Montana Breweries, Utility Bill, Consumer Prices Down

Missoulian: Bill that would allow more craft beer taprooms in Missoula set to become law

HB 541: Revise small brewery laws

Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Regulators lose bid for power outage cost-sharing plan
HB 193: Revise utility electric cost recovery

HB 475: Requiring certain utilities to file general rate cases

Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Consumer prices down 0.3 percent in March
Producer Price Index News Release text
“The Producer Price Index for final demand declined 0.1 percent in March, seasonally adjusted,
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Final demand prices advanced 0.3 percent in February and 0.6 percent in January. (See table A.) On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index rose 2.3 percent for the 12 months ended March 2017, the largest increase since moving up 2.4 percent for the 12 months ended March 2012.”

National Bison Range, Gas Tax, Medical Marijuana, Bombing Afghanistan

Missoulian: Zinke halts plan to transfer National Bison Range to tribal control

Statement from Secretary Zinke on the National Bison Range

“Twenty years of negotiation for an Annual Funding Agreement (AFA) with CSKT was met with mixed success due to litigation, personnel management issues, and differences in expectations regarding how the agreement should be crafted. In January of 2016, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) informed the Tribe that due to issues with AFA negotiations, they were changing the preferred path forward, instead supporting a legislative transfer of the NBR. In June of 2016, CSKT released draft legislation that would transfer management of NBR from the FWS to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to be held in trust for the CSKT. FWS supplied technical drafting assistance to Senator Jon Tester on the initial idea of a legislative transfer, but did not formally offer comment or directly engage on the bill crafted by CSKT.”

Missoulian: 4.5-cent-a-gallon hike in gas tax moves forward

HB 473: Revise highway revenue laws

Missoulian: Medical marijuana regulation bill has seen many amendments so far in Montana Legislature

SB 333: Generally revise medical marijuana laws

Missoulian: In first-ever combat use, US drops its largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan

U.S. Bombs, Destroys Khorasan Group Stronghold in Afghanistan