“Obviously the executive is not comfortable with this,” Hamlett said.

Working group member Rep. Kerry White, R-Bozeman, argued that such decisions are better left in the Legislature’s hands, not the governor’s, and he expressed disappointment that Bullock or a representative hadn’t been more engaged in the working group’s discussions.

In the end, the four members of the group — which is chaired by Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls — approved forwarding the draft bill to the Environmental Quality Council. The EQC has the draft bill on its July 9 agenda when it meets in Helena.

The meeting can be streamed live online.

Hamlett said that although he would initially support the bill so the entire EQC could discuss it, he qualified that “if it goes forward as taking over federal lands, I will not support it.”

On its surface the draft bill seems benign. It calls for the creation of a “subcommittee to cooperate and coordinate with federal land management agencies and other entities in an effort to resolve federal land management issues in Montana.” The bipartisan legislation that requested the study was ranked as No. 2 for importance to the state’s lawmakers.