Nutjob Bills in the Montana Legislature

A Nutjob done on a list of Nutjobs

My analysis of a blog entry
This is a response to a blog entry that can be found here: Nutjob Bills in the Montana Legislature. I have no idea if this is original material, or just a copy-paste. If it was just a copy-paste, they should have said that. As it is, unless they contact me, or ammend their blog to say otherwise (if I happen to see it), I'll respond to it as if it was their own work.

See the Explanation of the columns below the table along with hints on how to real the bills if you choose to see for yourself.

How I Rated the Blog Entries

True - Since Montana Cowgirl proudly displays at the top of her blog quotes from sources proclaiming her to have "amazingly accurate inside info", I gave her leeway in cases where maybe I just don't know enough, and gave her a True.
True- quallified - This means it's true, but my comments show why there are issues with it. Like it's not a bill, but a resolution; or her description implies something not stated; or the description leaves out some qualifer that is meaningful.
False - However, since she has "amazingly accurate inside info", if there was anything blatently wrong with her short statement about the bill, she gets a False, even if some things about the statement are true.

Additional Comments

You'll notice there are only 3 Falses. BUT...
...3 totally false ones that even a novice like me can easily read the bill and see it's totally wrong?
...3 totally false from someone proclaiming she has amazing insider information?
And read my comments on the ones I was lenient on giving her a True. Many of them are misleading or inaccurate in the descriptions.
Only 8 are an unqualified True
If she has amazing insider info, why just vaguely imply something in a few words without actually explaining what she means? These descriptions are more like teaser lines with no substance. Many don't agree with what the bill says, but give absolutely no clue as to why.

Montana Cowgirl's Description Link to the Bill in question My Judgement Disposition My Comments
1. Legalize hunting with hand-thrown spear (Senate Bill 112) True Referred to Committee 27y-21n Not sure why this qualifies as "nutjob". A little unusual, but why not?
2. Create fully-armed militia in every town (House Bill 278) True- quallified Tabled in Committee However, it does not state "every town", and does not state armed in every case. There are many categories other than armed. The bill changes places where it says "militia" to say "National Guard". Militia was obviously old outdated terminology. However, insider information may mean there is more to it in the background, so I gave this one a True.
3. Allow legislators to carry weapons in the Capitol (Senate Bill 279) True Committee Report--Bill Passed as Amended (Transmitted to House) 30y-10n Amended - "Legislator" was stricken. Now only applies to "legislative security personel".
4. Create an 11 person panel with authority to nullify all federal laws (House Bill 382) False Fiscal Note Printed (Scheduled for 2nd Reading) 11y-9n It has a long explanation about which types of federal laws are justifiable. It definitely does NOT say ALL laws.
5 Allow guns in schools (House Bill 558) False Referred to Committee (Motion Failed) 2y-75n This is totally false and the law clearly does the opposite. The original law only made expulsion a consequence for the student that brought the gun to school. The ammednment also now includes anyone that has it in their possession even if they didn't bring it themselves. Obviously this is just correction an oversight in the first release of the bill. However, there was also language leaving some leeway for the schools to decide whether the student gets expelled. Not sure why this one failed to pass...
6. Eliminate educational requirements for persons seeking job of State Superintendent of Schools (House Bill 154) True 3rd Reading Failed 46y-53n Cowgirl has this one right. And I agree. This is a nutjob. However, it looks like it has a chance to fail.
7. Lift nuclear ban for purpose of building a nuclear reactor in the Flathead Valley (House Bill 326) True Tabled in Committee This could be true. It is so long and complicated, I gave up. And no mention of Flathead, but insider info could well mean that's the reason.
8. Withdraw the United States of America from the United Nations (Senate Joint Resolution 2) True- quallified Tabled in Committee (Motion Failed) 17y-33n This is a resolution, not a bill. It means it is a statement of opinion and has no bearing as a law.
9. Eliminate all state incentives for developing wind power (House Bill 244) True- quallified Tabled in Committee I don't understand what I am reading. My totally uneducated view would be that it looks like they are repealing an act because there is another program doing the same thing. There is a lot of verbaige about various types of renewable energy research and programs that are elligable for grants, including wind power. It just doesn't look like a simple repeal. But I gave this one a True because I know I don't understand.
10. Omit Barak Obama’s name from the 2012, ballot because his father was born outside of America (House Bill 205) False Scheduled for Executive Action (Tabeled in Committee) This is totally false. First, it only says the federal government does not always do their job in making sure that candidates actually meet the requirements, so it wants the candidates themselves to file documentation and an affidavit showing they do. Since there is absolutely no requirement that a presidential candidate have parents that were born in the US, then there is absolutely nothing in this bill that would have anything to do with Obama.
11. Compulsory marriage counseling for people seeking a divorce (House Bill 438) True- quallified Committee Report--Bill Passed as Amended (2nd Reading Not Passed) 40y-60n I gave it a True, but actually, it only applies to a marriage where there are minor children involved.
12. Give sheriffs authority over the federal government in terror investigations (Senate Bill 114) True Tabled in Committee (Transmitted to House) 28y-22n It was true at the time of her post, however it has been severly changed. It now only says that a federal agent should communicate with the local sherrif before any action "unless the communication would impede the federal officer's official duties".
13. Legalize hunting with silencers (House Bill 174) True Referred to Committee 73y-26n Not sure I see the big deal. Could be some people like to hunt without disturbing game near other hunters. I don't know. Not sure I care.
14. Lift the prohibition on carrying concealed weapons in bars, churches and banks (House Bill 384) True- quallified Referred to Committee 52y-47n I grudgingly gave a True to this, but no where in the original bill, or the proposed ammendments does it say anything about churches. As I read it, there was no proibition in carrying one into a church before. And by the way, it still requires you have a permit for a concealed weapon before you can carry it anywhere concealed.
15. Eliminate law that requires landlords to install carbon monoxide detectors (House Bill 354) True Transmitted to Senate (Hearing) 71y-27n This is absolutely true. And scary.
16. Require the federal government to prove in court that the National Parks were lawfully aquired. (House Bill 506) True- quallified Introduced Bill Text Available Electronically (Tabled in Committee) They don't specifically mention National Parks, but I'm sure they would be included in "federally owned lands", unless the Montana legislature had voted for it.
17. Officially designate the “Code of the West” as the “Code of Montana” (Senate Bill 216) True Transmitted to House 29y-20n Might be silly, but it sounds like declaring a state song or flower. This is the state code. And for the most part, it sounds pretty good.

( 1) Live each day with courage.
( 2) Take pride in your work.
( 3) Always finish what you start.
( 4) Do what has to be done.
( 5) Be tough, but fair.
( 6) When you make a promise, keep it.
( 7) Ride for the brand.
( 8) Talk less and say more.
( 9) Remember that some things aren't for sale.
(10) Know where to draw the line.
UPDATE: 18. Declare that global warming is good. (House Bill 549) True Introduced Bill Text Available Electronically (Tabled in Committee) True. Another sad one.

Explanation of the columns

Link to the bill in question -
This link takes tyou to a page with procedural information about the bill. Manily what step it is at, and the results of any votes that have taken place.
On the left, almost at the top, you will see something like :
Where it says "HTML" or "PDF", you can click to see the actual text of the bill.
Where it says "Previous Version(s)" you can go see the earlier versions. However, this takes you to a list of all bills, and it is up to you to navigate through it and find them.
When reading the bills:
...Unchanged text from the original bill looks, well, normal.
...Text to be added is underlined.
...Text to be removed has a strike through.
...Original text is never deleted while a bill is being altered. If a section or word is to be changed, it is deleted, then added, like this: Change this that word. So, in this example the final bill would have the word "this" changed to "that".
...Using the above techniques ensures you can ALWAYS tell what the riginal bill looked like until the new one passes.
...HOWEVER - The added text can be changed from previous versions. And the strikethrough can be removed returning the original text back as it was. So you CANNOT tell what was altered in the proposed changes.

My Judgement column -
Explained at top of page under How I rated...

Disposition Column -
I am writing this 5-6 days after the blog entry, so this is how I did it.
EXAMPLE : First Reading (Referred to Committee) 27y-21n
This means that the last status at least one day before the blog post (2010/02/17), the bill had its first reading. Currently it has been referred to committee. The last vote was 27 to 21 in favor.
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