The Local Government Interim Committee met for its final meeting of the interim on September 9, 2020. The committee received updates on the Local Government Reimbursement Program administered by the Local Government Bureau of the Department of Administration and the Emergency Housing Assistance Program administered by the Department of Commerce before diving into proposed legislation and its assigned study.

During an afternoon work session, the committee moved to send the following draft legislation on to the 2021 Legislature:

PD3TH - Allow the creation of regional fire protection authorities

PD9 - Reauthorize funding for the multifamily coal trust home loan program

PD3JJ - Authorize funding for the MSU Local Government Center

PD8 - Require biennial reviews of experimental on-site wastewater treatment systems

To complete its assigned study, Senate Joint Resolution 3, the committee moved to adopt the SJ3 final report and to introduce PD8, a bill to require the Department of Environmental Quality to biennially review experimental on-site wastewater treatment systems and report to the Local Government Interim Committee.

The LGIC also spent significant time during the interim studying the Entitlement Share program and moved to send a letter to the Legislative Council requesting that Entitlement Share training be included in this session's legislator orientation and future orientations to ensure proper knowledge and awareness of the program.

Committee website: https://leg.mt.gov/committees/interim/2019lgic/
Committee staff: Toni Henneman; toni.henneman@mt.gov; 406-444-3593