ILL-ADVISED REFERENDUMS WOULD ONLY MAKE THINGS WORSE

Two petition drives -- one under way and the other planned to start
in the next few weeks -- seek to take the unusual step of blocking
laws passed by the just-completed Legislature.

The first would undo severe restrictions the lawmakers imposed on the
medicinal marijuana business in Montana; the second would negate
steps the Legislature took to clear the way for power-line builders
to use eminent domain to gain rights of way when negotiations with
landowners failed.

Both referendums are ill-advised, and for pretty much the same basic
reason: Even though the laws they target fall far short of
perfection, revoking them and replacing them with what existed before
the 62nd legislative session would be far worse.

The pre-legislation medical cannabis situation was unacceptable for a
variety of reasons, most related to the fact that there were few
regulations in place as the industry -- and it did quickly become an
industry -- burgeoned in the past couple of years.

Voters approved such use of marijuana back in 2004, but only recently
did it take off, to the point where more than 30,000 Montanans now
have "green cards" authorizing them to partake of marijuana products
for medicinal reasons.

Growers and "dispensaries" sprang up around the state with little
regulation, causing education and law enforcement issues that hadn't
been foreseen by advocates of the original initiative.

The first legislative response was a bill to repeal the initiative,
but Gov. Schweitzer vetoed it. In the aftermath, lawmakers passed a
set of restrictions that removes "business" from the equation,
authorizing patients to grow a small amount of their own marijuana.

Not surprisingly, the trade association that has grown up around the
marijuana issue wants to go back to the relatively unregulated
pre-Legislature status.

That would be a mistake; the industry should take another run at it in 2013.

The eminent domain referendum, being honchoed by Public Service
Commissioner John Vincent, D-Bozeman, is an even worse idea.

The legislation clarifies who can use eminent domain for a public
use, including developers who receive construction certificates under
the state Major Facilities Citing Act.

Power-line and pipeline developers thought they had such power until
a district judge last year ruled that they didn't.

In addition to freezing development of transmission projects seen as
necessary prerequisites to further growth in the wind energy business
in Montana, the ruling stopped in its tracks a project that was
already under way between Great Falls and Lethbridge.

Tonbridge, the Canadian company building the Montana Alberta Tie Ltd.
line, already had spent millions of dollars developing the line, so
it was among the most eager advocates for legislative clarification
of its rights.

Lawmakers considered some other bills focusing on eminent domain,
including one that would have strengthened the hands of landowners in
their dealings with utilities, and another that would have provided
more flexibility in routing so that situations such as the one near
Cut Bank that wound up blocking the MATL line wouldn't occur.

But those alternatives failed and some of their most useful elements
didn't make it into the final version of HB198.

Schweitzer saw that and wanted the Legislature to put a two-year
expiration date on the measure to assure that the 2013 Legislature
would revisit the issues, but the Republican legislative leaders held
onto the bill until the end of the session so that he couldn't issue
an amendatory veto to that effect.

That wasn't a bad move, if only because in the world of
multimillion-dollar energy development, an on-again-off-again
regulatory environment discourages developers or convinces them to
take their investments elsewhere.

The upshot is that HB198, along with the equally flawed medicinal
marijuana bill, will become law without the governor's signature.

Imperfect as they are, however, they should stay law, because their
absence would be worse than their presence.

We encourage Montanans not to sign the petitions or vote for the
referendums if they make it to the ballot.