SENATE BILL NO. 177

INTRODUCED BY S. STANG

A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT REVISING HERD DISTRICT LAWS BY ALLOWING A COUNTY COMMISSION TO CREATE A HERD DISTRICT OF 1 SQUARE MILE OR MORE OUTSIDE OF INCORPORATED CITIES; AND AMENDING SECTION 81-4-301, MCA."

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

Section 1. Section 81-4-301, MCA, is amended to read:

"81-4-301. Herd districts -- creation, size, and location. (1) (a) Except as provided in subsection (1)(b), a herd district may be created in any county in the state of Montana upon petition of owners or possessors of 55% of the land in the district and providing 25% or more of the land in the district is in actual cultivation or being used for residential purposes. Herd districts must contain 12 square miles or more, lying not less than 1 mile in width, outside of the incorporated cities . A herd district may be created containing not less than 6 or more than 54 square miles, lying not less than 2 miles in width, when the territory joins and is contiguous with the boundaries of a city having a population of 10,000 or more and the territory to be created in the herd district has a suburban population of not less than 200 people.

(b) The commissioners of a county may, upon petition of owners or possessors of 55% of the land in a district, create a herd district of 1 square mile or more outside of incorporated cities.

(2) In formation of a herd district, the entire holding of any owner or lessee must be included unless the owner or lessee consents that less than the owner or lessee's entire contiguous holdings be included in the petition.

(3) The petition must designate the months of the year when the herd district is effective, and upon presentation and filing of the petition, properly signed, giving the outside boundaries and description of the proposed district and the post-office address of the petition signers , with the clerk and recorder in the county in which the district is being created, the county commissioners of that county, upon receipt of the petition, shall set a date for hearing protests and verifying the petition signatures and shall give not less than 20 days' notice of the hearing by three publications in a newspaper of general circulation in the county of the proposed district. At the hearing held pursuant to the notices, the county commissioners shall examine the petition and shall cause a map to be made in order to determine the shape and regularity of the boundaries of the proposed district. The commissioners may then establish the district, but the district may be established only in a manner that the district will be reasonably regular and symmetrical in shape or practicable in relation to the geographical features of the district. It is not required that the boundaries of any district follow section lines to meet the requirement of reasonably regular and symmetrical boundaries.

(4) If the county commissioners after the hearing determine that the signatures attached to the petition are genuine, they shall immediately declare the herd district created and established. After making the declaration, the county commissioners shall give notice by four weekly publications in some newspaper nearest the district of the creation of the district, also stating the period the district will be in effect. A district may not be in effect until 30 days have expired after the declaration.

(5) Upon petition of any owner or possessor of lands lying contiguous and adjoining any herd district created and upon hearing and notice as provided for in subsection (3), the lands must be included in the herd district and become a part of the district. Should the signature of lessee appear on the petition creating or abolishing any herd district, the owner or owners of the land may appear either in person or agent and enter their protest and the board of county commissioners shall remove the name of the lessee from the petition, and a person may not withdraw the person's name after the hour set for hearing the protest."

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