PANEL HEARS BILL TO OVERRIDE MISSOULA MARIJUANA LAW ENFORCEMENT INITIATIVE

HELENA - Law enforcement officials on Thursday supported a bill to
overturn Missoula County's 2006 initiative that declared marijuana to
be local law enforcement's lowest priority.

They spoke in favor of House Bill 391, by Rep. Tom Berry, R-Roundup,
who submitted the bill on behalf of Missoula County Attorney Fred Van
Valkenburg, who also testified. Speakers representing county
attorneys, sheriffs and peace officers and the Montana Department of
Justice endorsed the bill.

Opposing the bill were Missoula City Council member Cynthia Wolken,
who read a statement for the Montana Chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws or MT-NORML; Rep. Ellie
Hill, D-Missoula; and Mike Fellows, chairman of the Montana Libertarian Party.

Van Valkenburg told the House Local Government Committee that he's
tried to make the initiative work but hasn't been able to do so,
because it asks him to serve two masters.

"How do I carry out the wishes of Missoula County and at the same
time enforce state law as a result?" he asked.

He said he convinced the Missoula County commissioners to clarify
that the initiative applies only to marijuana misdemeanors.

"I've essentially concluded if the Legislature passes a law, it
really should be enforced, if you're in Sidney or Hamilton or
anywhere in between," said Van Valkenburg, a former legislator.

Jim Smith, lobbyist for the Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers
Association, asked what would happen if a county initiative passed to
make some crime the second- and third-lowest priorities. Law
enforcement officials would have be issued matrices showing which
laws they could enforce and in which order, he said.

Mike Batista, administrator of the Criminal Investigation Division of
the Justice Department, said the Missoula County initiative causes
confusion for Montana Highway Patrol officers and drug enforcement teams.

In opposing the bill, Wolken read the testimony for John Masterson,
board chairman of MT-NORML.

"Initiative 2 passed with the overwhelming support of the citizens of
Missoula County," his statement said. "It is puzzling that Mr. Van
Valkenburg - an official elected by the people of Missoula County -
is doing everything in his power to circumvent and overturn the will
of the people."

He noted that not one of the Missoula County legislators is
sponsoring the bill, so Van Valkenburg had to turn to a lawmaker from
Roundup to introduce it.

Masterson's statement called the bill "an insult to the people of
Missoula County and to the concept of representative democracy" and
"a slap in the face of local government and local control-something
this committee often touts."

Wolken also testified against the bill on her own behalf, calling it
"an end run around the voters of Missoula County."

Hill said she has enormous respect for Van Valkenburg, but called it
a "backdoor move" and "a slap in the face to our local government."