Republicans Move Forward on Restricting Stream Access

Republicans in the House today gave final approval to a bill we told you about yesterday. The bill seeks to roll back stream access laws in the state. The bill will now go to the Senate.

Republicans should expect a fight in the Senate. Sen. Kendall Van Dyk, who spearheaded the first expansion of stream access rights in 25 years, during the 2009 legislative session, is now in the Senate, and he’s made it clear that he’s not happy about this latest infringement on the rights of Montanans. Van Dyk had this to say about the new GOP measure, “Republican legislators campaigned on supporting hunters and anglers but as soon as they got here they turned their back on them. They are coming down, again, on the side of rich out-of-state Hollywood types who want to buy up what’s left of Montana and lock us out.”

The bill will likely begin to  move through Senate committees in the following weeks.