By JIM GRANSBERY
Of The Gazette Staff
Rep. Dennis "Sparky" Himmelberger, R-Billings, suggested Thursday that the committee hearing later in the day on his bill to give counties control over the sale of fireworks would be "hot."
Apparently, the bill has lit a number of short fuses.
In a good-natured exchange with interested constituents and officials about the progress of the Montana Legislature, Rep. Elsie Arntzen, R-Billings, said Himmelberger will be known after the session as "Sparky."
In response, Himmelberger said he had switched political parties and "I am now a member of the Communist Party.
That is one of the milder epithets thrown his way for his sponsorship of a bill requested by Yellowstone County Commissioner Jim Reno.
The sale and use of fireworks is illegal in the city of Billings.
However, the ban ends at the city limits.
Reno wants the county to have the power to ban fireworks, because of fire danger and because the city ban is largely ignored by residents.
The bill has been amended to allow for a public vote of approval or rejection of whatever the county commission might decide.
On a more serious note, Bruce McIntyre, of the Billings Area Chamber of Commerce, said members of the National Fireworks Association were scouting Billings as a future convention site.
The five-day gathering would include fireworks displays, he said.
Himmelberger reassured McIntyre that the bill had an exception for professional fireworks displays and would not affect the conventioneers.
The exchange Thursday between locals and legislators was a noon-hour teleconference at the Montana State University-Billings Downtown Campus on North Broadway. The bi-weekly event allows for interested parties to question legislators about bills of local interest.
Al Littler, a Billings real estate broker, was appreciative for the tabling of a bill that would have placed use restrictions on groundwater
from private wells.
He expressed concern that such restrictions were another way for the state to control development. Rep. Kendall Van Dyk, D-Billings, noted that the House Natural Resources Committee had made progress on a committee bill to repeal the water rights adjudication fee enacted just two years ago.
Bill Kennedy, Yellowstone County commissioner, asked the legislators to sign on to a bill being written to place a cap on the time it takes for a pre-commitment evaluation the mentally ill.
The bill, now in the writing stage as LC1157, would put a six-day cap on the time it takes to make an evaluation of whether a mental health patient should be institutionalized.
Kennedy said the county's checkbook is being left open to cover the cost of the evaluations that sometimes are not completed for 10 to 15 days.
Rep. Arlene Becker, D-Billings, will carry the bill.
The next teleconference with the legislators is on Feb. 15 at noon at the Downtown Campus.
Published on Friday, February 02, 2007.
Of The Gazette Staff
Rep. Dennis "Sparky" Himmelberger, R-Billings, suggested Thursday that the committee hearing later in the day on his bill to give counties control over the sale of fireworks would be "hot."
Apparently, the bill has lit a number of short fuses.
In a good-natured exchange with interested constituents and officials about the progress of the Montana Legislature, Rep. Elsie Arntzen, R-Billings, said Himmelberger will be known after the session as "Sparky."
In response, Himmelberger said he had switched political parties and "I am now a member of the Communist Party.
That is one of the milder epithets thrown his way for his sponsorship of a bill requested by Yellowstone County Commissioner Jim Reno.
The sale and use of fireworks is illegal in the city of Billings.
However, the ban ends at the city limits.
Reno wants the county to have the power to ban fireworks, because of fire danger and because the city ban is largely ignored by residents.
The bill has been amended to allow for a public vote of approval or rejection of whatever the county commission might decide.
On a more serious note, Bruce McIntyre, of the Billings Area Chamber of Commerce, said members of the National Fireworks Association were scouting Billings as a future convention site.
The five-day gathering would include fireworks displays, he said.
Himmelberger reassured McIntyre that the bill had an exception for professional fireworks displays and would not affect the conventioneers.
The exchange Thursday between locals and legislators was a noon-hour teleconference at the Montana State University-Billings Downtown Campus on North Broadway. The bi-weekly event allows for interested parties to question legislators about bills of local interest.
Al Littler, a Billings real estate broker, was appreciative for the tabling of a bill that would have placed use restrictions on groundwater
from private wells.
He expressed concern that such restrictions were another way for the state to control development. Rep. Kendall Van Dyk, D-Billings, noted that the House Natural Resources Committee had made progress on a committee bill to repeal the water rights adjudication fee enacted just two years ago.
Bill Kennedy, Yellowstone County commissioner, asked the legislators to sign on to a bill being written to place a cap on the time it takes for a pre-commitment evaluation the mentally ill.
The bill, now in the writing stage as LC1157, would put a six-day cap on the time it takes to make an evaluation of whether a mental health patient should be institutionalized.
Kennedy said the county's checkbook is being left open to cover the cost of the evaluations that sometimes are not completed for 10 to 15 days.
Rep. Arlene Becker, D-Billings, will carry the bill.
The next teleconference with the legislators is on Feb. 15 at noon at the Downtown Campus.
Published on Friday, February 02, 2007.