While Governor Steve Bullock has signed more than 200 bills into law so far this legislative session, he’s vetoed 13. One of those recently vetoed bills tried to update the state’s trespass laws.
House Bill 231, among other things, would have required someone to have written permission or a valid rental agreement to be on residential property.
If someone didn’t have either of those, or wasn’t invited, they could be removed from the property immediately. In a hearing last month recorded by the Legislature, Great Falls landlord Chris Christiaens said it took him four months to get rid of an unwanted drug operation from a property he owned.
“By the time I got that apartment back in shape for renting, it was $7,500. I don’t know how many landlords can afford to have that happen,” he said.
In the veto letter, Bullock says the bill is un-neighborly and unconstitutionally vague. He also says expanding the criminal trespass definition this way won’t work for law enforcement.
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