Montana

Montana lawmakers consider bill to invest $300M in behavioral health system

Published

1 year ago

March 29, 2023

Montana lawmakers consider bill to invest $300M in behavioral health system

HELENA — Montana lawmakers and state company leaders stated Wednesday that they’ve a novel alternative this yr to spend money on Montana’s behavioral well being system – and it’s time to take it.

As a part of his state finances proposal final yr, Gov. Greg Gianforte referred to as for guiding $300 million in state funding to behavioral well being. Now, lawmakers have launched Home Invoice 872, which might create a framework for the way that cash could be distributed.

“We’re right here as a result of we’re lucky to have a big surplus and we will resolve issues,” stated Rep. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, who’s sponsoring HB 872. “I have a look at this invoice as a possibility to do nice issues.”

The Home Appropriations Committee held an preliminary listening to on the invoice Wednesday morning.

HB 872’s title establishes its aim as supporting a “behavioral well being system for future generations.” It might put aside $225 million in a brand new state account that will be used to fund state and community-based packages for folks with behavioral well being wants or developmental disabilities. One other $75 million would go into the state’s long-range constructing fund for future capital initiatives within the behavioral well being system.

The cash within the new state fund may very well be used for finding out and planning a complete behavioral well being system, planning and operation of state care services, buying or renovating property to determine state services, and investing in community-based suppliers to stabilize service supply, assist the workforce and improve service capability.

“We’ve to have a partnership of private and non-private,” stated Keenan. “That’s how the system will work.”

HB 872 would set up a fee to make suggestions on how the cash needs to be used. It might embrace 4 lawmakers, the director of the Montana Division of Public Well being and Human Companies and two different members appointed by the governor.

“To be on this committee goes to take quite a lot of time and quite a lot of work,” Keenan stated. “I believe it is going to be price it. I believe that Montana is positioned to essentially make some super steps ahead.”

Whereas the fee would suggest actions, Gianforte would have the ultimate choice on whether or not to undertake these suggestions.

Whereas HB 872 units apart $300 million, it solely gives the authority to spend $70 million of that over the following two years. The 2025 Legislature could have an opportunity to weigh in on how the remainder of the cash needs to be used.

Keenan and DPHHS director Charlie Brereton informed lawmakers the plan is “broad open” at this level, and they’re going to fastidiously take into account all choices. Nevertheless, they stated there is no such thing as a plan to shut or privatize the Montana State Hospital at Heat Springs.

“We proceed to make historic investments within the current state-run well being care services, however we additionally wish to be daring,” Brereton stated. “We wish to assume larger and broader on this area alongside community-based suppliers.”

Throughout Wednesday’s listening to, some lawmakers questioned why DPHHS didn’t have extra particulars about how the cash may very well be used – particularly about any potential new services.

“Did I hear that you just guys do not know what you are constructing?” requested Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Field Elder.

“May the division have rushed a plan in a proposal ahead and offered it to you all? We completely might have,” Brereton stated in response. “However we have elected to hit pause, to do that in a considerate, data-informed, rational method, alongside the legislature and suppliers and stakeholders.”

Some advocates additionally opposed the type of the fee, saying individuals who’ve handled behavioral well being challenges and gone by means of the present system needs to be assured a voice.

“Just be sure you’re together with the people who use the system as you design the system – not simply saying, ‘Hey, we’ll maintain a listening session,’ however make sure that we have now that seat on the desk, and we’re a part of the decision-making course of,” stated Joel Peden, representing impartial dwelling facilities and Incapacity Rights Montana.

The Home Appropriations Committee took no rapid motion on the invoice.

Source link

Click to comment

Montana

Court Halts Massive Illegal Old Growth Logging Project in Montana's Little Belt Mountains

Published

2 hours ago

July 1, 2024

Press Room

Court Halts Massive Illegal Old Growth Logging Project in Montana's Little Belt Mountains

Male American (Northern) Goshawk. Public domain.

On June 27, 2024, a federal court halted an illegal logging project on federal public lands in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council filed their lawsuit to stop the Horsefly project in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest in April 2021. The project called for cutting and burning trees on 10,343 acres, which is more than 16 square miles. To enable the logging, the agency planned on bulldozing a stunning 40.7 miles of new logging roads in the Little Belt Mountains north of White Sulphur Springs, Montana.

The scope of the massive Horsefly landscape-altering proposal is alarming and because the project violated federal law, it had to be enjoined.

The Forest Service used a number of euphemisms in a transparent attempt to disguise what used to be more honestly called logging. For instance, the agency called 3,278 acres of commercial logging ‘intermediate treatment,’ 1,049 acres of clearcutting ‘regeneration harvest,’ 409 acres of clearcutting and possible burning ‘meadow restoration,’ and 465 acres of non-commercial logging ‘rearrangement of fuels’. They’re ‘rearranging’ them alright: from forest ecosystems to stump fields.

This is an ecosystem, not a private tree farm, and so we have to maintain the habitat for sensitive wildlife species. One of those species is the northern goshawk, which has been declining in population, and which the forest plan lists as an old-growth forest management indicator species. Due to the importance of this species, the law requires 100% of goshawk nets to be monitored annually.

In 2018, the entire Forest was surveyed for goshawks and the Forest Service found an alarming 47% decline in active goshawk nests, which the agency failed to disclose to the public in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act. The agency also ignored its own Forest Plan requirement to issue an evaluation report if active nests decline by 10%.”

The Court’s ruling was very straightforward on the failure of the Forest Service to follow the law. As the Order reads: “The Court agrees with Alliance that the Forest Service’s failure to disclose and evaluate the decline in active goshawk nesting territories violated both NFMA and NEPA. . . . Federal Defendants all but concede that the Forest Service’s failure to disclose the decrease in active goshawk nesting territories to the public in the EA and failure to comply with the Forest Plan requirement to conduct an evaluation report if active nests decline by 10% amounts to a violation of NFMA.” Yet the Forest Service continues to log the last remaining mature and old growth forests and goshawks are in trouble.

The Court’s order remanded the project authorization to the agency, and enjoined the project pending compliance with federal law. We follow the law every day, and the Forest Service must also follow the law. When a government agency violates the law, it must be held accountable in court. It’s not easy to fight the federal government, which has far more resources than we do, but nonetheless we are committed to making the government follow its own laws to protect our native wildlife and public land ecosystems. Despite attacks by politicians, intimidation tactics, and misinformation campaigns, we won’t be stopped. We are determined to continue with this critical work.

Please consider helping us continue to fight to protect old growth forests and make the Forest Service follow the law.

Source link

Montana

Search underway for a missing boater in Flathead Lake

Published

9 hours ago

June 30, 2024

Press Room

Search underway for a missing boater in Flathead Lake

MISSOULA — The search for a boater in trouble on Flathead Lake continues.

Lake County Sheriff Don Bell has identified the missing person as 34-year-old Chad Hansen from Missoula.

He was last seen in the area north of Little Bull Island and south of Safety Bay.

Hansen became separated from his boat and witnesses who tried to help him weren’t able to.

Based on the accounts gathered from witnesses it is believed that he has died of drowning, a news release states.

Teams from Lake County, Flathead County, Missoula County, and Kootenai County, Idaho, are searching Flathead Lake in an effort to find Hansen.

Source link

Montana

Real Madrid's Coach Visits Montana

Published

16 hours ago

June 30, 2024

Press Room

Montana — After another successful season for Los Blancos, Carlo Ancelotti is spending some time in The Treasure State.

Over the past few days, Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti has shared some photos from a vacation with his spouse, Mariann Barrena McClay, in Montana. They have spent some time horseback riding and checking out the Sawmill Saloon in Darby.

This vacation follows a trophy-filled season at Real Madrid, during which they won La Liga, the Champions League, and the Spanish Super Cup. They probably feel alright about their chances next season, considering that Mbappe is joining the squad.

The small town of Darby, situated on Montana Highway 93, recorded a population of 783 in the 2020 census. The town is home to logging and rodeo events, along with a farmer’s market. In July, they host a Bluegrass and Strawberry Festivals. The closest ski area to Darby is Lost Trail Powder Mountain, which is in Idaho and Montana.