Brenden named Property Rights Hero

Press release

The United Property Owners of Montana - an advocacy group dedicated to preserving Montana's agricultural heritage - has named or Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, as one of its "Property Rights Heroes" for the 2015 legislative session. The distinction was announced in the group's recent release of its legislative scorecard, an analysis of the 2015 legislative session from a property rights perspective. 

The scorecard can be downloaded at http://upom.org.

In recognizing Brenden as a Property Rights Hero UPOM noted that Brenden had a perfect voting record for protecting property rights. In addition, Brenden sponsored two bills to enhance private property rights. Brenden sponsored a major property rights bill of the session - a measure to protect landowners from unwanted free-roaming bison.

Brenden is finishing his 16th year in the legislature - eight in the House and eight in the Seante. He is barred from running for re-election because of term limits.

Major accomplishments highlighted by UPOM included an amendment to FWP's budget to prevent Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks from using Habitat Montana funding for land acquisition.  Instead, that funding will be prioritized for purchasing conservation and access easements. Also, UPOM highlighted the defeat of two bills aimed at forcing access on private roads-these bills would have resulted in the public use of private land without compensation to the owner of the property.

Here's how other members of the Hi-Line delegation did on the property owners scorecards:

• Sen. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, 100 percent

• Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, 10 percent. Windy Boy shared last place honors with Rep. Christine Kaufmann, D-Helena. She was the only the lawmaker to finish that low.

• Rep. Stephanie Hess, R-Havre, 100 percent

• Rep Mike Lang, R-Malta, 100 percent

• Rep. Roy Hollandsworth, R-Brady, 85 percent.