_________ Bill No. _______

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________



A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act revising the distribution of weed control fees collected by the county treasurer on annual motor vehicle registration or reregistration; setting conditions on a county's eligibility to receive a percentage of the fees; providing that proceeds from the weed control fee may not be used to replace funds that contribute to the existing county noxious weed budget or to lower the existing noxious weed mill levy; and amending section 80-7-810, MCA."



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



Section 1.  Section 80-7-810, MCA, is amended to read:

"80-7-810.   Disposition of proceeds. (1) Three percent of the proceeds from the fee imposed in 61-3-510 may be retained by the county treasurer for costs of collection. The remainder remaining 97% of the proceeds must be deposited in the special revenue fund and must be expended as provided in 80-7-814. Twenty-five percent of the money deposited in the special revenue fund under this section must be used for research and development of nonchemical methods of weed management. as follows:

(a) 25% must be deposited in the county noxious weed fund;

(b) 40% must be deposited in the special revenue fund and must be divided equally among all county weed funds in the state on a semiannual basis; and

(c) 32% must be deposited in the special revenue fund and expended as provided in 80-7-814. Of the money deposited pursuant to this subsection (1)(c), 75% must be used for research and integrated weed management and education.

(2) (a) A county may receive funds pursuant to subsection (1) only if the county has funded its own weed management program with a levy in an amount of not less than 1.6 mills or an equivalent amount from another source or by an amount of not less than $100,000 for first-class counties, as defined in 7-1-2111. The proceeds from the fee imposed in 61-3-510 may not be used to replace funds that contribute to the existing county noxious weed budget or to lower the existing noxious weed mill levy.

(b) If a county does not meet the requirements of subsection (2)(a), the proceeds that would be deposited to the credit of the county pursuant to subsections (1)(a) and (1)(b) must be deposited into the special revenue fund and must be expended as provided in 80-7-814."

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