A Week of Small Battles
Krayton Kerns
1.31.07
The early weeks of legislators professing the joy of bipartisanship are slipping behind us. Many of the warm and fuzzy bills were passing Second Reading in the House with votes of 100 to 0. That stopped January 22, 2007.
I presented my bill to ban human cloning to the Committee of the Whole on Monday afternoon. This bill, HB215, had passed out of the House Judiciary Committee with a 10 to 7 party line vote. I expected fireworks on the House Floor and I was not disappointed.
The opposition offered an amendment from the floor, but I remained steadfast that the language in the bill was clear and the proposed amendment was unnecessary. After an hour of debate, this amendment was voted down and HB215 passed Second Reading 61 to 39. Tuesday afternoon it passed Third Reading 79 to 19 so the human cloning ban is off to the Senate.
It has become obvious that the true work and debate on proposed legislation occurs in the various committee hearings. Because I am so engrossed in the battles of the committees I serve, (Judiciary, Human Services, Agriculture and Rules) I miss much of the action in the others. As odd as it sounds, I find myself reading the newspapers to find out what is happening in other committees in the capitol.
Here are the other highlights of the week:
The Veterans’ State Cemetery bill, HB96, is scheduled for another public hearing in the House Appropriations Committee Monday January the 29th. This is where we will decide its funding level.
HB 47, an act that may or may not have prevented you from cleaning your barn and dumping the manure on your five acre pasture, was killed in the Ag. Committee. That is a good thing because most of us were still confused as to what it did or didn’t do. We committee members tried to look smarter than we were, but finally resigned ourselves to sending the manure bill to the legislative compost pile. That was a poetic end.
HB361 was a mouth dropping surprise to me. Did you know it is entirely legal for two people to get married in Montana, complete with a Montana Marriage Certificate, when neither the bride, nor the groom have ever lived here? As a matter of fact, it is possible in Montana via the mail, for a bride from Uzbekistan to marry a groom from Somalia and they don’t even have to know how to pronounce Montana. This is called marriage by double proxy and it is done hundreds of times each year in Flathead County.
Evidently, there is a legal firm in Kalispell who will pass the paperwork of holy matrimony through the county district court for the one time fee of $900. Do a Google search and you will find Montana is famous for double proxy marriages.
While questioning the clerk of the court, Rep. Dave Gallik of Helena was exploring the expense the county was incurring because of the paperwork behind these double proxy marriages.
“How much does it cost to get married?” he asked.
The answer almost exploded from my mouth. There I sat with a live microphone in my face and both hands tightly gripping my tongue so I wouldn’t say, “It costs a lot. Most people do it on an installment plan. They pay for it every day of the rest of their lives.” I wanted to say it. But I didn’t.
For the upcoming week we will debate marijuana laws, the Second amendment, and funeral rights. Not all in the same bill however. Expect plenty of sparks next week.
