Montana Tables Restrictive “Ditch Bill”

Ben Pierce reported yesterday afternoon that the Montana Senate Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Committee tabled House Bill 309, which faced tremendous public opposition after it passed the a House vote. “The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeffery Welborn, R-Dillon, proposed revisions to the stream access law that would have revised the definition of an irrigation ditch to include ‘natural features’ and eliminated areas of the law which were deemed unconstitutional by the Montana Supreme Court in the 1986 Galt decision.”