PAUL HAMBY
ROB CHANEY
The Montana Legislature has ended this year with several bills making their way to Gov. Greg Gianforte that will have a lasting effect in the state s Indian Country.Â
Throughout the 2021 legislative session, 12 Indigenous people took their seats in the Montana House and Senate. The Montana American Indian Caucus this year was the largest since at least 1989, when the Legislature started collecting cultural heritage information from its members.
Marijuana rollout
After several contentious months, a marijuana implementation bill passed through the Legislature in late April. Along with detailing how much cannabis each resident can grow either as a business license holder or private citizen, House Bill 701 also stipulates for tribes where they can sell marijuana. Tribes can receive a business license to run a dispensary within 150 miles of the outside boundary of a reservation, according to the bill.
A proposal to curb protests at infrastructure projects like oil pipelines drew strong condemnation from tribal groups on Wednesday who said the threat of muscled-up criminal penalties would deter Native communities from exercising their right to peacefully protest.
Rep. Steve Gunderson, a Republican from Libby, introduced on Wednesday House Bill 481, which would up the criminal and civil penalties for those who trespass on and damage property associated with infrastructure projects; Gunderson offered the Dakota Access Pipeline as an example for the committee, where protests reached criminal levels.Â
Gunderson said his bill maintains protesters First Amendment rights. They may do so, no problem, and they re allowed to exercise their right of assembly and right to protest, Gunderson told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Once the realm of peaceful has left and thereâs burning, damage and rioting, HB 481 would kick in.