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Senate President and House Speaker Intervene to Protect Legislature’s Constitutional Role
HELENA, Mont.— The state Legislature today filed an amicus brief in the Held v. Montana case pending before the Montana Supreme Court.
Senate President Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, and House Speaker Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, seek to protect the Legislature’s constitutional role in their capacities as officers of the Legislature.
“The Held case raises fundamental constitutional separation of powers issues,” Ellsworth said. “It’s important for the Legislature to get directly involved in this case to protect our branch of government’s constitutional lawmaking authority.”
“Our brief argues that the District Court overstepped its judicial authority and improperly waded into environmental policymaking, which is the Legislature’s job under our state constitution,” Regier stated.
“The Montana Supreme Court must reverse the District Court’s erroneous decision and reaffirm Montana’s constitutional separation of powers among the legislative, judicial, and executive branches,” Ellsworth and Regier said jointly.
In the brief, the Legislature asserts that the Montana Constitution expressly gives the Legislature the responsibility to enact the “right to a clean and healthful environment,” that the District Court ignored a relevant article of the constitution in making its ruling, and that the District Court’s ultimate conclusion amounts to an invalid delegation of legislative authority.
Article II of the Montana Constitution provides that “the right to a clean and healthful environment” is an inalienable right. Article IX of the constitution directs the Legislature to determine how to enact that right in practice.
“The right to a clean and healthful environment under [Article II of the constitution] is not self-executing, meaning it relies on The Legislature to breathe life into the promise of a 'clean and healthful environment.’ The Legislature's power to determine what laws should be passed concerning a clean and healthful environment is expressly stated in [Article IX of the constitution]…The District Court must give deference to The Legislature's determination of what that duty requires, even if it does not agree with The Legislature's approach,” the brief argues.
The Legislature asserts that the District Court ignored Article IX and noted that the Legislature passed House Bill 971 and Senate Bill 557, the two bills being challenged in the case, in response to prior judicial overstepping by a judge in Yellowstone County. The bills prohibited the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) from evaluating greenhouse gas emissions under the procedural Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA).
“Forming an opinion of what is adequate or not to fulfill [the promise of a clean and healthful environment] goes beyond The Judicial Branch's authority to interpret the law passed by The Legislature. It violates Article IX by stepping into the shoes of The Legislature to determine what law should be passed to fulfill the promise of a clean and healthful environment.”
Finally, the Legislature argues that even if the District Court struck down HB 971 and SB 557, the District Court is wrong to conclude that DEQ could then evaluate greenhouse gas emissions under MEPA. The Legislature has not given DEQ any such authority and cannot constitutionally delegate its policymaking authority to the executive branch.
“If there is nothing in the statute to enable the agency to know its rights and obligations, it is an an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power…Here, the Legislative Branch did not expressly delegate the authority needed to the Department of Environmental Quality.”
Beyond their legal arguments on behalf of the Legislature in court, Ellsworth and Regier highlighted the seriousness of the underlying environmental policy considerations present in the Held case.
“Blocking certain projects because of greenhouse gas emissions could have devastating impacts on Montana’s ability to produce energy while having effectively zero impact on the climate,” Regier explained. “The Held case could jeopardize our ability to keep the lights on and affordably heat our homes. The stakes are high for the wellbeing of Montanans.”
“When should a natural gas plant be brought online, in addition to a solar farm? What is the proper balance among carbon emissions, energy production, and the cost of electricity and heat?” Ellsworth asked hypothetically. “These are complex problems that require careful policymaking with robust public input. The Legislature is the only branch of government designed to take input from all stakeholders and make those policies on behalf of the citizens of Montana.”
Darin! Thank you for your truth! Can you initiate a investigation on the Chemtrails they are littering our environment with in Montana? It's deplorable and is affecting us, our healthy environment and so many other things with the poisons they are spraying all over our Montana lands, and every other state for that matter.