FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 13, 2021

MCV to Lawmakers: “We voted for our public lands”

Fight ramps up for promised public lands funding through new marijuana revenue

(BOZEMAN, Mont.) – Montana Conservation Voters today launched a new multimedia campaign to push state legislators to fund public lands with recreational marijuana tax revenue as approved by voters last November via Ballot Initiative 190.

The campaign, titled “We Voted,” is designed to activate Montanans to weigh in with their legislators to fund public lands through I-190 as intended. The campaign includes a brief video, available online HERE.

“We voted for our public lands…over 56% of us,” the video states. “Our lawmakers should be listening to us; not putting our public lands on the chopping block.”

This week a new select committee on marijuana in the Senate will be hearing revenue bills including House Bills 670 and 701. Both bills have passed the State House of Representatives and strip funding for public lands through Habitat Montana as voters intended. Habitat Montana is a popular state conservation tool used to improve access, acquire more public lands and protect working farms and ranches in perpetuity. Habitat Montana was slated to receive nearly 40% of I-190 funding, according to the ballot initiative language.

“The will of the people is crystal clear,” said Whitney Tawney, the Executive Director of Montana Conservation Voters. “Montanans overwhelmingly supported I-190 and the public lands funding it included. Efforts by lawmakers in Helena to divert funding away from where the voters intended is a waste of time, and an insult to Montanans.”

###