HB 527

     HB 527 proposed to require a congressional declaration of war to release the Montana National Guard to active duty combat. I voted against this bill because it violates the principle that the U.S. Constitution and federal law are the supreme law of the land regardless of any state law to the contrary. In other words, the bill violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.

     This bill violates the supremacy clause because federal law does not require a declaration of war to activate a national guard unit for federal service. According to Title 10, Section 10103, of the U.S. Code, “Whenever Congress determines that more units and organizations are needed for the national security than are in the regular components of the ground and air forces, the Army National Guard of the United States and the Air National Guard of the United States, or such parts of them as are needed, together with units of other reserve components necessary for a balanced force, shall be ordered to active duty and retained as long as so needed.”

     If this bill had passed and somehow avoided being overruled for violating the supremacy clause, the Montana Army and Air National Guard would cease to exist. According to the bill’s sponsor, the commander of the Montana National Guard told him that if this bill passes, the Montana National Guard will be defunded and its military assets transferred outside the state. If the National Guard cannot fulfill its federal mission, which is “to provide properly trained and equipped units for prompt mobilization for war, National emergency or as otherwise needed,” then why would the federal government fund it?

     Montana would then have to train and equip its own state militia without federal assistance. This lack of federal assistance would seriously weaken the governor’s ability to respond to the scenarios listed in Article VI, Section 13, of the Montana Constitution: “to aid in the execution of the laws, suppress insurrection, repel invasion, or protect life and property in natural disasters.”