Outdoorsmen can collect petition signatures

By Bob Anez, of Associated Press

HELENA -- Supporters of a proposed initiative to repeal the law requiring applicants for hunting and fishing licenses provide their Social Security numbers have approval to start gathering the signatures needed to put the measure on the November ballot.

Approval of the petition to be used for collecting signatures came from the secretary of state's office.

To get Initiative 141 on the ballot, backers must collect at least 19,862 signatures of registered voters and submit them to county election administrators by June 23.

The measure has been pro posed by the Montana Shooting Sports Association, which sees the new law as an invasion of privacy rights that are guaranteed in the Montana Constitution.

"Thousands of Montana hunters and anglers are angry about this intrusion into their personal privacy,"said Gary Marbut, who heads the Missoula-based organization. "The people of Montana need an alternative to being victimized by a Legislature that has sold our personal privacy for federal money."

The state law, which took effect Jan. 1, was passed last year after the Legislature was told federal law required such a mandate as part of a nation al effort to improve collection of delinquent child support payments. Government officials have said that having greater access to Social Security numbers will help them track down those who owe the money. The law requires the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to keep the numbers confidential, except for sharing them with the Department of Public Health and Human Services, which administers the state's child support enforcement program.

Failure to pass the law could have cost the state millions in federal aid for Montana's child support and welfare programs, lawmakers were told last year. The estimate of fiscal impact, included in the I-141 petitions, said passage of the initiative in November would cost Montana $58 million a year in federal money.

Marbut questioned whether the money will be lost. But, even if it is, there would be little impact on children and others who rely on welfare programs and child support payments, he said.

"We know that most, if not all, of the welfare money at risk is soaked up by the welfare industry employees,"Marbut insisted. "So when you hear the squall over the possibility of losing federal money, it's not really for the children, it's for the welfare employees and their establishment."

That allegation is false, state officials said Friday.

"The vast majority of this money goes directly into benefits, to provide direct services to the people who need it in the form of cash assistance, help with transportation, to get to work or to help pay for day care while people are working,"said Laurie Ekanger, director of the Department of Public Health and Human Services.

Mary Ann Wellbank, head of the child support enforcement office, said children of divorced parents benefit directly from the federal aid her office receives. Last year, the program got $7 million in federal money and used that to collect $43 million in delinquent support payments, she said.