House Bill No. 378

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________



A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act requiring the department of revenue to supply employees who are appraisers with cellular phones; requiring appraisers to pay cellular phone charges that exceed reimbursement limits, except for emergency phone use

; and providing an effective date."



Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:



NEW SECTION. Section 1.  Appraiser safety -- communications equipment. (1) For the primary purpose of appraiser safety while conducting appraisals, the department shall:

(a) equip each person employed by the department as an appraiser with a cellular telephone for the appraiser to use exclusively for work-related or emergency purposes; and

(b) reimburse each person who is issued a cellular phone on a monthly basis and in the amount specified for the government rate plan provided in the current cellular telephone service and equipment agreement administered by the department of administration in accordance with the Montana Procurement Act, Title 18, chapter 4.

(2) (a) Except as provided in subsection (2)(b), a person who is employed by the department as an appraiser and who is issued a cellular phone by the department shall pay all charges related to the use of the phone that exceed the monthly reimbursement provided for in subsection (1)(b).

(b) A person who is employed by the department as an appraiser and who is issued a cellular phone is not required to pay any charge in excess of the amount provided for in subsection (1)(b) if the charge is, in the department's judgment, consequent to the use of the phone in an emergency situation.



NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Codification instruction. [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 15, chapter 7, part 1, and the provisions of Title 15, chapter 7, part 1, apply to [section 1].



NEW SECTION. Section 3.  Effective date. [This act] is effective July 1, 1997.

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