LAWS Detailed Bill Information Page
SB 497 has a hearing scheduled today in Senate Judiciary. This bill would severely undermine the public's ability to maintain prescriptive easements for stream access and it would create a massive barrier to groups who actually sue to maintain access points by eliminating their ability to recover costs.
This is closely resembling some proposed "solutions" for the landowners along the Bitterroot like Charles Schwab and Huey Lewis who sued to eliminate your stream access rights to Mitchell Slough and landowners like James Cox Kennedy on the Ruby River at Seylor Lane. The bill says that if a gov't entity - any gov't entity - posts no trespassing signs for 5 years, that the prescriptive easement is lost. That is a massive change from current law, and it is designed to keep people from accessing their rivers and streams.
This is a direct attack on stream access in Montana. The bill is being heard today in House Judiciary and your voice is needed to help keep this bad bill from advancing. You can submit your comments here: https://leg.mt.gov/web-messaging/
Tell this committee to table SB 497 and stop this attack on Stream Access now.
SB 497 has a hearing scheduled today in Senate Judiciary. This bill would severely undermine the public's ability to maintain prescriptive easements for stream access and it would create a massive barrier to groups who actually sue to maintain access points by eliminating their ability to recover costs.
This is closely resembling some proposed "solutions" for the landowners along the Bitterroot like Charles Schwab and Huey Lewis who sued to eliminate your stream access rights to Mitchell Slough and landowners like James Cox Kennedy on the Ruby River at Seylor Lane. The bill says that if a gov't entity - any gov't entity - posts no trespassing signs for 5 years, that the prescriptive easement is lost. That is a massive change from current law, and it is designed to keep people from accessing their rivers and streams.
This is a direct attack on stream access in Montana. The bill is being heard today in House Judiciary and your voice is needed to help keep this bad bill from advancing. You can submit your comments here: https://leg.mt.gov/web-messaging/
Tell this committee to table SB 497 and stop this attack on Stream Access now.
