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ring the football coach and athletic director in March 2012 amid the rape investigation. The university has seen a 22 percent decline in enrollment since 2010, while Montana State University’s enrollment of full- and part-time stu- dents increased by 21 percent over the same period.
Last year, nearly 200 full-time fac- ulty and sta positions were eliminated atUM.
BOZEMAN
3. Governor Proposes 10 Percent Budget Cut for Highway Patrol
Gov. Steve Bullock’s budget proposal for the next two years includes a 10 per- cent cut for the Montana Highway Patrol — a $7.7 million reduction that would mean the loss of 27 jobs, most of them troopers.
“The governor is aligning expenses with revenues across the entire bud- get,” Bullock’s spokesman, Tim Crowe, told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. The patrol’s reduction is its proportion of the reductions in fuel taxes. The Department of Transportation also faces cuts due to decreased fuel tax revenue, he said.
Crowe did not respond when asked whether the governor believes the patrol can absorb the cuts while still ful lling its duties.
The patrol’s current two-year bud- get is $74.3 million. Bullock is proposing a $66.5 million budget over two years starting on July 1. The patrol has 299 employees, including 238 uniformed o - cers, the Department of Justice said.
Attorney General Tim Fox, head of the department, called the proposed cuts dangerous.
“The governor’s proposal to slash the patrol’s budget, while o ering no budget solution, demonstrates a lack of leader- ship and a misunderstanding of the pub- lic safety challenges facing out state,” Fox said.
Bullock served as attorney general from 2009 to 2013.
Fox said he’s con dent the Legislature will work with the governor to nd a solu- tion. Lawmakers begin the 2017 session on Jan. 2.
BILLINGS
4. Lawmakers to Consider Taxes on Medical Marijuana
Montana lawmakers will be asked to consider placing a tax on the sale of med- ical marijuana.
Gov. Steve Bullock has proposed a 6 percent consumption tax as part of his budget. The tax would bring in about $2.6 million over two years, said the gov- ernor’s spokesman, Tim Crowe.
Rep. Bradley Hamlett, D-Great Falls, is proposing legislation that would add a 21 percent tax to help pay for drug addic- tion programs and another 3 percent to subsidize the cost of medical marijuana for low-income patients.
“A lot of people that would use medical marijuana don’t have the means to neces- sarily pay for it,” Hamlett said, “because if they’ve got chronic pain, they might be dealing with illnesses. They might be out of work.”
that he’s putting forth the bill to spur a debate about what amount, if any, the tax should be.
The Montana Cannabis Indus- try Association is open to discussing a potential tax, said spokeswoman Kate Cholewa.
“There’s a long road ahead and it might be premature to react. That said, medica- tions are not taxed in Montana so objec- tions to singling out cannabis for taxa- tion make sense,” she said. “The average patient spending $200 per month would be looking at a $12 per month increase in cost.”
But she said a tax also could help pre- serve the state’s medical marijuana pro- gram, which was enacted by voters in 2004 and restricted by the Legislature in 2011.
CANNON BALL, N.D
5. Army Corps Blocks Route of Dakota Access Oil Pipeline
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Dec. 3 that it won’t grant an easement for the Dakota Access oil pipeline in south- ern North Dakota.
The decision is a victory for the several thousand camped near the construction site, who’ve said for months that the four- state, $3.8 billion project would threaten a water source and cultural sites.
The pipeline is largely complete except for the now-blocked segment underneath Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir. According to a news release, Assistant Secretary for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy said her decision was based on the need to “explore alternate routes” for the pipe- line’s crossing.
“Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new infor- mation with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it’s clear that there’s more work to do,” Darcy said. “The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing.”
The company constructing the pipe- line, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Part- ners, had said it was unwilling to reroute the project. It and the Morton County Sheri ’s O ce, which has done much of the policing of the protests, didn’t have immediate comment.
U.S. Secretary for the Interior Sally Jewell said in a statement that the Corps’ “thoughtful approach ... ensures that there will be an in-depth evaluation of alternative routes for the pipeline and a closer look at potential impacts” and “underscores that tribal rights reserved in treaties and federal law, as well as Nation-to-Nation consultation with tribal leaders, are essential components of the analysis to be undertaken in the environmental impact statement going forward.”
The federal government has ordered people to leave the main encampment, which is on Army Corps of Engineers’ land, by Monday. But demonstrators say they’re prepared to stay, and authorities say they won’t forcibly remove them.
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Hamlett tells The Billings Gazette
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