But first, the bad news. While it was generally acknowledged that the fire bills must be paid when due, fiscally conservative Republicans were still wincing from the 24-percent spending hike rammed through by the governor's party in the regular session. Almost a billion dollars in surplus taxes went up in smoke by a self-inflicted wildfire of spending. To some of us, adding tens of millions in budgetary fuel to that fire was unthinkable.
Rep. Rick Jore and I planned to redirect a portion of the regular session budget increases back to DNRC for fire suppression . The result would have been a prudent, revenue-neutral way of responding to our state's forest fires, while refusing to place yet another heavy burden on the backs of Montana's taxpayers and families.
In every other respect, the special session was a shining success for the Republican side of the aisle. GOP legislators stood firm against the governor's unconstitutional reach for power, and re-routed the entire process back to the people in the form of comprehensive legislative field hearings on the policies and practices of firefighting in Montana. We empowered the people, not the governor.
Among the most essential principles of constitutional government is the separation of powers, whereby each branch “checks” the powers of other branches and guards against a concentration of too much power in any one branch. With regard to wildfires and other emergencies, the Montana Constitution limits the executive branch's power to declare states of emergency to generally 50 days (with additional flexibility.) Long-term or ongoing emergency conditions must be imposed by a resolution of the Legislature, through careful deliberation of the people's elected representatives.
Every governor before Schweitzer has respected these checks and balances and made no attempt to breach them. If necessary, they would ask the Legislature for an emergency resolution, and allow the process to work as constitutionally prescribed. But Brian Schweitzer, who apparently views the state constitution as an irksome inconvenience, proposed no resolution during the special session.
Instead, he pushed two bills that would have transferred legislative emergency powers to the one person who sits in the governor's chair - almost five months of incredibly sweeping authority over persons, properties and liberties. Republican legislators together stood up to what Speaker Sales aptly called an executive “power grab,” and on straight party-line votes, blocked the governor's dictatorial agenda.
The other good news was the passage of two proposals - drafted by me and guided through committee by Chairman Sinrud - that created stronger legislative oversight of the state agency in charge of fire suppression (DNRC) and launched a “go to the people” legislative study committee that will conduct field hearings in at least five communities across the state.
Republicans recognized that fighting fires is about more than writing big checks. Long-term effective fire avoidance and suppression have more to do with policy than with money. Montanans have many great ideas and many serious concerns - not the least of which being the role of the federal government in managing forests and fires. By approving my amendment, the Legislature took a grass-roots, public-involvement approach to solving our wildfire problems, rather than the top-down, bureaucratic, government-has-all-the-answers tact of the governor.
An ensuing amendment imposed more legislative accountability on the DNRC, by requiring them to file a progress report with the next Legislature on the 27 fire-suppression recommendations the Legislative Audit Division had issued in 2004, following an extensive LAD “follow-the-money” study. DNRC agreed with all the recommendations, but it is unknown to what degree they have been implemented.
Gov. Schweitzer's politically-crafted response to the special session could have been sung to the tune, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” for indeed he was blowing smoke into the faces of every taxpayer when he laid claim to a “bipartisan” victory. The taxpayers lost again, but a power-hungry governor lost even more.
To borrow a '60s slogan, “Power to the people!”
Rep. Roger Koopman is a second-term Republican from Bozeman, representing House District 70.
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