women. I'm quite proud of this program, and that we on the board have launched it.

There is always much to do, and I'm on the job. Whatever the problem, my responsibility is to work the problem. I'm proud to do just that.

On a happy holiday side note, during a conference call today, I visited a favorite website and share with you these lovely Christmas ornaments.

Santa, I'd particularly like the Roberto Cavalli grey suede jeweled pumps.

Hey, a girl can dream.

Stimulus Dollars and Nutrition

2009-11-22T18:52:00.000-08:00

I've been "offline" for a little while, but I've been so busy! I'll try to catch up on the updates. Here's the first installment.

Last week, I asked two people in the Montana Legislative Fiscal Division how federal stimulus dollars have been distributed between the Women Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program, school lunch program, and American Indian food distribution programs. The funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is one-time-only and will not be continued in the 2013 biennium budget process.

Women Infants and Children Nutrition Program
The legislature approved spending authority of $783,000 in ARRA funding for the WIC program in FY 2010 and $700,000 in FY 2011. Authority was provided for up to $500,000 in each year of the biennium to provide services and food for the WIC program. Should the state require funding above what was included for the regular WIC program, Montana can request additional funding under the ARRA. The program provides for food benefit packages to:
o Pregnant women
o Breastfeeding women
o Women who recently had a child
o Infants birth to 12 months
o Children up to 5 years of age
Qualifying individuals must be determined to be at nutritional or medical risk and be below 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines. The funding can be used to support additional eligible individuals or increased costs of providing food package benefits. WIC food benefit packages have recently expanded to include fresh fruits and vegetables that have increased costs for the program.

In addition, ARRA funding of up to $283,000 in FY 2010 and $200,000 in FY 2011 was provided for technology support for the WIC computer systems. The actual award for the computer system was $721,000. These systems have been in place since the 1980s. Montana is in the process of updating its WIC computer system.

School Lunch Programs
Montana received a one-time appropriation of $250,000 for equipment assistance to school districts participating in the National School Lunch Program. The Montana Office of Public Instruction awarded the grant funding by July 2009 to 45 school districts around the state. The listing of districts can be found at http://www.opi.mt.gov/schoolfood/grants.html.

Each district was awarded $5,000. As required by federal statute, priority was given to schools where at least 50 percent of the students were from low-income families. Funding is to be used to assist school districts in expanding their participation in the school meals programs and to help improve overall food service operations. This should result in improved school lunch program infrastructure.

Food distribution on American Indian Reservations
ARRA Funds: Funding is used to support storage for the state's food distribution programs to reservations for frozen and refrigerated foods. The total amount received was $51,000 for an emergency backup generator for the state's food storage warehouse cold storage compressors.

Tribes also received additional funds under the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) funding sources that are not related to ARRA. $135,440 of "pass through" funding will go to six tribes for nutrition education, administration, and food storage warehouse needs. For example, Fort Belknap will use $24,000 to replace a forklift for their warehouse.

The Emergency Food Assistance Programs (TEFAP)
The division received $146,034 for costs associated with the handling, storage, and delivery of USDA commodities. The division also received about $200,000 to be used as "credit" for acquisition of food from USDA.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP food stamps)
The division received ARRA assistance for increased SNAP benefits of over 13.6%, which allows for well over $50 million in SNAP assistance for the state over the entire ARRA period. There is additional ARRA funding for program administration of $670,424.

HB 645 General Fund Appropriation
The Montana Legislature also provided general fund money of $500,000 over the biennium that is restricted for food for Food Banks throughout the state.

We're working hard to take care of basic nutrition and food needs of Montanans, and we're doing it well and effectively. Remember our less fortunate neighbors, everyone, as we celebrate Thanksgiving this coming week. There are too many of our fellows who are hungry, all the time.

Associated Press Story on Cancer Drug Donation Law

2009-10-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Law to Allow Donation of Unused Cancer Drugs
The Associated Press • October 18, 2009

HELENA (AP) — Wendy Gwinner’s work brings her in contact with people still reeling from a cancer diagnosis. The oncology social worker said she’s seen nearly 100 patients since April who couldn’t afford the drugs needed to treat their disease.
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Gwinner hopes a new law that establishes a way for unused, unopened cancer drugs to be donated to participating pharmacies and dispensed to qualifying patients will change that.

The state Board of Pharmacy began developing rules to implement the law at a meeting earlier this month.

“It would be my hope that they feel the urgency in this,” said Gwinner, who works at Bozeman Deaconess Cancer Center.

Since April, the clinic has seen 97 patients “that we had to get assistance so that they could afford the medications that would save their lives,” Gwinner said. Cancer drugs are some of the most expensive ones on the market, said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. J.P. Pomnichowski of Bozeman.

Gwinner also works with Medicaid patients whose cancer diagnosis “sends them into the doughnut hole” — a gap in coverage between Medicaid’s initial coverage limit and the point at which its catastrophic coverage kicks in — during which patients must cover all their medical costs.

“Then the decision becomes, ‘Do I spend every last penny that I saved for my retirement to treat my cancer or do I not treat my cancer?”‘ Gwinner said. “I never want to hear that.”

So Gwinner works with pharmaceutical companies and foundations to seek money to help people get the drugs they need.

On the other side of the issue are people who have been prescribed three months of a drug, such as an anti-nausea medication, but it quits helping after six weeks. Someone else could benefit from the drug, but it’s illegal to give it to anyone else.

“Patients who develop a resistance, patients who pass away, there are drugs and there are patients who need them,” Pomnichowski said. “This is really an attempt to make drugs available that otherwise would be tossed. Perfectly good medication is being thrown away when people who need it can’t have it.”

The cancer drug repository would be the middleman, allowing pharmacies or other health care facilities to accept, store and dispense or administer donated drugs and supplies.

The draft Board of Pharmacy rules limit which drugs can be donated, requires that they be in tamper-evident packaging, that records be kept and stipulates that the drugs cannot be resold.

“This is a very controlled process,” Pomnichowski said. “This is not someone handing off their medication to another patient. Knowledgeable people are handling the drugs.”

Christopher Harris, an attorney representing GlaxoSmithKline, testified during a state House committee hearing that the company “enthusiastically supports this.

“This is an extremely well drafted piece of legislation and has all the safeguards to protect against abuse,” Harris said during the mid-February hearing.

Ron Klein, executive director of the Board of Pharmacy, said he expects a public hearing will be held later this year to discuss the proposed rules and that when the board meets in January, it will review public comment received at the hearing and in writing.

He said the rules could be ready to implement as soon as the latter part of January.

It’s unclear how many people would participate.

“I think it will serve some market, but how big it will be I don’t know,” said Bill Burton, a Helena pharmacist and president of the Board of Pharmacy. “I just know there’s an awful lot of big-dollar items wasted in nursing homes when people die. I think it will serve the public well.”

Montana is one of about 40 states that have or are developing a cancer drug repository.

Nebraska has 77 participants in its program, said Marla Augustine, spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. But she said the agency doesn’t “have a way of knowing how much it’s used.”

“Our impression is that it’s not used a great deal, but again, we don’t have a good way of monitoring that,” Augustine said.

Gwinner said the key is for people to know the cancer repository exists.

“A huge component of this will be in the implementation,” she said. “Everybody has to know about it. It won’t work unless we have the donations and patients know to ask for help.”

Me and My Avatars

2009-10-19T15:56:00.001-07:00

Cancer Drug Donation Program is Neighbor Helping Neighbor

2009-10-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

I wrote an op-ed for Montana newspapers about a bill I carried in the 2009 Legislative Session. It was HB409, to allow unused, unopened cancer drugs to be donated to patients who cannot afford them.

The first Montana paper to print the piece was the Fairfield Sun Times!

New Law May Help Cut Costs Of Cancer Treating Drugs
http://www.fairfieldsuntimes.com/articles/2009/10/02/opinion/letters/doc4ac4d97af2008123015896.txt

Here's the news on the new law:

Nearly everyone's lives have been touched by cancer. A new state law effective October 1 establishes a cancer drug donation program to help cancer patients get drugs they cannot afford by distributing thousands of dollars of unused medication to patients instead of destroying the drugs.

In the last state legislative session, House Bill 409 created a way for unused, unopened cancer drugs to be donated to participating pharmacies and care facilities and re-dispensed to qualifying patients, who otherwise could not attain them because of their astronomical cost.

The need for this new program is immense. Cancer drugs are among the most expensive pharmaceuticals on the market. They do wondrous things: they target and kill cancer cells, target the interactions between cancer cells and the patient, and help with nausea from chemotherapy. Cancer drugs can also prompt the development of red blood cells and help with a patient’s energy level.

But a drug is only good if it can be administered.

In testimony at the legislature last February, Dr. Jack Hensold of the Bozeman Cancer Center said that, “new cancer therapies are, without exception, very expensive, ranging from $3000 to $9000 in monthly costs. Since nearly all the oral chemotherapies are subject to co-pays, all patients, independent of their insurance coverage, are placed at significant financial risk when diagnosed with cancer. Within the first month of treatment, a patient will be liable for a $5000 payment for their drug.”

The cancer drug donation program will make available very sophisticated drugs from people who want to donate them to people who need them but simply cannot afford them.

Cancer patients testified in support of the bill too. One woman said she was grateful that the hearing was this year and not the previous session because she was undergoing chemotherapy then and was bald. She appeared before the House committee with a packet of medication she wishes to donate, an anti-nausea drug to which she developed a resistance.

She has a month’s supply with an expiration date of 2011. She said, “It’s hundreds and hundreds of dollars in my medicine cabinet. I can’t bring myself to flush it down the toilet. Someone should use these!”

In the Senate, a woman testified that she’d been an office administrator for an oncologist for 20 years and saw the need first-hand. Four years ago, her husband, a former firefighter, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and undergoes treatment monthly. One of his prescribed medications, Velcade, costs $7000 a month for 21 pills. Another of his drugs costs a co-pay of $4295 a month, and yet another, more than $6000 a month.

It’s difficult enough to face a diagnosis of cancer. Patients who want to fight cancer but who may not have the financial or pharmaceutical means now have a chance to receive drugs from the new donation program. The Montana Board of Pharmacy will adopt rules very soon to implement the law.

In Montana, the spirit of helping one another is strong. There’s no reason for effective cancer drugs to be wasted or destroyed for want of a process to make them available to people in need. That’s why I sponsored House Bill 409. For those with cancer drugs to donate, and for the patients who desperately need the drugs, the cancer drug donation program bridges the gap.

Representative JP Pomnichowski is serving her second term in the Montans House of Representatives. A fifth-generation Montanan, she has worked as an EMT/firefighter, an orthopedic surgery practice manager, and in medical records.

First Winter Storm of Autumn

2009-10-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

Art for All, Everywhere

2009-10-04T08:14:00.001-07:00

Friday, I visited the one-room Pass Creek School, 22 miles north of Bozeman, at the invitation of Allison McGree, the teaching artist of the Art Mobile of Montana.

The Art Mobile of Montana mission is "to provide a permanent statewide traveling art
outreach program for schools, the general public, and diverse groups; offer presentations of quality, original art exhibits, teach art lessons, extend teacher education, and emphasize the importance of art and relate to art in a personal way."

I'm an artist, and an art lover. I appreciate the expertise and expression of artists, in all media. And best of all, the Art Mobile of Montana brings art to students statewide, fostering new artists and inspiring art from them. And in tough times, schools make sure they're providing the keys of education, so many do not have art programs now.

Art Mobile of Montana, based now in Bozeman, "provides a traveling art outreach program for those with less access to the visual arts. Targeting students and underserved areas such as Indian reservations, Art Mobile provides not only collections of original works of art but also quality art lessons and teacher workshops in art education."

Allison McGree, the artist/teacher, sets up the traveling display. The artists featured in Art Mobile are primarily Montanan artists. These artists, whose works speak to the rich, visual legacy of the West, are well received by the mostly rural audiences that Art Mobile visits.

When the paintings, drawings, ceramic, leather, and woven art was arranged, Allison asked students to select works of art that interested or appealed to them. Then she described the artist, subject, media, and technique, and compared works of art that express the same subject (mountain landscapes, for instance) but use very different styles (abstract versus literal). Students learned key elements of art: the difference between abstract and 'concrete' art, the diversity of media (it's not just pencils and paper), and two- and three-dimensional art (length and width, depth). It was great to see the students work out the distinguishing elements of the pieces.

Students then participate, making art, in a range of media from printmaking to watercolor to pastels. The art exercise is often related to art works in the exhibits. On Friday, some ledger art from Native Americans was presented, and the art-making was on ledger art.

Ledger art are pictures drawn and painted on ledger pages by Native Americans. Their narrative in ledger art includes pictures of Indians crossing the prairie on horses, battles with other tribes or US soldiers, Native American kids going to reservation schools; the LedgerBook of Thomas Blue Eagle was a featured text on Friday, and it is stunning.

I was so pleased to see the Art Mobile of Montana and Allison McGree in action. The students and teacher of Pass Creek School were wholly engaged in the visit; it was inspiring to see the excitement and enthusiasm of the kids in their desire to create.

More on the Art Mobile of Montana:

In 2007, Sally Williamson, the then-artist/teacher of the Art Mobile, traveled 13,000 miles across Montana and worked with more than 6,000 kids who would never have the opportunity to see and learn about art. In 2003-2004, Art Mobile traveled to 70 sites in 27 counties, reaching 7,256 individuals, mostly students. In FY 2004, Art Mobile received an NEA Challenge America grant of $12,000 for its 2004-2005 activities. During the year, Art Mobile visited 55 sites in Montana (including the state’s seven Indian reservations), reaching just about every area of the state, and serving nearly 7,000 people.

The Art Mobile of Montana receives grants for its annual operating budget. A basic two-hour art mobile visit includes one presentation and one art lesson and costs $165.00. Travel costs are additional, divided among the number of sites presented during one tour.

The Art Mobile is a non-profit organization and is supported in part by a grant from the Montana Arts Council (an agency of state government) and by the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. Funding is also received from Montana's Cultural Trust.

Carbon Dioxide, and what to do with it

2009-09-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

Last week, I attended the carbon sequestration conference in Gallatin Gateway, just a short distance from Bozeman and from Montana State University, home of the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership.

The topic of the conference was on trapping carbon dioxide in subterranean deposits of rock or saline formations (geologic sequestration) and in soils and trees (terrestrial sequestration).

The need for carbon sequestration is from energy production. When fossil fuels are burned, they are oxidized to carbon dioxide and water (as well as nitrogen oxides (NoX), sulfur dioxide (SoX), volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals), producing significant amounts of energy--and carbon dioxide.

We produce energy, beneficial to us, and carbon dioxide, not good for us. The US Department of Energy, through regional sequestration partnerships, is researching the disposal (trapping, sequestration, storage) of CO2.

Our Big Sky Carbon Seq Partnership (BSCSP) says that "carbon sequestration is the capture and storage of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases can be captured at the point of emission or they can be removed from the air by plants."

The process is most often referred to as CCS--carbon capture and storage. The term "storage" is a misnomer; storage implies that we'll want to access something later. We mean, by sequestration, to dispose of the carbon by trapping it. The goal is to get rid of the carbon, not to store it and retrieve it later.

The biggest questions for me were about liability for leaks of CO2, changes in chemistry of receiving waters or rock (when you add CO2 to water, carbonic acid is created. It's a weak acid, admittedly, but the chemistry changes.) I'm also concerned about the ownership of the CO2. It's released by energy production, can be trapped or collected, then pressurized and transported via pipeline to a receiving site, and pumped underneath the earth and 'sequestered'. But who owns the CO2?

The study of sequestration is most important because we'll be using fossil fuels for some time, even though we're getting better at diversifying our energy profile to include renewable energy sources that don't combust fuels and release CO2, like wind, solar, and wave energy. Sequestration will be valuable because the goal worldwide is to reduce carbon emissions, so we'll need to trap/sequester/bury/store the carbon.

Montana is being eyed as a recipient of CO2 by Canadian provinces, coal producers and coal plants in the state, and by other states. Before we accept carbon and experiment with trapping it, I'd like to know that we'll not be changing our ground and water chemistry by injecting CO2 into valuable Montana land and waters. I want to know about ownership and liability and long-term 'storage' responsibilities. What about injecting CO2 into subterranean deposits that shift in earthquakes? What happens to our most precious and limited resource, water? What about geologic deposits that underlie multiple jurisdictions (for instance, the Williston Basin underlies Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, North and South Dakota. Who can inject into that formation, and what's the liability for the other entities?)

I spoke with a representative of the Environmental Protection Agency at the conference. I asked what the EPA's policy was for protecting waters that aren't US Drinking Waters. "There isn't one," she said. "Well," I said, "Montanans in arid regions use water that's highly salinated and mineralized for stock water for cows, for domestic use, sometimes for ag operations. We need those waters protected, too."

Presenters admitted that the technology and processes are in their early stages. Some of the comments included, "If we don't understand the subsurface pretty well, we'll be in trouble." "We may need to drill wells to release pressure. We may need to produce water." This goes to a comment of mine that nature hates a vacuum, and nature hates high pressure and will try to equalize that pressure. When gas or liquid is pumped into a formation, pressure changes and other elements will be forced through or out of the formation. Another: "The costs of carbon sequestration have been woefully underestimated." With regard to pumping CO2 into deep saline aquifers, my concern is this: water has a limit for dissolved solids and gases. The more metals or saline or other gases in water, the smaller the potential for that water to accept and dissolve another element. One presenter said, "No one's drilled down to find out what the salinity is [of deep saline formations]." Another proposal is to pump CO2 into porous rock--into its pore space. Although we can identify types of rock, it's difficult to say how much or how consistent its pore space is. One presenter said, "No one has gone prospecting for pore space, so no one really knows."

My closing thoughts are these:
+ We can do better with energy production. We're moving in that direction. Just as we know we need to diversify economic portfolios, we need to diversify our energy sources to include renewables. Let's use all the solutions available to us.

+ If we don't produce vast amounts of CO2, we don't have to figure out how to collect, transport, trap, and forever monitor it.

+ Developing nations want cheap and easy fuels, too. That means coal and oil. With a limited tolerance in the atmosphere for a certain amount of CO2, NoX and SoX, then we cannot all emit those gases.

+ We are creative. We can find ways to more responsibly use all our forms of energy.

I'll keep working for a better energy future for Montana, for resource protection of our waters and land, and for cheap, reliable power. I'm an energy user, too.

New Addition to the Family

2009-09-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I bought a lovely crowntail betta fish. This is his first picture in his adoptive family.

He's named Dee Snider. Five points to the person who gets the reference right off!

(Okay, here's the story: he's named Dee Snider because his fins look like some crazy hair. Dee Snider was the lead singer of the 80s hair band Twisted Sister, and had bigger hair than even I do. The new betta fish, when his fins are splayed, bears a striking resemblance to Dee Snider. Ref the "We're not gonna take it" music video.)

Water Policy Interim Committee

2009-09-22T09:40:00.001-07:00

The Water Policy Interim Committee, on which I serve, met for its second meeting in Helena yesterday. There was an update on our 2009 statewide water year, water demonstrations by the Montana Water Center (based in Bozeman!), discussions on legal definitions and statutes, and progress on groundwater investigation from a law that passed last session.

2009 was Montana's best water year (precipitation, snowpack, groundwater) since 1997. The entire Intermountain West is in the best shape for hydrology and agriculture that it's been in years. In Montana, precipitation in the spring was slim, but cooler temperatures helped keep crop growth slow until rain and warmer temperatures came in summer. August and September have been dry, but that's okay; wheat is ripening and drier conditions are better for field work. Spring wheat harvest has been up: 28 bushels per acre on average, higher than 26.4/acre (the five-year average). Durum is up, too: 26 b/acre, higher than 24.2 (5 yr avg).

But we're headed into another El Nino cycle, with drier and hotter conditions, and so our water future may not be nearly as good as this year.

The definition of navigability of rivers and streams has been a hot topic of late, since administrative determinations and court cases have focused on state ownership of the beds of navigable rivers. Our fine legislative counsel described three definitions of navigability (two federal, one state) and the specific applications of those definitions.

One of the most important efforts in the state now is the Groundwater Investigation Program. Much of our water use is from aquifers: subsurface deposits of water. Knowing the quantity, quality, and demand on our aquifers is key to managing our water resources so that we have what we need. Currently, there are forty sites being monitored, with some of the state's high-growth areas garnering attention. Sites with many individual wells, stream depletion (pre-stream capture of water), and problems with contamination (sometimes from septic tanks. Eeeuuw.)

There is also a focus on groundwater permits and more and more exempt wells (mostly domestic wells for homes) drilled in closed basins. A closed basin is a drainage in which all of the water that's available is claimed (appropriated), and there is no more available. There is much more area than funding currently available for the program, but the emphasis to start is the high-growth, contaminated areas. Let's focus our attention there and fix those problems first, establish a baseline of groundwater quantity, quality, and demand, and then expand the program to other areas.

The Montana Water Center presented examples and demonstrations of artesian pressure (wells) versus atmospheric pressure (surface water or the water table), streambank protections, groundwater contamination, and surface water runoff and pollution.

These are the issues that the WPIC and water wonks like me are working on. I love this work. Water is the most important resource our state has. I'll keep working to protect it for use by Montanans.

And I've been shopping some back-to-school sales lately. Check out the shoes:

Water, an Update

2009-09-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

I've been working hard all summer on legislative stuff, constituent requests, and civic issues, and one of my focii has been water--water quality, water quantity, and our stewardship of our waters in all the ways we use it.

I serve on the board of directors of the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council and in June released a report on E. Coli contamination in Bozeman Creek. There are public health cautions about drinking or playing in the water. I often say it's a heck of a lot easier to keep something bad out of our water than to remove it once it's in there, and a public health threat indicator like E. Coli garners our attention and action.

I'm proud to serve in this legislative interim on the Water Policy Interim Committee, and I've been studying water policy related to coal bed methane (CBM) drilling. I've written on this before (see my entry of March 30) but now, our neighbors to the North (Alberta and British Columbia, Canada) and to the South (one state removed, Colorado) have found that water is a precious resource that merits protection and is not simply a byproduct of a mining practice.

Alberta requires reinjection of groundwater aquifers after water is pumped out to release the pressure holding the methane in place, so that the methane can then be extracted. In April, the Colorado Supreme Court found that CBM producers must adhere to the same water rules and regulations as other state water users, and that the extraction of tributary groundwater for coal bed methane production is a "beneficial use" of water that is subject to water rights administration and approvals by the water courts.

These are two precedents--more than that, actually, they're laws and statutes--that recognize the importance of water quality and quantity and require other processes to respect the importance of water.

Alberta also has requirements for drilling companies to determine baseline data and to establish monitoring wells before drilling ever begins, prohibits the injection of fracturing (or “fracking”) liquids (like diesel fuel) into the ground to break apart coal or to loosen the ground, and requires CBM extractors to reinject produced water back into the ground.

Think of this in the context of other mining operations. Take, for instance, strip mining coal. For a coal seam seventy feet deep in the ground, a company removes the topsoil, rock, clay, loam, and other material that lies on top of the coal, and that material is called the "overburden". The topsoil and clay and loam and other stuff is piled up, put aside, and the company mines the coal seam. They then RECLAIM the site by REPLACING the overburden in the strata in which it originally lay, grade the site, and return it as closely as possible to its original state.

Water is the overburden that is removed in CBM production. At the end of the CBM mining, the overburden should be returned.

Water users dependent upon, or with water rights to, groundwater must not have that groundwater pumped off and released to surface waters, never to be available from that underground aquifer again. It's not fair.

Canada and Colorado have established that CBM mining must recharge the aquifers and treat water as a resource, not a waste product of mining.

The Colorado Supreme Court determined that the extraction of tributary groundwater for coal bed methane production is a "beneficial use" of water that is subject to water rights administration and approvals by the water courts. The findings of the case, Vance v. Wolfe, state, among other things, that the water that holds the coalbed methane under pressure in coal seams, holding it in place, is a beneficial use of the water, and that coalbed methane can be extracted BECAUSE of hydrostatic pressure. If the water were not holding the methane in place, the methane couldn’t be extracted. The water itself makes CBM production possible, and that lends value to the water, as well as by virtue of the importance of water itself.

The court decision reads, in part: "the presence of water and its subsequent extraction during CBM production is far more than an "inevitable result." Indeed, the presence and extraction of water are integral components to the entire CBM process. CBM producers rely on the presence of the water to hold the gas in place until the water can be removed and the gas captured. Without the presence and subsequent extraction of the water, CBM cannot be produced. As both Three Bells and Zigan make clear, the fact that the water used during the CBM process may become "a nuisance" after it has been extracted from the ground and stored in above ground tanks (that is, after it has been "beneficially used") does not prevent a finding that the water is put to a beneficial use. While the Engineers and BP are correct that no Colorado case has specifically held that water used during CBM production is a beneficial use, this fact does not prevent us from finding such a beneficial use where our case law and the language of the 1969 Act so dictate.

That the water used in CBM production is integral to the process itself distinguishes this case from a host of other instances in which nuisance water is merely removed but not beneficially used. The Engineers and BP argue that the use of water in CBM production is akin to snow removal, removal of flood water from a subsurface mine, and storm water control at construction sites -- all of which constitute mere removal of nuisance water rather than beneficial uses. We find the analogy attempted by the Engineers and BP to be a faulty one. In their examples, the water is exclusively a nuisance and not integral to the task at hand. In contrast, CBM production cannot occur without the presence and controlled removal of the water."

Our Montana Constitution says, "The waters of the state are the property of the state for use by its citizens." It's our responsibility to protect these waters, to make beneficial use of them, and not to waste water. We're a headwaters state; there's no water upstream from us, so when we go dry, that's it (until the next snowfall and melt season). Good and protective precedent is set by our neighbors to the north and (one state removed) south.

I'll work to make sure Montana's waters are well and responsibly used--and restored.

A Red Letter Day

2009-08-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today's been quite eventful.

First, a participant in Gallatin County Treatment Court graduated the program after eighteen months clean and sober, responsible, honest, and with integrity. I've written about the Treatment Court and its participants before, and I'm honored that we as a society have a program for people to overcome their addictions, make right what they'd made wrong, and recover from bad events to improve their lives and the lives of their families, friends, employers. It's an awesome thing to watch someone turn his or her life around; not many people do it without some intensive help, and that's what the Treatment Court provides, for a time. The success of the program, and the success of the participants' lives, is theirs to insure. It's humbling and inspiring when each graduate of Treatment Court makes this last day of court supervision and 'sheds the skin' for a new and improved life.

Then, this afternoon, President Barack Obama held a town hall meeting in our very own little piece of the world! Big doings in our little burg!

This town hall meeting, unlike others around the country that have been disruptive and confrontational, was (I like to think) the way Montana does things. It was orderly, and people were respectful. Those who posed questions to President Obama were courteous, and so were his responses. Governor Schweitzer spoke before the president, and said that although we may disagree on things, we aren't disagreeable people.

Other citizens of this great country could take a page from our book on town hall meetings. There was a wide diversity of people at the meeting, inside the hall and out, but it's important to remember that when we discuss issues, when we try to find solutions, when we must try to persuade others about issues, it's much easier to come to solutions when we're not screaming at one another.

The meeting began with our good Senator Jon Tester, Governor Schweitzer, and Senator Baucus speaking, and then a personal story of victory over cancer--and dropped coverage from insurance companies--from a friend of mine, Katie Gibson. In the midst of fighting cancer, Katie also had to fight her insurance company to pay what they'd said they would. Later, Katie was dropped from coverage by a different company after they'd approved her claims. The President shared other stories of people around the nation who've fought health battles, and who've fought their insurance companies to pay.

It's time for a change.

The President's remarks:

Hello, Montana! It's great to be here again. It's always nice to take a break from the back and forth in Washington. And I'm thrilled to have the chance to spend some time with the folks in this beautiful state. After all, here in Montana, you've got bears and moose and elk. Back in Washington, we mostly see a lot of bull. So this is a nice change of pace.

I especially want to thank Katie for her introduction. I appreciate your willingness to talk about such a painful experience, because it's important that we understand what's at stake in this health care debate. These are the kinds of stories I've read in letters and heard in town halls all across America. The stories of hardworking people who are doing the right thing and acting responsibly, only to find out that they're penalized because others aren't doing the right thing - others aren't acting responsibly.

On Tuesday, I was in New Hampshire talking about the people denied insurance coverage because of preexisting conditions. Today, we're talking about folks like Katie who've had their insurance policies suddenly revoked, even though they were paying premiums, because of a medical condition. And tomorrow, in Colorado, we'll be talking about the people who have insurance but are still stuck with huge bills because they've hit a cap on their benefits or they're charged exorbitant out-of-pocket fees.

And when you hear about these experiences, when you think of the millions of people denied coverage because of preexisting conditions, when you think about the thousands who have their policies cancelled each year, like Katie, I want you to remember one thing: there but for the grace of God go I. These are ordinary Americans, no different than anyone else, held hostage by health insurance companies that deny them coverage, or drop their coverage, or charge fees that they can't afford for care that they desperately need.

It's wrong. It's bankrupting families and businesses. And we're going to fix it when we pass health insurance reform this year. And I want to thank Senator Max Baucus for his hard work on a bill as chair of the Finance Committee - and for his commitment to getting this done.

Now, this is obviously a tough time for families in Montana and across America. Just six months ago, we were in the middle of the worst recession of our lifetimes. We were losing about 700,000 jobs each month. Economists of all stripes feared a second coming of the Great Depression. That's why we acted as fast as we could to pass a recovery plan to stop the freefall.

The recovery plan was divided into three parts. One third of the money in the Recovery Act went to tax cuts that have already started showing up in the paychecks of about 400,000 working families in Montana. We also cut taxes for small businesses on the investments that they make, and more than 200 Montana small businesses have qualified for new loans backed by the Recovery Act, including ten businesses in the Bozeman area alone.

Another third of the money in the Recovery Act is for emergency relief for folks who've borne the brunt of this recession. We've extended unemployment benefits for 40,000 Montana residents. We've made health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families who rely on COBRA while they're looking for work. And for states facing historic budget shortfalls, we provided assistance that has saved the jobs of tens of thousands of workers who provide essential services, like teachers and police officers. We've prevented painful jobs cuts - and a lot of painful state and local tax increases.

The last third of the Recovery Act is for investments that are already putting people back to work. These are jobs rebuilding infrastructure; there are nearly seventy transportation projects already approved here in Montana. These are jobs fixing up the roads that run through national forests. These are good jobs doing the work America needs done. And most of the work is being done by local businesses, because that's how we're going to grow this economy again.

So there is no doubt that the recovery plan is doing what we said it would: putting us on the road to recovery. We saw last Friday the jobs picture is beginning to turn. We're starting to see signs that business investment is coming back. But that doesn't mean we're out of the woods. You know that. In Bozeman, for example, the local job center recently reported seeing more than 8,000 job seekers for just 160 jobs. We cannot sit back and do nothing while families are still struggling.

Even before this recession we had an economy that was working pretty well for the wealthiest Americans - working pretty well for Wall Street bankers and big corporations - but it wasn't working so well for everybody else. It was an economy of bubbles and busts. It was an economy in which recklessness, and not responsibility, was rewarded. We cannot go back to that kind of economy.

If we want this country to succeed in the 21st century then we have to lay a new foundation for lasting prosperity. And health insurance reform is one of the key pillars of this new foundation. Because this economy won't work for everyone until folks like Katie and her husband can start that small business without fear of losing their health coverage; until companies aren't slashing payroll and losing profits to pay for health insurance; until every single American has the security - the peace of mind - of knowing that they've got quality, affordable health care.

The fact is, health care touches all of our lives in a profound way. So it is only natural that this debate is an emotional one. And I know there's been a lot of attention paid to some of the town hall meetings that are going on around the country - especially those where tempers have flared. You know how TV loves a ruckus.

But what you haven't seen - and what makes me proud - are the many constructive meetings going on all over the country. Earlier this week, I held a town hall in New Hampshire. A few thousand people showed up. Some were big supporters of health insurance reform. Some had concerns and questions. And some were downright skeptical. But I was glad to see that people weren't there to shout. They were there to listen. And I think that reflects the American people far more than what we've seen covered on television these past few days. And I thank you for coming here today in that spirit. But before I take your questions, I want to talk about what health insurance reform will mean for you.

First, health insurance reform will mean a set of common-sense consumer protections for folks with health insurance.

Insurance companies will no longer be able to cancel your coverage because you get sick. This is what happened to Katie. Think about this. You do the responsible thing. You pay your premiums each month so that you are covered in case of a crisis. And then that crisis comes. You have a heart attack. Or your husband finds out he has cancer. Or your son or daughter is rushed to the hospital. And at your most vulnerable - at your most frightened - you get a phone call from your insurance company. Your coverage is revoked. It turns out, once you got sick, they scoured your records looking for a reason to cancel your policy, and they found a minor mistake on an insurance form you submitted years ago.

One report found that three insurance companies alone had cancelled 20,000 policies in this way over the past few years. One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer discovered he hadn't reported gall stones he didn't know about. Because his treatment was delayed, he died. A woman from Texas was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer and was scheduled for a double mastectomy. Three days before the surgery, the insurer canceled the policy. Why? In part because she forgot to declare a case of acne. By the time she had her insurance reinstated, the cancer had more than doubled in size.

This is personal for me. I will never forget my own mother, as she fought cancer in her final months, having to worry about whether her insurance company would refuse to pay for her treatment. The insurance company was arguing that she should have known that she had cancer when she took a new job - even though it hadn't been diagnosed yet. If it could happen to her, it could happen to any one of us. It's wrong. And when we pass health insurance reform, we're going to put a stop to it once and for all.

Insurance companies will also be prohibited from denying coverage because of your medical history. A recent report found that in the past three years, more than 12 million Americans were discriminated against by insurance companies because of a preexisting condition. No one holds these companies accountable for these practices. But we will.

And insurance companies will no longer be able to place an arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. That will help 3,700 households in Montana. We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, too, because no one in America should go broke because they get sick. And finally we will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies. That saves money and that saves lives.

This is what health insurance reform is all about. Right now we have a health care system that too often works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people. And we're going to change that.

Now, if you're one of the nearly 46 million people who don't have health insurance, you will finally have quality, affordable options. If you do have health insurance, we will help make that insurance more affordable and more secure. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep seeing your doctor. This is important: I don't want government bureaucrats meddling in your health care - but I also don't want insurance company bureaucrats meddling in your health care either.

Under reform, more than 100,000 middle-class Montanans will get a health care tax credit. More than 200,000 Montanans will have access to a new marketplace where you can easily compare health insurance options. And nearly 30,000 small businesses in Montana will be helped by new tax benefits as well. And we do all of this without adding to our deficit over the next decade, largely but cutting waste and ending sweetheart deals for insurance companies that don't make anybody any healthier.

The fact is, we are closer to achieving health insurance reform than we have ever been in history. We have the American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association on board - because America's doctors and nurses know how badly we need reform. We have broad agreement in Congress on about 80 percent of what we're trying to achieve. And we have an agreement from the drug companies to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. The AARP supports this policy, and agrees with us that reform must happen this year.

Because we are getting close, the fight is getting fierce. The history is clear: every time we are in sight of health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got. They use their influence. They run their ads. They use their political allies to scare the American people.

Well, we cannot let them do it again. Not this time. Because for all the scare tactics out there, what is truly scary - what is truly risky - is if we do nothing. If we keep the system the way it is right now. We will continue to see 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every day. Premiums will continue to skyrocket, rising three times faster than wages. The deficit will continue to grow. Medicare will go into the red in less than a decade. And insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against people simply for being sick.

So if you want a different future - a brighter future - I need your help. Change is never easy - and it never starts in Washington. It starts with you. I need you to knock on doors, talk to your neighbors, and spread the facts. The cynics will continue to exploit fear for political gain. But we know that this isn't about politics. This is about families and businesses. And at this moment - at this time defined by so many challenges - this about whether we will look back years from now and say we did what was right. We did what was hard. We did what was necessary to leave for our children a country stronger than the one we found.

Thank you. And now, I'd be happy to take your questions.

For Montana and NCAA Sports, All's Well that Ends Well

2009-08-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

Good news for athletes and sports fans across Montana today: the NCAA today clarified its sports wagering policy and specifically exempts Montana's sports pools. Montana can continue to host NCAA and post-season games. Great news!

In June, I wrote about the NCAA issuing a decision that would have prohibited states that allow sports games in lotteries and sports betting from hosting NCAA playoff games. After I spoke with the Attorney General's office and officials in the university system familiar with the policy, I felt sure that the NCAA would determine that the fears of influencing games could not happen in Montana; we don't have live sports betting, but lottery games with sports themes. It took two months and a meeting of chancellors and presidents Thursday in Indianapolis, but the NCAA has found that all's well with NCAA sports and post-season game-hosting in Montana.

The whole issue arose when NCAA officials threatened to ban all playoff games in Delaware as that state considered legalizing wagering on the outcome of sporting events. That policy then crept to states that have gaming, and sports-themed games, like Montana, even though we do not have legalized wagering on the outcome of live sporting events, like Delaware. Montana law allows betting on fantasy sports leagues, not on the outcome of single events, prohibited under NCAA rules.

The new NCAA policy states: "No predetermined or non-predetermined session of an NCAA championship may be conducted in a state with legal wagering that is based upon single-game betting (high school, college or professional) in a sport in which the NCAA conducts a championship."

Sports are important in Montana, and we play by the rules--of the game and of the sporting associations. I'm glad the issue is resolved and Montana can continue its participation and enjoyment of the games.

Go, Cats. :)

Declaration of (Energy) Ideas

2009-07-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

I'm attending the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the theme of which is A Declaration of Ideas. In Philadelphia, where our United States' representative Democracy was launched, there continue to be substantive discussions about how to help this great country, state by state.

In many meetings over these first two days, I have represented Montana on the Environment and Agriculture/Energy committees. Yesterday, the discussion was on renewable energy. The NCSL proposes policies formulated, debated, and passed by committees, and our representation to Congress is based upon those policies. In one engaging policy discussion, a representative from Alaska proposed changing the terminology in our NCSL National Energy policy from "renewable" to "clean".

Now, most everyone recognizes and defines renewable energy as that which is gained from a natural system, one that has no by-product or waste from generation, and from a force that is nearly constant, like wind or water. Wind power is generated when wind blows and turns a turbine, creating power for electricity. Hydro power is generated when water flows over a turbine, creating power for electricity. Renewable power is quite fundamentally different from fossil fuel or nuclear power, even those classed as "clean" energy, because fossil or other energies burn a fuel and emit a waste. That's just the process, and the definitions.

In yesterday's meeting, there were plenty of differing opinions about what types of power in which to invest. There are as many different opinions as there are legislators: one proposed that wind and hydro are not renewable. He said, "As soon as that water goes over the dam, that water's gone. As soon as that wind blows by a windmill, that wind is gone. It's gone."

Wow.

That's just completely incorrect. Wind moves on; once it turns the rotors on one wind turbine, it can continue blowing and turn other rotors. Water moves on; once it flows over a turbine, it can flow on, downriver, and turn other turbines. In Montana, there are five dams on 13 miles of the Missouri River; that water serves many purposes, energy generation among them. Water and wind (and solar) are truly renewable sources of energy.

That contrasts with fossil fuel energies, which burn a fuel, like coal or natural gas, and emit a waste--carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, SoX and NoX gases, heavy metals like mercury, etc. There is intense discussion and research about carbon capture and sequestration, which means to capture carbon emissions from energy generation, compress and pipe the carbon dioxide and other minerals and elements, to dispose of them in deep saline aquifers or in strata underground. But there are concerns over what happens when waste products are introduced to rock, saline, groundwater; it's better to use a truly renewable energy rather than to use one that produces a waste we must then store or neutralize.

Another committee member proposed adding nuclear power, which is included in its own section of the National Energy policy, to the Renewable Energy section. That began the discussion about how we define renewable versus consumptive (my word) energy. Nuclear power most definitely has a waste product, and consumes a fuel; ask any uranium mine about fuel for nuclear power, or any Nevadan about how "renewable" nuclear power is, when their Yucca Mountain has been nominated by eight nuclear-power-producing states to store spent nuclear fuel.

The committee, after discussion and lively debate, did not add nuclear energy to the renewable energy section, and did not change the term "renewable" to "clean". This was just one policy--National Energy Policy--on one afternoon of one meeting. All substantive stuff, and I'm honored to represent Montana among such differing perspectives on so many aspects of our great land.

I know we'll be burning coal and oil and natural gas for some time to come, so let's find the best solutions for carbon capture and disposal. Let's insist that companies use best management practices (BMPs) for efficient energy production, and let's develop and use much more renewable energy to lessen the amount of fossil fuels--and their wastes--in our energy mix.

Regards from Philadelphia, everyone. Wish you were here. The cheesesteaks are fabulous.

Bill Gates Wants Better US Education

2009-07-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

The annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is convening this week in Philadelphia, and I'm a Montana delegate to the Environment committee and to the Agriculture/Energy committees. This morning, the week-long convention began with Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, delivering a keynote address on education.

The statistics on US students for science and math proficiency are lower than other nations', and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is donating to schools to try to improve students' performance and to encourage students to excel.

Gates said that teachers should be evaluated on student test scores and on number of students advancing (graduating classes or grades), and that the US must invest in education. He supported distance learning and online tutorials, videos, and information. He mentioned high-tech high schools, talented and engaging teachers that make learning fun, and investing time and energy into teaching; it's one of the best returns-on-investment we have.

more later. very tired.

Energy, Carbon, and Water

2009-07-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

Last week, I attended a conference of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER), made up of northwestern states and Canadian provinces. Montana is a member of PNWER.

I participated in energy and environment sessions, and learned more details of treaties and water agreements between the US and Canada, a newly-signed carbon sequestration agreement between Saskatchewan and Montana, and water marketing. Our region--especially Montana and the provinces that border it on the north, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan--is actively engaged in important energy and environmental policies and initiatives.

During the last legislative session that adjourned just seventy-five days ago, I served as Vice Chair of the House Natural Resources committee, which considered many bills about water quality and quantity and the importance of keeping our waters and watersheds intact, protected, and available for responsible use. The committee also considered some bills about carbon capture and sequestration, the process of capturing carbon dioxide (and other) emissions from fossil fuel production and then finding deep saline aquifers or basalt deposits and piping or injecting the carbon dioxide deep underground, so that it doesn't further degrade the atmosphere. At the PNWER conference, I asked about the new agreement between Montana and Saskatchewan for Montana to dispose of (store) thousands of tons of carbon piped down from Canada. Who owns the minerals and elements (the carbon)? Who has the liability for the storage, or any ill effects, or leaks? The question of ownership is important. In Canada, mineral rights are retained by the national government, but in the US, property rights are retained almost always by the surface owner of the land. The problem--or complication--is that natural formations don't end at state or province or land parcel borders.

The House Natural Resources committee considered many bills proposed by the 2007-8 Fire Suppression Interim Committee, so while I was at the PNWER conference in Boise, I visited the InterAgency Fire Center. The center is built on 55 acres in Boise and combines all the federal agencies in a single spot for fire management.

Next week, I'll serve on national committees at another conference; the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). There is much to know about neighboring states' and provinces' policies and how they affect Montana.

In discussions on water policy and water pollution flowing from Canada to Montana, and the importance of considering watersheds, not necessarily state and provincial borders, I said at the PNWER conference, "Water doesn't honor borders. We need to consider watersheds as regions and develop our policies around the watershed." I'll work to do that.

This Red Car is Green

2009-07-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

Today, the Bridger Mountain Pony Car Club held its 2009 Show-n-Shine car show, and I entered my smart car in the green/hybrid category.

The smart car took first place (a green trophy) in the category! Woo hoo!

My smart car gets 42 mpg, uses 100% recyclable synthetics for things like the dashboards and wheel housing covers, and has fewer components (for instance, the dashboard air system was reduced from twenty separate pieces to one single molded part).

The smart shared the category with a Ford Escape hybrid, as well as two solar bugs, made locally in Bozeman, Montana by Steve Titus. They're battery- and solar-driven; amazing! Steve says he runs his solar-powered car on a dollar a week!

Some photos from today's car show:

I've Gone Solar

2009-07-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the last details of my solar hot water system were completed! Now, there's a solar panel on the roof of the house, a solar hot water tank in the utility room...and lower natural gas consumption and cost at my house! Nice!

Some photos of the project:

In Washington, DC, lobbying for health care reform

2009-06-26T10:20:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I posted; didja miss me? It's been a really, really busy couple of weeks, with important work going on.

I just returned from Washington, D.C., where I joined 80 small business owners from twenty states to lobby our Congressional delegations on health care reform. There were four of us from Montana, and we spoke with staffers in Senator Baucus' and Rep. Rehberg's offices and met with Senator Tester himself.

Small business owners from across the state have been contacting me since I was elected to talk about health care. In many cases, coverage is too expensive for them to offer health insurance to their employees, but health insurance is a deal-breaker for workers. They might be perfectly suited for a job, but will hire on to a company that offers health care rather than one that doesn't. Health care coverage has become a competitive advantage--or disadvantage--to businesses.

I've helped pass laws in the Montana Legislature to expand health coverage, including an expansion of Insure Montana, a program that small businesses can use to group together to buy health insurance for their employees in a larger pool, when ordinarily, they could not afford the policies individually.

In Montana, small business is defined as one with one hundred employees or fewer; for the vast majority of our business, that's the standard. And small business, Main Street Montana, is the engine that keeps this state running.

Every small business owner in our group supported and lobbied for a public option to be included in the health care reform bill.

In Washington, D.C., Shahid Haque-Hasrath, an immigration attorney in Helena, Montana, and Mike Craighill, a restaurant owner from Billings, joined me in lobbying our Congressmen. Shahid would like to hire on some paralegals and clerks and add attorneys to his law firm, but he cannot afford health insurance for his employees. Mike has two restaurants, and he and his wife had to cash out--at a significant loss--their retirement savings to pay medical debts. They still cannot afford health insurance, after their premiums doubled one year, then doubled again the year after that, with no major medical costs, no reason.

From other small business owners across the nation, there are similar stories. Chris Peterson, a family farmer in Iowa, told us that he recently he needed hernia surgery. The surgery was pre-approved by his insurance company, but after the surgery, the company wouldn't pay. They denied the claim after approving it initially, dropped Chris and his wife's policy, and Chris was left to pay all of the medical costs. He could participate in Iowa's pool for uninsured people--at $1300 a month in premiums--so really, he cannot participate in that plan. It's prohibitively expensive. Chris says, "For what private insurance has done to me and my family, I'll trust the government to do a much better job for health insurance."

Dan Sherry owns an engraving store in Illinois. When he interviews for jobs in his shop, he considers someone's skills and pay. But the question that ends the interview, he says, is whether or not he can provide his future employee health care. It's the deal breaker, he says. He may have the perfect graphic designer in the interview, but that person goes to work for his competition, who can offer (minimal) health coverage. Dan and and his wife had paid premiums to a health insurance company for twenty-one years, and during a particularly busy time at their business, his wife missed just one payment to the company. They were promptly dropped from coverage. They rejoined the company, at a much higher rate than they'd been paying, and for Dan's high blood pressure medication, his claim was denied as a pre-existing condition, uninsurable. For missing one payment in 21 years.

There are similar--or worse--stories from thousands more people.

The important thing is to include a public option in health care reform. Small business owners ask for it, and so do 47 million Americans currently with no health care coverage at all.

More soon on my individual meetings with our Congressmen.

Let There Be Light

2009-06-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

As part of the re-roofing/home improvement, there's now a light tube (a self-contained skylight) called a solatube at the top of the stairs in my home. It's just an unbelievable difference. I'm convinced I could light my entire home with solatubes and natural light refracted through these structures.

Lo, the power of refraction. Two sets of before-and-after photos:

NCAA Rules and Montana Gambling Laws--All's Well

2009-06-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I was in a meeting about small business cost for health insurance for employees, and my phone rang (silently). When I checked the message twenty minutes later, it was a call about NCAA championship events in states where gambling on sports is legal. Montana does offer legalized gambling, but no betting on live games.

The issue arises from some court decisions in other states recently, Oregon, Nevada, and Delaware, where NCAA events and state gambling laws have come into conflict. But Montana prohibits live game betting and internet gambling. We prohibit any betting by student athletes, coaches, university personnel on the outcome of games. The Montana Lottery does have fantasy sports games, and has had them since 1991, but the game was on race cars until recently.

I called the Sports Information Director at Montana State University, Bill Lamberty, a friend of mine for many years and a fellow member of the MSU Bobcat Football Stat Crew (I've been on the stat crew 19 years!) He explained that the NCAA has taken a position against sports gambling, and that the NCAA language applies only to actual game betting as the criterion for hosting a post-season championship game.

I called the Montana Lottery and left a message for the director to call. Then I called the University of Montana Law School. I spoke with David Aronofsky, UM Legal Counsel, who graciously described the issue.

The NCAA language says, “No session of an NCAA championship may be conducted in a metropolitan area with legal wagering that is based upon the outcome of any event (i.e., high school, college or professional) in a sport in which the NCAA conducts a championship.”

It seems that the NCAA is reviewing state laws across the nation after a decision last month in Delaware.

Aronofsky is working with the NCAA, and he is confident that Montana law is sound and does not conflict with NCAA rules. If there is some conflict, a bill could be introduced in the legislature to clarify state law.

I'm confident that, after a review, the NCAA will find that Montana teams and athletes comply with state law and NCAA rules, and that there is no conflict.
Montanans follow the rules. We'll comply with state law, federal law, NCAA rules, and any other good sporting policy.

Aronofsky will continue working with the NCAA and their rules that determine eligibility for holding championship games.

Two Smarts in One Family (well, more than that!)

2009-06-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

My 92-year-old Grampa rode in my smartcar a few weeks ago, and was quite taken with it. So much so that he's buying one himself.

I've been handling the details for him with the same dealer that sold me my smartcar. I had the smart in Helena during the session, when parking is at a premium and the rolling, climbing streets are icy. The smart did very well!

I'll go to Utah to pick up Gramp's smartcar and drive it back to Montana for him. It'll match mine, almost exactly; just one feature different: Gramp decided on a single CD player instead of the six-CD changer I have!

My smartcar gets 40 miles per gallon and is a diminutive 5x8 feet. It's a sporty little number, much like myself. Rear wheel drive, with the engine in the back over the back wheels, it had better traction and control than many pickups or light SUVs this winter. The rear wheel base is a bit wider than the front wheels, too, so the vehicle sits solidly on the road. Heated leather seats, rear defroster, panorama roof with screen. It has a gasoline engine, and smart corporation plans to release an electric model in the US in a year or so. I think it's particularly funny that there's a car alarm if the vehicle is picked up off the ground. Spose the college prank factor came into play with that feature?

Go small, go green, everybody. It's as roomy inside as any other car. The passenger cabin is as roomy as anything else; it's just that there's no back seat and no trunk. There is plenty of room for cargo; I loaded six big boxes in the back, and still had all of the passenger seat to fill. I can easily get grocery bags, shopping, whatever in the back.

It's good to be smart.

In with the New (Roof)

2009-06-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

Big doings lately. My house is being re-roofed, so while there's the opportunity, along with new shingles we're installing a solar hot water system. There'll be a solar panel on the roof to heat water in a new high-efficiency tank. We're also putting in a solatube for some natural light. Not a skylight; an enclosed tube, low-profile on the roof, for some illumination in a dark stairwell.

Harnessing the power of the sun!

Some photos of the process:

Two Town Hall Meetings in Two Days

2009-05-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday following Memorial Day weekend, US Senator Jon Tester held a town hall meeting in Bozeman to discuss resuming passenger rail service in southern and western Montana. The meeting drew more than a hundred people, and included local representatives. Ray Lang of Amtrak spoke, as did Jim Lynch of the Montana Department of Transportation. When Senator Tester opened the floor for comments, I asked if Amtrak (a federally-owned rail corporation) had access to all the track it needed. I asked about on-track railcar storage, which was a hot topic at this legislative session (thousands of railcars are parked on tracks all across Montana). I discussed bills introduced in the session about captive shipping rates for grain haulers, rails-to-trails programs that might compromise passenger rail plans, and truly offering alternative transportation for the majority of Montanans who need to come to population centers for medical care, education, and work. In the session, a bill passed the legislature but was vetoed by the governor to establish a rail development authority. The poll of legislators is happening now to determine whether the governor's veto will be sustained or overridden.

Passenger rail service would be a welcome resumption in southern Montana, into western Montana, and on into Idaho. We could resume the Northern Hiawatha route, and beef up the Empire Builder from Chicago to the West Coast through Montana. I fully support restoring passenger rail service.

Yesterday, there was a town hall meeting--a "listening" session--by the staff of Senator Baucus (not in attendance) on health care reform. Again, the meeting drew an impressive number of people, from all over southern Montana: Livingston, Bozeman, Big Timber, Emigrant, Red Lodge. The topic was about health care and health coverage for all Americans. Many advocated a single-payer system. Others brought up reforming Medicare and offering a Medicare-for-all model. Others advocated a public insurance and private insurance option. A panel of health care providers offered their perspectives, and Lori, the head of Community Health Partners in Livingston, moderated the session. It was an emotional meeting; I raised my hand to speak, but didn't get the chance. Many, many people made the most cogent points of the debate, and I offer this:

I think Senator Baucus would do well to take a page from Montana's book, so to speak. This past session, the Montana Legislature, on behalf of the people of Montana

- fully funded the voter-approved Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP), also the Healthy Montana Kids act

- increased the state's Medicaid matching caseload payout. With the economic recession and more Montanans losing jobs--and health coverage, more Montanans will qualify for Medicaid. We anticipated a greater caseload, and funded the state's share.

- increased the eligibility for small businesses to provide health insurance to employees through Insure Montana.

- fought for community mental health centers and funding, and won it.

- provided more funding for critical care hospitals in rural Montana.

- provided more funding for community health centers across Montana.

- passed legislation for prescription dispensing at doctors offices in rural Montana when pharmacies are too far away for patients to travel for medications.

- passed my cancer drug donation legislation, which will make cancer drugs available to those who need them, but cannot afford these very expensive drugs.

I'm proud to do all I can to provide accessibility and health care--not just insurance coverage--to our citizens, my friends and neighbors. I've worked in health care, as a practice manager for an orthopedic surgeon, in a medical records department, and as an emergency medical technician (EMT). Treatment is key. Figuring out payment, then, is the muddying factor, but we (Montanana, and Americans) can figure it out. I hope that all options are considered.

In parting conversation with a gentleman at the health care meeting yesterday, I said, "Just as I was worried about the energy companies crafting our nation's energy policy, I have the same terrible worry over the health insurance companies crafting our nation's health coverage policy." I'll do all I can to make sure we have health care for all, not just health coverage.

Around Montana in Three Days

2009-05-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

This Memorial Day weekend, I drove 1200 miles in three days and never left the state of Montana.

In Dupuyer, Montana at Pierre's Cafe, also the Bear's Den, also the Watering Hole Saloon, capacity 50 (or so).

Chester, Montana had a lovely line-up of semi-trucks of all colors.

A grain silo along the train tracks on the hi-line (Highway 2), Montana.

Malta, Montana: rusted bridge.

For Legislators, It's Now Back to Our Regularly-Scheduled Lives

2009-05-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

In the three short weeks since the Montana Legislature adjourned, I've been really busy. (Today's Adjournment Plus 23, but who's counting?) I've spoken at four events: I gave a keynote address at our Gallatin County Treatment Court graduation, and gave legislative updates at the League of Women Voters meeting with Rep. Gordon Vance, at the Bozeman Business and Professional Women with Sen. Gary Perry, and solo to a Montana Women Vote meeting.

I've received, as have all of the other legislators, polls from Secretary of State McCulloch on vetoed bills. If a bill is passed by the legislature with more than a two-thirds vote (67+ of 100 votes in the House, 34+ of 50 in the Senate), and the governor vetoes the bill, the veto must be voted on by the legislators. The Secretary of State send the veto, the governor's letter explaining his veto, the bill, and the vote record in each chamber. When I receive the veto packet, I read through the legislation again, go back through my notes on the bill, get online and listen to the committee hearings on the bill, the floor debate, and make my vote to sustain or to override the governor's veto.

The Greater Gallatin Watershed Council has been ramping up its activities, and I serve on the board of directors. We recently got the results of E. coli bacteria sampling on Sourdough/Bozeman Creek, and I designed a pamphlet with the news. It includes recommendations for people to minimize the contamination in the creek, asks for volunteers to continue taking water samples for testing, and warns of the health risks of some types of E. coli bacteria exposure. The pamphlet was distributed at the Watershed Festival this past weekend; I'm honored to serve on the Council board.

In the days since adjournment, I've also reconnected with regular life-stuff. For instance, for the four months during the legislative session, I really didn't go grocery shopping; just picked up a single meal item every once in a while, and very rarely cooked. Almost every evening, there were constituent and interest group events, and almost every legislator attends and eats there. Now I'm grocery shopping again. I'm also catching up on some favorite TV shows, for which I had NO time during the session.

Last weekend, I attended events at the Council of State Governments (CSG)-West conference in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Discussions in which I participated focused on state changes in juvenile detention policies and facilities, transmission line placement for energy access and delivery, and drug and treatment courts.

Family events have come fast and furious, too. Four days after I got home, my niece, Lauren, had her eleventh birthday, and my 91-year-old grandfather visited. Five days later, to Boise for a mini-family reunion (in-laws). Last weekend, I visited my dear cousin Stacey and her family in Spokane. She has a three-year-old daughter, Blythe, and I met her new six-week-old baby boy, Porter.

There's been some real fun these past weeks, too. Music!

Last Wednesday, I saw La Boheme on opening night at the Willson in Bozeman. Wonderful! Last Saturday, to the Columbia River Gorge in George, Washington, a natural amphitheatre venue, to see the Doobie Brothers, the Allman Brothers, and The Dead (which is The Grateful Dead, minus Jerry Garcia, rest his soul). And last night, Lyle Lovett at the Emerson in Bozeman! I love Lyle Lovett! He did an acoustic show and played a bunch of his early stuff, my favorites. His lyrics are really great, band so talented...or is it that I love a pompadour to rival mine?

Gallatin County Treatment Court

2009-05-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

Today I spoke at a graduation ceremony for two participants in Gallatin County Treatment Court, an alternative to straight jail or prison time that addresses its clients addictions and their crimes. I have seen first-hand the success of Treatment Court. Here are some of my remarks:

Treatment Court is one of the best on-the-ground, real-world models for helping people change their lives. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. People often say that something has changed their lives, and it’s usually something like ‘that movie or that book changed my life!’ or ‘this haircut totally changed my life!’ Certainly some people do have truly life-changing events like educational opportunities, or relationships, or traumatic events; but Treatment Court is about changing fundamental behaviors, addressing addiction, and requiring personal responsibility, in a last chance.

I’ve seen our Treatment Court participants make profound changes.

This is a process that brings first discipline, then acceptance, then respect. That’s one of the most profound changes that happens. The resentment at the start--of the court and of the whole situation--changes to respect for the court and the judge and the Treatment Court team, but most importantly, I see you respect yourselves. Once your addiction is addressed, you feel better. You do more. You think clearly. You work toward integrity in your jobs and your relationships. You make your own decisions, instead of letting an addiction make them. That goes on for a while, and then I see your individuality. After a while longer, and on a day like today, for Mike and Jimmy, you regain a true freedom—from addiction, from supervision or punishment, from dependency in many forms, from sentences of jail or prison time—and our Treatment Court participants really do change their lives. The dramatic changes that you make are perhaps the most substantial anyone can make.

The fact that Treatment Court can offer people the opportunity to help themselves and start reclaiming what their lives are meant to be is immense. That’s what Treatment Court is all about. Not everyone chooses to follow the program, not all succeed, but those who do have totally changed their lives. They—you—have overcome a mighty dependence and a destructive path, and changed your lives and the lives of many, many people around you.

In 2007, 16,000 people nationwide graduated from Drug Courts and more than 840 babies were born drug-free to Drug Court clients.

We’ve celebrated graduations and births in our Treatment Court. Mike and Jimmy, you’re a graduating class of two here today, but really, this year, I hope you’ll be among a graduating class nationwide of 20,000 people.

Our current Attorney General, Eric Holder, said this about Drug Courts: This is crime fighting. This is tough. But you save money in the long run. It is government at its best. It is helping people win when they are at their most vulnerable moment.

There is more help, everyone, and more people who are trying to help you succeed, than you know. I’m a state representative, and just twelve days ago finished my second term of service in the state legislature. I was proud to fight like a dog for $1.4 million in funding for Treatment Courts statewide, including Gallatin County’s Treatment Court. I have seen its successes, and I will do all I can to support this program on your behalf. I sponsored a bill hoping to make state law to reduce the length of time of a suspended driver’s license for a participant in treatment court. Mr. Bryson, your court coordinator, came to Helena and testified with me in support of the bill. We tried to get it passed. But as happens with quite a lot of legislation, my bill was killed in committee, didn’t reach a full vote of the legislature, and was not signed into law. This time. But I will not give up. I will do all I can, however I can, to help you and this program.

There are many people who help. The Gallatin County Commissioners are dedicated to this Treatment Court, and to you. The community of Bozeman and the people of Gallatin County support you. The Friends of Treatment Court contribute whatever they can: employment, household goods, bikes, beds, gift certificates, whatever we can to help you reassemble your lives. The Treatment Court team is constant and unshakeable in its devotion to this program and to you. And I hope that you are as dedicated. You’re the reason we’re here.

I came to Treatment Court to see an alternative to the jail system. I came to Treatment Court to see if a program could work that offered a mix of penalty with treatment, accountability, and opportunity. I came to see if people in Treatment Court were committed to making this work. Then I came to know you. And now I come to Treatment Court to see the process and to see you. To know how you’re doing. Some sessions are awfully difficult because when you’re starting a new and hard path, one that’s unfamiliar and not fun, temptation can drag you back into the same situations that got you here. There have been days when it’s been just about heartbreaking to see our fellows in jail jumpsuits, or to hear that the recommendation is that someone be terminated from the program.

But for those of you who persevere, I want you to remember the Treatment Court graduates who visit this court every once in a while. They don’t come regularly because they’re busy with their lives, their work, their families, their recovery, doing things they enjoy. They work hard, and they’ve come out on top.

Now, I come to Treatment Court for another reason, a selfish reason: you inspire me.

I take inspiration from many sources, and I’m reminded of a quote by Winston Churchill, who was the Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II. It’s a simple quote—five words—but in light of the situation in England in the war, I think it’s an amazing testament to the spirit of fortitude that any of us can have. When London was being bombed to rubble, night after night, bomb after bomb falling and destroying buildings, killings Londoners, when there seemed there was nothing left to wreck, when Britons were losing their families and friends and homes, when there seemed to be no hope, Churchill said in a speech, “Never, never, never give up.”

Churchill also said, “If you're going through hell, keep going.”

You will overcome addiction, dependency, irresponsibility, and some bad earlier choices through your work in this program. You’ll resume the lives you are meant to be living.

I also try to follow the wisdom, and I hope you will, too, from a line in Ghostbusters II—“look fast, stay sharp, make good decisions”. I also follow the title of a film by Spike Lee: do the right thing.

You have a grateful and congratulatory roomful of people here today who want you to do well and who wish you well.

I’m honored to know you, honored to do all I can for you and for everyone who makes the most of Treatment Court. Mike and Jimmy, congratulations and best of luck.

Adjournment Plus Eight

2009-05-06T08:48:00.001-07:00

Every few days, there are more bills signed by the governor from this year's legislative session. There's still concern about budget bills and line-item vetoes, and still a few days for bills to be acted upon, so I'm diligently checking (as are others).

Back at my regularly scheduled life, I'm back attending meetings of boards of directors (I serve on the Bozeman Business and Professional Women board, and also the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council board) and preparing to give legislative reports to BPW and the League of Women Voters. There is much to report.

My reviews will focus on school funding, money for the voter-approved Childrens Health Insurance Program, and money for Bozeman: for our wastewater treatment plant upgrade, our drinking water source security (guardrails on the road to Hyalite Reservoir), and money for debris removal from the downtown explosion and fire in March.

I'm also honored to speak at our Gallatin County Treatment Court this Friday, when two participants will graduate; I've been working on my remarks for the occasion.

And I need to write and detail some of the legislation I sponsored and passed that's really good for Montanans, like the cancer drug donation program, security of personal information at state agencies, revaluation of property in TIF districts (like downtown Bozeman) after local disasters, protecting freedom of speech for people in homeowners' associations that restrict political expression, and state matching funds for start-up companies that have innovative technologies and federal SBIR/STTR grants.

One bill of mine remains on the governor's desk: a committee bill that revamps the gravel pit permitting process. It doesn't do all it should for people living near the pits, or for public participation. It changes the fee structure so that the state agency, the Opencut Mining Division in the Department of Environmental Quality, gets around $400,000 more for new hires to process gravel applications, so the agency supports the bill. And the bill, after months of wrangling, suits the gravel industry well. It shortens the application review time and does not provide the agency any authority to deny a permit, even if a pit isn't appropriate somewhere. (That provision came out of the bill months ago.) The lobbyists from the Montana Contractors Association twice said they couldn't support the bill without changes, so we made the changes. Then the MCA members came to the House and Senate committees as opponents, requesting more amendments that they'd already agreed not to request. The bill was signed by the Speaker of the House a week before adjournment, but not by the Senate president; if it had progressed then as it should, the governor's office could have proposed governor's amendments that the legislature could have considered when it was still in session. But the Senate president signed the bill after the last day of the session, and so it advances to the governor's desk as is. We'll see what happens to it.

From this past week, and the last days of the session, here are some photos.

Adjournment Plus Four

2009-05-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday, May 2, four days after the 61st Montana Legislature adjourned. On Tuesday, we called to order twice and passed legislation for the federal stimulus dollars, companion bills to the state budget bill, and House Bill 2, the state budget bill itself, fulfilling the only constitutional requirement that each legislature do: pass a balanced budget.

I'm proud to say we did better than that: Montana has a balanced budget and an ending fund balance, one of only three states in the nation not in a terrible deficit spending situation. We funded Healthy Montana Kids, a ballot initiative passed by more than 70% of Montana voters last year to enroll all eligible kids in the Childrens Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. We funded projects in the Treasure State Endowment Program (TSEP) for water and sewer systems for Montana towns. We allocated the federal ARRA (stimulus) dollars so that roads and bridges will be built (or rebuilt), so that three of our communities can use dollars for debris removal after terrible events there: the Bozeman downtown explosion and fire, the Whitehall explosion and fire, and the Miles City fire. We allocated dollars for community mental health centers, for forest fires, for greater and extended unemployment benefits, for job training. And we funded our Montana public schools and our state universities.

I'm back in Bozeman, glad to be home, and jumping right back into work here: I serve on the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council Board of Directors and attended the board meeting Thursday. There are amazing things happening in our Gallatin watershed, with volunteer water quality monitoring, measurements of impaired streams for TMDL (total maximum daily load) monitoring and improvement, and other efforts to keep--or make--our waters clean.

Yesterday, May Day, I celebrated my niece's birthday (she's 11!) and last night had dinner with friends to celebrate the wedding on Monday of one of our number. We ate at a popular restaurant downtown on Main Street, across from the explosion site. There was a street festival in appreciation of MSU, with barbecues and music on Main Street. We Bozemanites embrace our town. A nice moment, too, as I walked to my table of friends, to pass a couple who thanked me for my work in Helena. It's good to be home, and good to be at work in the service of the poeple of Bozeman and of Montana.

There's much still to do: I'll write soon about an amicus brief to the Montana Supreme Court supported by legislators for state policy (in lieu of state law, as of yet) for death with dignity, or physician-assisted death.

As always, I'm truly honored to serve. It's good to be home. More soon.

Chair of the Day Again, Legislative Day 88 of 90

2009-04-24T08:38:00.001-07:00

Today, I took the chair at 8:30 a.m. to run the House of Representatives' Order of Business 7, Second Reading of Bills. In these last days of the regular session, we'll call to order two or three times a day as conference committees consider bills and move committee reports. The committee reports then are referred to each chamber, the Senate and the House, for concurrence, and then to the governor's desk.

We reconvene at 1, with the second agenda of the day, when I'll resume my duties as chair of the day.

Five Democrat Maidens All in a Row

2009-04-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today after the House floor session, some impromptu photos. Here we are, five in our row: Wanda Grinde, Margie MacDonald, Caroline Pease-Lopez, me, and Sue Malek. We look pretty good for the 87th of 90 legislative days, I think.

Desperation Legislation

2009-04-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it's that we're in the late days of the session or that there's a sense of urgency to "do something", but there are a number of bad motions in floor action in the House of Representatives these days. When I've asked representatives why they're trying to move bad bills off the table (resurrect the bills, in essence), more often than not they say that we need *something* to move.

Bad idea.

As terribly hard as it is to pass a law, it's harder still to change or repeal a bad one. Why on earth would we pass a marginal or outright bad bill just to have *something* on the books?

That's like saying that a half-baked idea has merit as an idea. I say, it's more important to recognize that it's half-baked!

Desperation as a motivation for any action is questionable for that wisdom. It's just such a bad idea to move legislation to the floor when legislative committees have held public hearings, heard testimony from the public and from experts on issues, done research on the topics, discussed the legislation, considered amendments, and decided, in bipartisan votes, to table a bill. Now, that's not to say that good bills weren't tabled for no good reason, but generally, if a bill cannot pass the vetting process of a committee, it probably lacks the substance to advance to the floor. Using procedural motions in the last days of a session to "blast" bad bills is bad practice.

Bozeman Shooting

2009-04-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

Just heard about a shooting in Bozeman. One woman dead, one man in custody after a shooting at Wagon Wheel Trailer Court.

Montana Legislature, Day 87, 8:30 a.m.

2009-04-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

There are surprises every day at the Montana Capitol, but some are more dramatic than others. This morning, there's a lovely mule tethered to a pine tree outside the House chambers on the west side of the building. Its presence prompted any number of responses.

I said, "My ride's here!" and "Well, it IS the Montana capitol."

Others thought we should send some security officers down to guard it, since Representative Butcher sponsored a bill for a horse slaughter facility.

Just now, Jesse the Mule was introduced on the House floor! (He's not ON the House floor, just introduced.)

Also, there are moments that are so familiar as to color the rest of our actions wherever we go: every morning, we have an invocation at the start of the session and then recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Immediately following that, the Speaker of the House directs the Chief Clerk to take the roll.

So now, most of us, whenever we recite the Pledge, will be tempted to end it thus: "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The Clerk will take the roll."

And yesterday, the sunshine in the House chamber was so bright, Michele Reinhart had to wear shades.

Here I am, with another enrolled bill. Nice.

Budget Negotiations Heat Up...with the Weather

2009-04-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

In the Montana Legislature this 86th day, conference committees are meeting about the budget bills. This year, there's the usual House Bill 2, the state budget for the next biennium, along with its related policy bills, but there's also the legislation that authorizes and details the federal dollars and the projects they'll buy.

The House, with bipartisan support, passed the budget bills a few weeks ago, and the bills went to the Senate. That body changed things. Now, the changes in one bill affect another; some changes don't jive anymore, and some policy decisions and deletions are unacceptable. The conference committees are meeting to make the budget right. Again.

For House members, and most especially for House Democrats, the crux of the issue are three points that were included in the budget originally but were stripped or severely underfunded in the Senate.

We want the Healthy Montana Kids initiative funded. Voters last November, by a margin of 70%+, passed this initiative to ensure that all Montana children have access to affordable health care. The legislature must fund the will of the voters.

Education funding is paramount, and after years of court action about the legislature's failure to adequately fund education, the last two legislatures did increase education funding. We continued that funding in this budget, only to have the numbers slashed in the Senate. We have a responsibility to provide a quality education to Montana kids, and we must not underfund education. I'm a proud product of Montana public schools. We have the budget in conference committee, where we'll work like dogs to restore the education funding. I believe in not just adequate but ample education funding.

Agencies' budgets were cut an additional 2% across the board when the budget reached the Senate, after the House had cut budgets to a hair's breadth of acceptability, including a 7%--that's 7%--vacancy savings plan. An additional 2% cut is unjustified and guts key programs and departments, like the Commissioner of Political Practices and the Montana Historical Society.

The House Appropriations committee heard months of testimony on budget bills from the public and legislators and crafted a budget that was intricate, balanced, and slim. It is a responsible budget. Now, the task is restoring it to that state.

With tough budget negotiations, we must find some levity: some pics from this past week. Bill Wilson, looking the way we all feel these days:

Michele Reinhart's great turquoise and brown cowgirl boots, PERFECT for a Montana legislator. I've got to have a pair.

Bills Passed for Gravel Mining and Oil and Gas Leases

2009-04-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Today in floor debate in the Montana House of Representatives we came to the end of a very long road with the passage of two bills: the House Natural Resources committee bill on gravel, and a bill on public notice of oil and gas leases on state lands.

I've been fighting for better policies and laws on these issues for quite some time now, and the bills that passed are truly compromise bills. They do good things. As one representative said on the floor, they're not perfect, but there's more good stuff in them than bad. That's true.

The gravel bill includes measures that haven't been done before, like public notice of an opencut mining operation (gravel pit) that includes mailed letters to neighbors within a half mile of a proposed operation, notice in the local newspaper, and posted notices on the site. The notice will include a description of the site, the estimated volume of gravel or sand to be extracted, facilities on the site (like gravel crushers, which require air quality permits, or concrete mixing or asphalt batch plants), the duration of mining and related activities, and access points of the operation. It also includes a provision that if a certain percentage of those notified request a public meeting, the department will hold a meeting.

The bill includes many new victories for the gravel industry. Current law assesses a resource indemnity tax that industry did not support, so the bill removes that tax and assesses a per-cubic-yard fee instead. The money will support 3 or 4 new people in the Opencut Mining Division, the agency tasked with reviewing applications, issuing permits, inspecting sites, and tracking reclamation efforts. In recent years, delays in permitting have driven industry to court, and last summer, judges ordered permits to be issued because timelines for review had been exceeded. The permits were issued without any environmental review, a requirement of opencut application review and a constitutional right protected by the Montana Constitution, and so the judges rescinded their decisions.

House Bill 678 also favors industry for changes that shorten timelines for consideration of applications. The bill also does NOT allow for the department to deny applications. Current processes allow a 30-day review and a 30-day period for acceptance (with approved plans of operation); each of those periods may be extended another 30 days, so the maximum time now for consideration is 120 days. The new timeline provides for a 5-day review to find the application complete, then 45 days to find it acceptable, hold public meetings (if thresholds are met), accept public comment, and address plans of operation. That's 50 days versus the current allowance of 120.

There is concern that an understaffed and underfunded department cannot meet the new timelines, but with the revised fee structure for funding the department, new requirements for applicants to meet, and advances in public notice, I'm hopeful if not confident that the new system will be far better than the current broken system. If anything has become evident during these few years of big operations, delayed permits, court cases, and rescinded decisions, it's that the current system is terribly broken.

Parts of the bill were amended to remove good public participation measures, including fixes for concerns of neighbors about operations that include asphalt batch plants and concrete mixing, and the discretion of the Opencut Mining Division to hold public meetings or to send some applications to extended review. I opposed those amendments, but for the sake of passing a bill with more advances than setbacks, the House passed the bill.

A public notice bill for oil and gas leases on state lands passed the House today, and it's a close cousin--exactly the same in some sections--to a bill I introduced early this session that requires notice in local newspapers (not just in one newspaper in the state for all state leases) of oil and gas leases, notice to surface landowners, and maps and meaningful data on the state agency's website. It accomplishes a lot, but the bill I proposed also included provisions for public meetings, notice to adjacent landowners, and authority for the department to pay for the public notice from the state lands administration account.

I'll keep working on these issues, and I and many others will be watchful of the progress of the state agencies and departments, the responsiveness and responsibility of operators, and the impact on livability of neighboring uses to gravel operations and oil and gas drilling. But for now, these are the vehicles that managed to survive the ugly and wrenching process of lawmaking. I'm proud we have bills that gain some ground for everyone: the public, the state agency, and the gravel mining and oil and gas drilling industries.

You Know Me So Well

2009-04-17T08:27:00.000-07:00

Day 82 of 90 in the Montana Legislature's 61st Session, and we'll be considering Senate amendments to budget bills in the House today. Last night, all of us, representatives, senators, staff, and lobbyists, made fun of ourselves with comedy parodies at our Attache Party. I assembled a 'legislator look-a-likes' for the party. Some of the resemblances are freakishly accurate. Perhaps I'll post some. In the meantime...

Friends, this morning I found on my desk on the floor of the House of Representatives this card. It reads, "Sometimes, the best thing to do is just look in the mirror and say..."

And moments later, my seatmate, Edie McClafferty, came by to show me her shoes and painted toenails, very fancy:

It's the little things that make me so happy. Now, onto the state budget bills, in floor debate at 10 a.m., twenty minutes from now. The Montana Constitution tasks the legislature with passing a balanced budget, and this year, we have the budget bills and the American Recovery and Rehabilitation Act (ARRA) or stimulus money; it's all tied together, and there are fixes that must be made. The House calls to order today at 10, and Saturday at 8 a.m. I'll work like a dog to get a balanced budget passed that's responsible in its spending and responsive to all of us.

Trophies

2009-04-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last week, the House beat the Senate--mercilessly--in the biennial legislative basketball game. The game was a benefit for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and the House raised more than $4000 for BBBS. The House, however, has not, until today, received the trophy back from the dratted Senate. We sent our team captains to retrieve the trophy, which they brought back into the House chamber straight away. (Note, no injury to House Sergeant at Arms Ed Tinsley!)

Also today, Governor Brian Schweitzer signed one of my bills into law. A picture from the event.

Groove Thing

2009-04-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Today in the capitol rotunda is a celebration of women elected to serve the State of Montana. Current and former legislators were honored, and Dorothy Eck, a state senator and Montana Constitutional Convention delegate from Bozeman, spoke; great to see the ladies who've worked on behalf of the state. Montanans elected the first woman to serve in elected office: Jeanette Rankin, elected to the US Congress in 1916, even before the vote for women was won in the nation. We're a long and proud tradition in Montana, women elected to serve, and I'm so proud to be among them.

Last night, the Democratic Women's Caucus hosted a Pay Equity Dance Party in Helena. A fundraiser for the women's caucus, it also was structured (through the cover charge) to illustrate the disparity of unequal pay for equal work by women. Gals paid $4 cover, and men $6. It was a GREAT party; apparently, given any opportunity to blow off some steam, we legislative gals will shake our groove things and sing along to the 'best' of the 80s and 90s. Some of our male counterparts danced, too (nice moves, Mike Phillips!) We were shaking our tailfeathers!

From this past week:
Jill Cohenour was fouled in the House vs. Senate basketball game by Ryan Zinke, and here is an impressive bruise from the event. She made one of her two free throws from the hit. Take that, Zinke!

House fun and games, (Re)Budgeting, etc.

2009-04-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

Last week in the state legislature, the Senate hacked and slashed the budget that the House had approved, and also took big slashes to House Bill 645, the federal recovery money allocations. So this week, the Senate amendments--more than 50--will come back to the House for concurrence. I expect we in the House will not concur, since the budgets of our public schools, public services, voter-approved Children's Health Insurance Program, and other services were cut. Most likely, the budget bills will go to conference committees, seven legislators (four representatives, three senators) to wrangle over. But all of us will be involved, since the budget touches all of our families, our friends, neighbors, cities and towns and counties and school districts.

So the budget will be returned to the House, and we'll make it right. Again.

Last week was the 18th Annual House versus Senate basketball game, a benefit for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The House of Representatives fielded a talented, tall, and youthful team, compared to that of the geriatric Senate. We also had a secret weapon: for our team shirts, we ordered referees' jerseys! Nice! The House won the game to lead the series 10-8. All proceeds go to BB/BS, and for months preceding the game, we take up collections in the House for "bribe" money with which to buy key plays, fouls, time on the clock, whatever.

Favorite quote from the game: "We bought this game, fair and square!" --Janna Taylor, holder of the bribe money for the House.

This week, five of my bills were enrolled (passed by both chambers, the House and Senate, and returned for signatures of the sponsor, me, the Speaker of the House, and the President of the Senate) and on their way to the Governor's desk for his signature. Last session, the enrolled legislation coming my way started earlier, but it was amazing to have five bills in green folders this week. Nice.

Two new additions to the House family: Pat Noonan's newborn baby daughter (here he is with the pile o' baby gifts at his pink-decorated desk) and Chuck Hunters nine-week-old new puppy, Rocky, a Golden Doodle who came home Tuesday night. Chuck reported on Wednesday that Rocky's first night home had been really pretty good; no whimpering or unsettled puppy activity, and Rocky only peed on the carpet once. Good boy, Rocky!

Monday, April 6, Legislative Day 75

2009-04-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

A busy day today: this morning, there were five bills to be heard and considered by the House Taxation committee, on which I serve. I found out during the hearing on the second bill that the House Natural Resources committee bill on opencut mining (gravel pits) was scheduled to be heard this very afternoon by the Senate Natural Resources committee. It's indeed a rare (thank goodness) thing that a bill is scheduled and heard on the same day; we try to adhere to at least a 72-hour notice for public participation. I got the call out (with much help) so that those who could come started for Helena.

At noon, I had lunch with the Gallatin County delegation and many representatives of NorthWestern Energy, who invited us to hear their explanation of the gas leak, unquenched natural gas fire, and suppression efforts from the explosion in Bozeman. I had many questions about safety measures, after the devastation in my hometown.

It was a busy day in floor action in the House and Senate, too; two of my bills passed third reading today (to pass from the House, bound now for the governor's desk). The Senate passed a bill of mine unanimously, 50-0, to allow re-valuation of urban renewal districts after a disaster which devastates the value of the real estate in the district. The bill was prompted by the terrible explosion and fire in Bozeman a month ago.

At four o'clock, I served on a special conference committee of seven legislators to consider the House amendments on a Senate bill. The conference committee worked through the language and we agreed on a final version of the bill; now the conference committee report will be reported back to the House and Senate, and the bill will advance.

At nearly six o'clock, I presented House Bill 678, the gravel committee bill to the Senate Natural Resources committee. The bill was amended, and badly, so it may well be on its way to a conference committee, too.

The pictures here are from a short drive I took yesterday to Unionville, three miles southwest of Helena, up Last Chance Gulch. These buildings are at the end of Last Chance Gulch in Helena, where gold was discovered in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Here's the cathedral; note the moon between the twin spires. And today, wonderful news in the House: Pat Noonan of Butte and his wife, Jennifer, welcomed a baby girl to their family! That's two daughters for Pat. Girl power!

Capitol Action

2009-04-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

This week in the capitol, Dad visited me and spent the day on the House floor, in committee hearings, etc. Great to have him here. Just as a chance happening, we had our pictures taken with Governor Schweitzer!

Thursday was also picture day for the House of Representatives. Edie McClafferty's husband caught this picture of me while we were waiting for the next shot.

And here's a switch: Usually, the blood-letting at the capitol is figurative; on Thursday, it was literal, with a Red Cross blood drive in the capitol rotunda.

A bad month in Montana

2009-04-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

Good grief, people. March and early April have been a terrible time for disasters in our state.

In the news this morning is an account of a plane crash near the Hungry Horse Reservoir. The plane was found at around 2:00 a.m. on Friday west of the reservoir; the craft is registered to Hugh A. Rogers of Whitefish. Officials say that at this time, that only the pilot was known to have been on board the plane.

This crash was the third fatal airplane crash in Montana in just over two weeks. Sparky Imeson of Helena was killed when his Cessna 180 crashed near Canyon Ferry Lake on March 17th and 14 people were killed on March 22nd, when their Pilatus PC-12 crashed in a cemetery near the Bert Mooney Airport in Butte.

In early March, we had our share of disaster. On March 5, a natural gas explosion and fire in downtown Bozeman killed one woman and destroyed numerous downtown Bozeman businesses.

The very next day, a gas explosion and fire in Whitehall, about forty miles from Bozeman, destroyed three businesses housed in historic downtown buildings.

On March 23, fire engulfed businesses in a city block of Miles City.

Everyone, be safe. Keep your heads down. Help your fellow man.

Legislature Levity

2009-04-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

I've reported on the pranks and fun in the Montana Legislature before, and here's the latest installment.

Mike Jopek, a legislator from Whitefish and a farmer, carried a bill in the House of Representatives this week proposing to revise the milk control laws and transfer certain functions from the Department of Livestock to the Board of Milk Control. The bill was contentious, pitting smaller local producers against larger corporations that operate in nearby states and ship milk to Montana stores. Country Classic, a producer in Gallatin County, emailed a bunch of us to relate how the bill would hurt their good operation, and many legislators opposed the bill after hearing from Country Classic and other Montana milk producers.

When Jopek stood on the floor to present the bill, he was serenaded by gentle mooing. Today, his desk was adorned with Country Classic milk cartons, out of love.

And if there's Lesson One that anyone learns in the legislature, it's this: don't be absent. If you're absent, your compatriots punish you. In Shannon Augare's case, his desk was the receiving site of all of the recycling from a day's floor session, hundreds of bills piled on his chair and desk and taped into place. Again, just out of love for our fellow representative.

Lastly, it's the little things in life that one must appreciate. Hopefully, you've seen in previous posts how enamored I am of goldfish crackers--good and so good for me. But this week, I discovered Bunny Grahams, possibly the cutest food ever. Just look at the ears!

Focus on Women

2009-04-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

Michelle Obama is on her first overseas trip as First Lady, and all the media asks is "What will Michelle wear?" Now, I'm as interested and enchanted with fashion as anyone, (see my earlier blog entries, rife with pictures of shoes), but really, everyone, this woman graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She has worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center. This is a very intelligent, talented, driven woman, who also happens to have a keen fashion sense.

During Obama's presidential campaign, Michelle Obama's former law professor was interviewed and said that he had expected Michelle to hold elected office before Barack Obama did.

I'd much prefer the questions to be, "What does Michelle think about the G20 convention and capitalism around the globe?" and THEN, the follow-up to be, nice coat. Because, wow, it is. And LOVE the yellow cocktail ensemble.

The conversation about fashion leads me to a thought for girls when they're wondering what to be when they grow up. Whether it's a doctor, lawyer, astronaut, teacher, president, the most important thing?...

Be smart.

Intellectually and fashionably.

Hijacked Legislation

2009-03-30T12:43:00.001-07:00

Water rights are among the most valued property rights anywhere. Indeed, what is land without water? Montana has long honored a prior appropriations doctrine, which means that the first person to hold a water right in time has priority for water. First in time, first in right. It's the basis for protecting prior appropriators from subsequent users that may adversely affect existing water rights.
Today in floor debate in the Montana House of Representatives, a bill was presented that proposes a last-in-time, first-in-right model for the energy industry that produces coal bed methane (CBM), natural gas. There are a number of critically bad proposals in this bill: it gives the Board of Oil and Gas, which grants drilling permits, not water rights, jurisdiction over water; in one part it restricts any release to surface water but in another, it grants release to surface water; and it grants temporary permits through which entire subsurface aquifers may be dewatered by CBM operators. The bill was heard by the House Agriculture committee last week, but usually, energy- or water rights-related bills are heard by our Energy or Natural Resources committees. This one went to Ag.
CBM works by pumping up water from underground aquifers, which decreases the pressure underground in strata where the natural gas is held. Once the water is pumped off, the gas can be pumped out, but the water is not replaced, and any other wells drilled into that aquifer, for irrigation or stock water or domestic water, are then without the water. There have been efforts to require industry to recharge (refill) the aquifers by holding the water they pump up and requiring that they then pump it back in, but those efforts have failed. Industry says it's too expensive and troublesome. I think having other water users' water pumped off is troublesome. Additionally, CBM water is almost always highly salinated and highly mineralized, making it bad for irrigating, and bad for surface waters. Montana is in legal action against the State of Wyoming because of that state's discharge into the Powder and Tongue Rivers, which run north into Montana; because of Wyoming's CBM surface water discharges, the saline and mineral levels in those rivers are off the charts, furthering compromising our water users' uses.

Judge Honzel issued an opinion that restricts the use of CBM water per our state laws. That was the right call, both for the beneficial use versus the wasting of water, prohibited in Montana, and to protect our senior water rights holders. This bill proposes to absolutely twist our water rights statutes and the prior appropriations doctrine, all for one use, for one industry, for a short-term gain.

The bill is also a sham: its number is HB575, but it's not that bill. The House Agriculture committee heard and considered HB575 and that bill did not pass committee. Then an amendment came forth that replaced all language and all sections of HB575 with language from HB505, from a Senate sponsor, and for the first time ever, I've seen this language:

(Refer to Introduced Bill)
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert:

This is abhorrent.

I voted against the bill, but it passed with a 59-41 vote. An amendment proposed by Rep. David Roundstone failed, which would have required the Board of Oil and Gas to certify that any withdrawal of water does not adversely affect senior water rights holders. The amendment failed.

Queen Bee

2009-03-28T08:17:00.001-07:00

Each day, the Speaker of the House calls the chamber to order and rolls through a number of Orders of Business, like messages from the Senate, First Reading of Bills, etc. Then he names a Chair of the Day from the 100 Representatives. Yesterday, I was Chair of the Day!

And some glimpses of life in the chamber of the House of Representatives from this past week:

Cinnamon bears sent to me by my seatmates while I was chairing the committee; delivered by a page to me at the rostrum. Nice! My people love me and send me cinnamon bears!

The first car in the lot on Saturday morning, 6:30 a.m. before an 8 o'clock Call to Order in the House of Representatives. I give this work my all.

Oh, the teal suede shoes with copper leather toe band and silver buckles. Loveliness.

Sustenance in Hand

2009-03-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot going on lately, bad stuff: a plane crash in Butte on Sunday that killed three families and the pilot of the plane, a terrible fire in Miles City yesterday that involved eight businesses and an entire city block, the earlier gas explosion and fire in Bozeman and the subsequent investigation, the fire in Whitehall the day after the Bozeman thing, good grief. What is happening?!?

At times like this, amidst the furor of a legislative session, a representative finds sustenance wherever she can. On this day, it's a handful of goldfish crackers. It's a nice nod to the snack cracker that got me through college: I remember all-nighters in the Architecture studio at Montana State University, when goldfish crackers and Diet Coke figured prominently in my diet. Funny that they do now, too.

I presented a bill in a Senate committee today and I'll do the same with another this afternoon. House Bill 572, to establish state matching grants for SBIR/STTR grantees, was heard in Senate Business, Labor, and Economic Affairs just before noon. House Bill 480, for non-resident youth upland game bird licenses, will be considered by the Senate Fish, Wildlife, and Parks committee this afternoon. Cross your fingers for passage of both bills.

St. Patrick's Day at the Montana Capitol

2009-03-17T08:06:00.001-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Montana Capitol celebrates with a foggy, moody morning that shrouds the Meagher statue even as it is bunted in the colors of Eire. For the day, we replace the Montana state flag with the Irish flag, too.

This morning, pipers and drums in the rotunda; the Springthistle Pipe Band played for us, and Irish dancers followed.

Not to be outdone, I and my seatmates at our desks on the floor of the House in our Irish green...

What I've been working on...

2009-03-15T11:19:00.001-07:00

Since the explosion and fire in Bozeman a week and a half ago, I've been working on getting unemployment benefits expedited for workers of the businesses ruined in the disaster. Employees cannot present the usual documents required to file for benefits; those records were lost. W-2s, hourly wage statements, length of employment, etc. were on computers or bookkeepers' ledgers, so those requirements will be waived. For employees who weren't full-time and therefore not eligible for unemployment benefits, we're trying to find ways to pay some benefit. First Security Bank in Bozeman opened an account days after the blast and fire for some relief for those workers, and I've been working on some kind of unemployment benefits for them.

I've been in contact with the Montana Historical Society in Helena with questions on salvaging building materials for use in reconstruction. There's concern that, even if materials appear intact, they may not be structurally sound. For instance, there was a lot of brickwork in the buildings in the blast, and those bricks were blown into the street, brick walls toppled onto the site, and everything coated in dust that we're not sure doesn't have some environmental contaminant in it. If you drop a brick, then pick it up, it might look okay, but hairline fractures inside may not be detected. I love our historic downtown Bozeman and I know all our citizens, business owners, and visitors do, too. We'll work extra hard to keep the character the same or better, but using the actual materials that were in the blast may not be possible. Everything will help in getting the site back in shape: historic photos, recent photos, and indeed, some of the building materials may be usable. There are many people dedicated to re-establishing the site in our lovely downtown.

I've been trying to help to get Small Business Administration loans established for downtown businesses affected directly or indirectly by the event. For those businesses that need low-interest, relaxed term loans for demolition, site clearing, and rebuilding their businesses, these loans could help. For businesses with losses from fewer patrons, they can apply, too, showing that sales and traffic is down compared with the same period the year prior. Usually, SBA loans need a moderate number of businesses to start, and that pool may be relaxed to as few as three or five businesses in this case, which is great news! More than those initial three could participate, of course, but the relaxed requirement can help Bozeman businesses immediately. The discussions about the SBA loans began the day after the event, and should be established soon.

Just two days after the blast, I wondered about the tax increment financing (TIF) district downtown and the impact of the property values on the TIF district. I spoke with Chris Naumann, the executive director of the Downtown Business Association, and Anna Rosenberry, Finance Officer for the City of Bozeman, who drafted suggested language for a change in our laws not to severely impact the city through lowered valuation in the TIF. I spoke with the chief legal legislative counsel in the capitol and introduced legislation within a day to resolve the problem. Basically, the bill will add language in code to recognize that in the event of a disaster, and the subsequent devaluing of properties afterward, the base taxable value of the TIF will not suffer a drop. The devaluing of properties after a disaster is important, so that property owners don't pay the full property taxes on properties that no longer hold that value--that's fair. But the impact to the entire TIF district, which, in this case, is the Bozeman downtown district, is devastating. My bill will fix this discrepancy so that the district as a whole doesn't take the hit.

I've also been working just as hard to pass legislation. I'm sponsoring a cancer drug donation bill that received a great hearing Friday. (My technology TIF district bill did not receive as nice a reception Friday, unfortunately.) Next Friday, two more of my bills will be considered by the Senate, and I hope the newly-introduced TIF bill will be heard in my House Taxation committee soon.

Please know I'm completely dedicated to my city and to my state, and to everyone in Montana. We're all rallying. I just wanted to give you an update from my desk. --JP

Meanwhile, back at the Montana Legislature...

2009-03-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

Friends, it's been a tough couple of weeks, but I and many others are soldiering on. Here's a taste of some of the activities at the Montana Legislature of late.

On March 11, Chairman Steele gave the State of the Indian Nations address. Here he is in the House chamber, with the magnificent Charlie Russell painting behind him.

On that day, Margie McDonald and Caroline Pease-Lopez, my seatmates, were matchy-matchy in the same jacket:

Wednesday, March 11, the Polynesian Dancers from Dillon, the Polynesian capitol of Montana, came to the House to dance. They did three numbers, and the men in particular were quite frightful (in a good way). I joked with my seatmates that there hadn't been bare-chested men in the House since last night!

In my House Natural Resources committee, our committee secretary, Shirley Chovanak (a last name as challenging as mine!) gave me a model smart car this past week! Seems almost everyone is as taken with my little smart as I am. See a resemblance? Here's my smart car at the capitol, and the model smart car on my desk. Maybe I should find a way to paint it red...

Bozeman Explosion Investigation Findings

2009-03-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

Cause of downtown Bozeman explosion announced; from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Friday, March 13, 2009

The natural gas leak that likely led to the explosion in downtown Bozeman last week was in a service line between the main gas line and the Montana Trails Gallery, investigators said Friday morning.

The service line is the responsibility of NorthWestern Energy, officials said.

The explosion killed one woman and destroyed numerous downtown Bozeman businesses.