Thursday and Friday at the Montana Legislature will set the stage for some interesting new bills by freshman Columbus Representative Forrest Mandeville.
On Thursday, he’s presenting House Bill 176, which would allow crossbows to be used for hunting during archery season.
He says he doesn’t hunt much, himself, but he wanted to propose it for constituents who pitched him the idea.
“I know there’ll be a spirited discussion. There will be people that disagree with it, there’ll be people who agree with it. I’m looking forward to having the conversation.”
On Friday he’ll present a bill (HB181) that affects a different type of sportsman: fantasy sports fans.
“Right when you go in to join the league, it says if you’re in Montana, you are not prize eligible for this league, so I wanted to do what I can to make sure Montanans have the same opportunities as members of 45 other states.”
As it stands, Montanans, by law, can not collect winnings from large online fantasy football pools, such as ESPN, because of gambling laws.