MONTANA HOUSE OVERTURNS MISSOULA'S MARIJUANA ENFORCEMENT ORDINANCE

HELENA - The Montana House voted 68-31 Tuesday to prohibit local
initiatives setting law enforcement priorities, an act that would
overturn Missoula County's voter-approved measure to make marijuana
crimes the county's lowest priority.

The bill faces a final House vote before heading to the
Senate.

House Bill 391, by Rep. Tom Berry, R-Roundup, also would prevent other
local initiatives elsewhere from setting law enforcement priorities.

In 2006, some 55 percent of voters in Missoula County approved a
measure known as Initiative 2. It recommended crimes related to
marijuana be the lowest priority for law enforcement, and it also
formed an oversight committee.

The Missoula County commissioners later amended the initiative to
exclude felony amounts - 60 grams and above - of marijuana from the
recommendation.

Rep. Berry said he introduced the bill at the request of Missoula
County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg.

Van Valkenburg testified before a legislative committee that he has
tried to make the initiative work, but feels torn between the wishes
of Missoula County residents and his obligation to enforce state laws.

His concern is having a hodgepodge of locally enacted initiatives
throughout the state to set local law enforcement agencies'
priorities, Berry said.

"Next thing you know, it ends up chaos," he said.

County attorneys and law enforcement officials don't know which state
laws to enforce, Berry said.

"State law is state law," he said. "If you don't like state law, come
here and change it."

But community principles are at play too, and Katherine Orlowski said
Missoula was pioneering when it established its own standards for
prosecuting crimes related to marijuana.

"I've seen tons of wonderful things come out from the local level, and
I'm not sure if Helena is listening to the people," said Orlowski, a
member of Missoula County's Marijuana Initiative Oversight Committee.

Missoula is unique, and Orlowski does not want to see legislators
adopt a law that would repeal the local effort. To make such
initiatives work, she said the community should work closely with law
enforcement.

Rep. Dick Barrett, D-Missoula, opposed the bill during Tuesday's
debate. He said there's nothing wrong with local citizens deciding on
what the most and least important priorities are for their local
authorities.

"There's nothing wrong with the citizenry of the local area deciding
what is most important and what is least important in terms of what
their local law enforcement agencies do," he said. "What the people of
Missoula decided was there were other things that were more important
to them. Maybe that's enforcing DUI laws, or dealing with domestic
abuse or dealing with other kinds of crimes."

Rep. Steve Lavin, R-Kalispell, supported the bill.

"This is an attempt by local people to go around the law," the Highway
Patrol officer said.

He said there should be consistent laws statewide both for citizens to
observe and police and sheriff's departments to enforce.

HB391 is one of two bills targeted at undoing or repealing actions
taken by Missoula County voters or the Missoula City Council.

The other is HB516, by Rep. Kristin Hansen, R-Havre, which prohibits
local governments from enacting ordinances that say it's illegal to
discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation and
gender, as the cities of Missoula did through an ordinance and Bozeman
did through a policy.