Tomorrow at noon, I and my fellow representatives will be sworn in to office in the chamber of the House of Representatives at the Montana Capitol. I’m deeply honored to serve my second term, and I’ll update the blog regularly to keep you informed of all the happenings at the legislative session.

I’m carrying quite a few bills this term, ranging from laws on gravel pits and state lands leases to changes to tax increment financing (TIF) districts for technological businesses, to civil (versus criminal) zoning penalties. I’ll present my first bill of the session this Thursday; House Bill 63, to grant authority to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to revoke fur dealers’ licenses for illegal activity.

The first few days of the session include some orientation and updates for legislators. After we’re sworn in tomorrow, the House will adjourn for the day. On Tuesday, we’ll have ‘law school for legislators’, which educates/updates senators and representatives on laws and statutes, Attorney General opinions, Supreme Court decisions, etc. There’ll also be an overview on the state budget, and how program, agency, and statutory appropriations compare against projected state revenues.

Montana is one of just a few states that passes a balanced budget, which will hold us in good stead through this global economic downturn. (Some states, like California, are faced with billions of dollars in deficit.) Prudence will be the rule of this legislative session, and of all Montanans’ actions for the foreseeable future. I’ll do my level best, as always, to balance our state’s and citizens’ needs with our state resources, monetary and otherwise.

A new addition to my Helena experience is a smart car! In today’s frosty Helena (it’s about 8 degrees F), here’s the smart car in front of the Capitol building, and close up. The smart gets 40-45 mpg and puts a small footprint on the earth: it’s 5×8′. It cost me less than $10 to fill it up for the drive to Helena yesterday, and it’s up-to-date for fewer emissions than many other cars.

Come to Helena if you can to observe the session! The legislature convenes January through April. You can watch legislative committee meetings and Senate and House floor action, too. TVMT broadcasts committee meetings and floor debate. In Bozeman, it’s on channel 63 on Bresnan basic cable. You can access streaming video and audio from the state website, too, at mt.gov or leg.mt.gov. And of course, I’m pleased to provide whatever information I can; I’ll give you my perspective on jpformontana often!

Happy New Year, everyone, and many thanks for the honor of representing all of you in Bozeman, Gallatin County, and the great State of Montana. Now, onward!

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle on Sunday, Dec 14, printed this article on some proposed legislation from me on state lands oil and gas leases. The income from leases and production on state lands funds Montana public schools, so I’m keen to make the process fair and profitable. It’s not quite as fair or profitable as it could be. Here’s the story.

Local rep wants state lease procedure tweaked

A local legislator is eyeing changes to how the state goes about leasing its mineral rights after many of her constituents in the Bridger Canyon raised concern when leases there went to auction Tuesday.

Rep. JP Pomnichowski, D-Bozeman, represents House District 63, which stretches up the canyon. She said Friday that she will pursue three pieces of legislation she hopes will make state oil and gas leasing more transparent and reasonable.

First, Pomnichowski said she wants legislation requiring the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, which oversees oil and gas leasing, to print public notices in newspapers distributed in the affected area. Currently, the DNRC can publish notices in any state newspaper, she said.

The Democrat also wants the agency to notify adjacent landowners and surface owners about upcoming lease auctions, she said.

Second, Pomnichowski wants more discretion to be used by the DNRC when leasing in environmentally sensitive areas.

When given statehood, Montana was given two sections of every township to raise money for public schools, and oil and gas leasing are a major source of revenue for the state. But Pomnichowski said the way the state was given land led to some parcels where drilling shouldnt occur.

That was a generic overlay of the state, she said. I completely agree with the idea that we have a resource that can help pay for state schools. But to say everything is open to mining n its not viable to set up a well in the middle of Montana Avenue.

Montana Avenue runs by the state capitol in Helena.

Third, Pomnichowski will seek legislation to set up a cash-in-lieu program that would allow people who dont want to see certain oil and gas tracts developed pay money to state schools in lieu of revenue that would have been generated by energy developers.

Currently, anyone can lease a tract from the state, but the parcel may go back up for auction if the tracts are not developed.

None of the legislation is fully drafted, Pomnichowski said. The Montana Legislature convenes on Jan. 5.

Pomnichowski said the auction of the Bridger Canyon leases was a big motivator for her to introduce the legislation.

But this problem is not unique to Bozeman, she said. Livingston and Sweet Grass folks are also concerned.

Following Tuesdays auction, Bridger Canyon landowners are planning to appeal to the State Land Board, which oversees administration of the state-owned land, to put the leases on hold for further study on the impact of drilling in the Bridger Canyon.

In an e-mail to concerned parties, Kent Madin, a Bridger Canyon resident and opponent of these recent leases, said he and others are not asking the Land Board to permanently remove these sections from future consideration for oil and gas development.

What we are asking is that the Land Board do the prudent things, forego the less than $3,000 in immediate revenue and effectively shelve these parcels so that adequate time is available for additional study of the impacts, Madin wrote.

Earlier tonight, I heard that a good and close friend, a fellow legislator, has died this afternoon. I know I’m not alone in the feeling that his death was unfair because it was so untimely; he was young and strong and vibrant, funny and kind, and part of my mind doesn’t yet accept that this is real.

George Groesbeck was a legislator from Butte, a father, a friend, a well-loved and dedicated man. For those of us stricken tonight by the news of his death, it doesn’t seem right that most of life’s benign and trivial stuff goes on: football games, advertisements for Christmas gifts, whatever. It seems that everything should stop out of respect for George. There are many of us tonight that are lost as to what to do.

The Montana Legislature is a high-pressure place, and each of us gets to know one another on an accelerated schedule and ‘in the trenches’, so to speak. Last session, George became one of my closest friends. I admired that he was so cool. He was an amazing guitar player, and he and his band entertained us during the session at Miller’s in Helena. But George and I shared something else; we’re both huge fans of Jerry Joseph. Before legislative caucuses a few weeks ago, the last time I’d seen George was at a Jerry Joseph show.

In his heart, George was quintessentially a Montana kid and a Butte guy, and Montanans know what that means. It’s a level of devotion unmatched elsewhere, and it’s fanatical. As a legislator, George was gifted in not getting too serious about the proceedings of the legislature, but was devoted to doing his best for Butte and Montana. This past summer, I joined him and others at the first home opened in the Bozeman area for people with autism. George’s heart was so big and generous that no one ever thought it would stop.

In the next week or so, many of us will come together to honor George, but I can tell you that for some of us, every day without him this coming legislative session, we’ll honor him–and miss him so terribly.

It’s just been a week since the election, but I’ve been really busy! First there were the details of the campaign to attend to, like collecting signs, writing thank you notes and emails, fielding calls, etc. I’m so proud and honored to have won!
I’m really proud to have been appointed to the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council board of directors! The GGWC is a wonderful group committed to protecting the Gallatin watercourses. Here’s the official announcement:

BOZEMAN — The Greater Gallatin Watershed Council has named three new members to its board of directors for three-year terms.
Rep. JP Pomnichowski of Bozeman, 41, has passed state legislation on water quality and quantity in Montana’s closed basins and has experience with Gallatin River water quality monitoring. She also has served on city boards dealing with water infrastructure.

Also named to the board were Peter Skidmore of River Restoration Consulting and Doug Fletcher of NorthStar Consulting. Skidmore has extensive experience in river restoration. Fletcher is CEO of NorthStar, a market research firm.
The board of about a dozen members monitors water supplies and allocations in the greater Bozeman area and submits findings to local governmental bodies to assist with water quality and conservation.

Friends! I’ve won re-election by 230 votes!
I got the final word around 4:45 p.m. from a gal in the Elections Office who supplied these final (unofficial) numbers:

JP Pomnichowski 3445
Tom Burnett 3215

230 vote margin for JP (four and a half times the margin by which I won election the first campaign [47 votes])!

At 8:45 p.m., Tom Burnett called me. I said we’d both run honorable campaigns, and that it had been a harrowing a day waiting for election results. Tom said that near the end of the campaign, other parties had sent bad mailers. I agreed, and said that there was no reason for campaigns to descend to such a level. [I had weeks before told my party not to mail or call on my behalf.] I said that I was very conscious of being a representative and recognizing that I would convey everyone’s viewpoint to the best of my ability.

I’m truly honored to continue in my service as representative for House District 63. Thank you, all, for your wonderful support. I’ll continue my work and labor tirelessly on your behalf. I’m humbled and honored. Best to all of you, to all of us!

The counting continues in Gallatin County, and there’s no decision in my race yet.

My fellow representative, Mike Phillips, gives this report:
I just returned from the Gallatin County courthouse. As of 8:30 a.m. about 15,000 votes were yet to be counted. Some of these (perhaps 1,500 or more) are from JP’s district. We have reason to believe that a large number of these will come from pct. 25, which is a stronghold for Democrats (I won that pct. in 2004 and JP won that pct. in 2006). Consequently, there is a reasonable chance that she will eventually succeed in her re-election bid. Once she does, I understand we will have a 50:50 split in the House. Our clerk and recorder told me that she hopes to have unofficial vote totals by mid-afternoon.

As of 8:03 a.m. JP was down by 114 votes. The slow counting relates to a voting machine that is struggling to accept the paper upon which the ballots were printed. Many ballots have to be fed into the machine a second or third time. I volunteered to help count ballots but was denied because of my status of a candidate. I did stand and watch and saw a good number of people working very hard to get an accurate count assembled quickly. I’ll relay new information as it becomes available. –Mike

At 2:40 a.m., the vote totals in my race for House District 63 were JP, 41; Burnett, 37.
At 4:30 a.m., JP, 162; Burnett, 153.
At 5:04 a.m., JP, 1635; Burnett, 1683 (33 of 46 precincts reporting).
At 6:37 a.m., JP, 1816; Burnett, 1930. (36 of 46 precincts reporting).
At 8:20 a.m., no change.

Stay tuned for updates!
Check here for numbers as they’re known: http://sos.mt.gov/ELB/elections/2008/general/NonStatewideRaces/MTHouse/index.asp

Hello, friends! After eleven months of campaigning, I can’t believe it’s finally Election Day across America!
Today’s been busy already. The JP Campaign, with much help from gracious and giving people, is conducting its own poll-watching. So far today:
7:30 a.m. I got a call that Precinct 25, the votingest precinct in the city and my polling place (and in my district), has two tables set up for voter roll sign-in. That’s twice the election judges, two voter roll books…and just our one poll-watcher! But Linda Phillips started the JP poll-watching there, and quickly came up with a system and tag-team model with the Obama poll-watcher, so all’s well.
9:20 a.m. I got a call from my poll-watcher at Sacajawea School, polling place for Precinct 22, to say there’s no Republican poll-watcher at that site.
9:25 a.m. Called the Democratic HQ to ask for a runner to Precinct 23 at the fieldhouse at 11 to get the list of already-voteds and yet-to-vote (and should-be-called!)
10:10 a.m. Bob and I VOTED!
10:45 a.m. US Senator Jon Tester called to extend his best wishes on the election, and so did my fellow state representative from Missoula, Betsy Hands!
11:20 a.m. Call from Precinct 24 that there’s no Republican poll-watcher at that location, but my opponent checks in every hour to get the vote total. Also was told that HALF the voters in Pct 24 have already voted absentee, and that by 11 a.m., when the first poll-watching shift ended, a quarter of our list had voted! Wow!
11:40 a.m. I got a call from the Obama campaign asking for my vote! Already done, I told them.

Everyone, this is one of the most important elections we’ll see, and in which we’ll participate. Vote.

I’m reminded of the last night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, when I was leaving Invesco Field after Senator Obama’s speech. People were selling t-shirts and buttons that said, “I was there.”

This is the day, everyone, when we can say, “I was there. I voted. I was part of that 2008 election, that watershed in American history and American leadership and American progress and vision.”
Thanks, everyone, for participating, for helping on a national and local scale, and for your help and support of me.
Let’s put this thing to bed, awaken tomorrow and start on a new path. I’m ready.

I’ve been knocking on doors, talking to voters and constituents, for months. In the past few weeks, as more people focus on the upcoming election, the conversations and enthusiasm have increased. Here are some of the funnier stories from the campaign trail lately!

There was the dog bite that tore my jeans but didnt draw blood. Here’s how that went: I was walking in the neighborhoods in the southern part of my district, where there are larger homes on larger lots, and there must also be a rule that everyone own a dog, because there are a lot of dogs. I like dogs, and I understand that some of them perceive an unknown person walking up to their house a threat, so if there’s growling, or posturing, or barking, I back off. No need to traumatize the protective family pooch! But in this case, I was walking from the street up the driveway, and a little black and white terrier-type dog greeted me. No barking, no growling; instead, tail-wagging and walking alongside me! I greeted him but didn’t reach out to pet him, and he continued walking with me, but hung back a couple steps. Then I felt a tug and heard my jeans ripping (just below my behind!) and that little dog was trying to take a bite out of the candidate! I couldn’t believe it! No indication that he wanted to taste-test the visitor! I drew my hands up and turned on my heel and walked back down the driveway, so surprised! His owner came to the door of her house and said, “Oh, he’s friendly.” Huh. Maybe so, but he’s also apparently hungry! Ask to see my dog-bite jeans sometime. That little dog was going right for my tookus.

Last week in my neighborhood I knocked on a door and a lady answered. We talked for a couple minutes before two little six- and eight-year-old girls poked their heads out around their mom and told me theyd vote for me! For more support, they each took Pomnichowski bumper stickers for their bikes!

I was out on a miserable cloudy and wet night, and knocked on a door in a nice neighborhood to the south. By that time, I was pretty well rain-wet and not very presentable, but a lady offered me dinner at her table! People are kind, even to politicos!

One of the best days was an early Saturday in October, wet, snowy, and cold, so it must be…MSU Homecoming! My pals and I stocked up on blue and gold mini-footballs, and tossed them to an appreciative ‘Cats crowd all along the parade route! That was a blast. I’m an MSU grad, and I’ve been the only girl on the MSU Football stat crew for 19 years; it was great throwing footballs to the hometown crowd in a snowstorm at the Homecoming parade!

Last weekend, I was in Bridger Canyon and Jackson Creek Road and drove up to a house, knocked on the door. A lady answered, and in the background, I could hear a football game on TV and somebody cheering loudly! I must have looked a bit curious, because she said, “Football. First the early game and now the afternoon game.” No humor about the situation. I said, “Well, at least there’s no Sunday night game tonight.” Through gritted teeth, she said just two words to that: “World Series!” Other than being clearly disgruntled with the full-on sports day at home, she was gracious to me, and took my campaign info, a bumper sticker, and a yard sign! But thinking back, maybe she took the yard sign just to get out of the football-fanatic house for a couple minutes!

The funniest thing from the campaign trail has to be my fellow representative, Mike Phillips, who so believes in me that he has bought a house in my district and is moving there before Election Day, just to give me three more votes! Mike, his wife, and adult daughter vote Pomnichowski! Thanks, Mike and family!

I’ve been so busy campaigning and doing legislative work that my blog updates have suffered; my apologies, dear readers.

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

I traveled to Helena to meet with staff at the Department of Environmental Quality about oil and gas leases on state lands; I also met with staff at the Department of Revenue to ask how the reappraisal of three types of property (agricultural, residential, and forest) is going as part of the regular six-year review and adjustment.

I met with Japanese visitors this past Tuesday, October 14, to describe Bozeman and Gallatin County’s volunteer civic boards and commissions and their advisory role in local government. I’m honored to serve on three city boards currently: President of the Bozeman Planning Board, Chairperson of the Zoning Commission, and Chair of the Board of Adjustment. I know first-hand how our society works when everyone contributes, and Bozeman is far better than some in the amount of service people give, and the expertise they offer. It’s an honor to serve both at my city and county level, and as a state representative!


Last weekend, Saturday was snowy and blowy and cold, so it must be…MSU Homecoming! Yay! Go, ‘Cats! The JP campaign-mobile, captained by Barb, worked its way down the parade route, and we were the hit of the parade! I had mini-footballs for paradegoers, and Mike Phillips, my fellow representative, and Kathy, most excellent campaign gal, helped dispense the footballs to MSU appreciative football fans!

This morning, Thursday, Oct 16, was the Chamber of Commerce’s forum for candidates, and I was proud to report that I voted to eliminate the business equipment tax, to expand Insure Montana (a program for businesses to pool together to buy health insurance for their employees), and I carried a bill for technology TIF districts (tax increment financing districts, where tax revenue is directly returned to the business district in infrastructure and other improvements that directly help the businesses there).

This evening is the League of Women Voters candidate forum, 7 pm at the county courthouse. Come one, come all, and be educated voters!

Oh, and how about this BILLBOARD!!! The Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers has endorsed my candidacy, and they’ve posted this lovely billboard along the Frontage Road! NICE! Thanks, MEA-MFT! I’m a proud product of Montana public schools, and fully support continuing in our Montana tradition of excellence in education. I’m honored and humbled to have an election season billboard!

The campaign is going strong! Help me finish strong! If you can help in these last remaining days before the election, please email me (pomnicho@montanadsl.net). I’m grateful for all your help, and I’d truly be honored to continue my service as a state representative.

Rock on, everybody! Nineteen days and counting!

This past Saturday, I marched (rode in my convertible campaign-mobile) in the Belgrade Fall Festival parade, as I have the past few years. Thought I’d post some pictures from the event! Haley, Jane, Kristen, and Polly were in JP t-shirts and gave away balloons and candy all along the route; Barb drove, and Joker, the parade dog, rode shotgun and gained, I hope, the dog vote! The Belgrade Fall Festival is a great small-town autumn event, with the parade, vendors in the park, and the baron-o’-beef dinner at the firehouse. Vote well, Belgrade festival-goers!