January Update 2

This session continues to be moving slower than previous sessions. The transmittal deadline (middle of the session) has been shifted out two days due to the low volume of bills coming out of committee, and the lack of need for Saturdayfloor sessions.  Many long-serving legislators and lobbyists are still curious about the slow pace, but I haven’t heard any good explanations.

Below is a list of bills that we will be following this session. You will see that some are still in draft form and waiting to be assigned a bill number. I sat down with Russ Katherman from A&E last week to trade notes. Infrastructure funding will be one of issues we following closely and continue to support.

The Build Montana Rally was held last Thursday. There was good representation from the construction and engineering communities. A representative from the TRIP – a national transportation research group – led the presentation with the Montana Chamber, the Montana Motor Carriers Association, and ASCE echoing the need for infrastructure funding. Representative Jeff Wellborn was also there as the sponsor of HB 5 – the Governor’s “Build Montana” bill.

HB 63 – Revise licensing/regulation of engineers and land surveyors – has been transmitted from the House to the Senate.

Engineers 2015 Bill List  
     
HB 5 Rep Jeff Wellborn Provide for intrastructure development
HB 63 Rep Kathy Swanson Revise licensing/regulation of engineers and land surveyors
HB 97 Rep Edith McClafferty Revise alternative contracting process
SB 145 Sen Bradley Hamlett Revise allocation of oil and gas revenue for oil and natural gas impact projects
LC 1912 Sen Bruce Tutvedt Revise membership of board of professional engineers and land surveyors
LC 1674 Donald Jones Generally revise building plan/permit review requirements
HB 224 Rep Zac Perry Generally revise building code program laws
LC 1407 Sen Bruce Tutvedt Revise laws related to county road right-of-way purchases
LC 2094   Revise review and classification of road and street laws