At the end of the bi-annu­al leg­isla­tive ses­sion the Mon­tana State Assem­bly processed the most aggres­sive anti-Agen­da 21 leg­is­la­tion ever con­sid­ered. As of today sev­er­al oth­er states have out­lawed Agen­da 21. In Mon­tana, con­sid­er­a­tion was giv­en to terms that would have been extra­or­di­nar­i­ly effec­tive at stop­ping Agen­da 21’s progress. The vote was 41 to 59.

The essence of this leg­is­la­tion was that in addi­tion to address­ing Agen­da 21, the bill out­lawed ICLEI. In a move not under­tak­en any­where before, this bill out­lawed Region­al­ism, Coun­cils of Gov­ern­ments and Non-Gov­ern­men­tal Orga­ni­za­tions. What most cit­i­zens do not under­stand is that Coun­cils of Gov­ern­ments (COGs) cap­ture fed­er­al funds for dis­tri­b­u­tion to local gov­ern­ments. Your town will only receive funds if it is a mem­ber of the COG and the town does what it is told to do by the COG. COGs exist to pro­mote Agen­da 21. The prime exam­ple is the $300 bil­lion pro­gram called One Bay Area that is man­dat­ed by ABAG (a COG in the San Fran­cis­co Bay Area) to adopt Smart Growth and Wild­lands Net­work principles.

Region­al­ism is the result­ing gov­er­nance of an unelect­ed COG board. Region­al­ism is designed to replace local gov­ern­ment (cities and coun­ties). Are you ready for a sovi­et gov­ern­ment? At Free­dom Advo­cates we described a sovi­et in 2005.

The Def­i­n­i­tion of a Soviet:

• A sovi­et is a sys­tem of coun­cils that report to an apex coun­cil and imple­ment a pre­de­ter­mined out­come, often by con­sen­sus, affect­ing a region or neighborhood.

• Mem­bers of a sovi­et coun­cil are cho­sen by virtue of their will­ing­ness to com­ply with that out­come and their one-mind­ed­ness with the group.

• Sovi­ets are the oper­at­ing mech­a­nism of a gov­ern­ment-con­trolled econ­o­my, whether it be social­ism or gov­ern­ment-cor­po­rate (“pub­lic-pri­vate”) partnerships.

The bill also sought to out­law Non-Gov­ern­men­tal Orga­ni­za­tions or NGOs. Most peo­ple are unaware that NGOs are accred­it­ed by the Unit­ed Nations for the pur­pose of imple­ment­ing Agen­da 21 at home.

Though Mon­tanans lost this time around, leader and cit­i­zen Dan Hap­pel promis­es the bill will be back in a year and a half when the leg­is­la­ture recon­venes. The pop­u­la­tion of Mon­tana is well versed on Agen­da 21 real­i­ties. Expect more action from the Trea­sure State!

Here is a copy of the leg­is­la­tion: HB 583