Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority Bill Moves to Senate with Bipartisan Support

HB 848 would take $2 million from rail car tax to push for passenger rail

By Jordan Hansen for the Daily Montanan

The bill, if passed, would give a state appropriation to the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority for the first time

Representative Denise Baum was ecstatic following a 63-35 House vote on Saturday morning to move HB 848, creating the Big Sky Rail account, over to the Senate.

The Billings Democrat is carrying a bill that would, if passed, give a state appropriation to the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority for the first time. The authority would receive $2 million annually until a sunset date on June 30, 2031.

“I’m extremely excited,” Baum said Saturday morning. “This is such a truly momentous piece of legislation, building out infrastructure and just having people understand that the infrastructure is already there.”

If passed, the bill would support planning, outreach and organizational work. It would also help local governments apply for larger grants and help the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority decide which places passenger rail would stop.

The money is not going toward large capital projects or building new railroads.

The bill got support in the Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee hearing from the Montana Economic Developers Association, the Missoula Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and various local elected officials from across the state.

It also had some bipartisan support on the House floor. Representative Ed Byrne, R-Bigfork, and Representative Katie Zolnikov, R-Billings both urged a pass on the legislation on the floor.

“When you have issues such as this that are so extremely impactful to Montanans across the state … political party lines blur,” Baum said.

The fiscal impact led to some opposition. Representative Neil Duram, R-Eureka, and Representative Tom Millett, R-Marion, both spoke against the legislation, with Millett bemoaning the Legislature for spending money “like a drunken sailor.”

Two routes through Montana were selected as “preferred routes” in the Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study. It was a federal nod from the Federal Railroad Administration that the routes were viable.

Much of the rail lines are already in use for freight cargo, and proponents of the bill have said repeatedly passenger rail and freight can coexist.

The money comes from a railroad tax fund, which has been looked at as a funding source for several bills this session. House Bill 103, brought by Representative Zolnikov, would have created funding for railroad inspections and was looking to use funding from the railroad tax fund. The bill was tabled in committee and Baum said it “unfortunately” went down.

The Legislative Services Division released a letter on that bill, which included an estimate of railroad tax revenue — about $4 million per year. The money previously went to the general fund.

An amendment to House Bill 2 added some money for train inspections back into the budget.