There are three contenders vying for House District 3: Libertarian Chris Colvin, 66, and Democrat Zac Perry, 36 are challenging Republican incumbent Jerry O’Neil, 71.

House District 3 encompasses Columbia Falls, Hungry Horse, Martin City, Coram and the North Fork and stretches along the Continental Divide north to the Canadian border. 

Early voting starts Monday, Oct. 6, for the Nov. 4 general election.

The District 3 candidates were asked for their take on several important issues that will face the upcoming legislative session: Medicaid expansion, the state’s cash reserve, federal management of forests and a water rights compact involving the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

The three candidates agreed on only one issue — that transferring federally managed forests to the state would spell disaster. 

“It’s unrealistic, especially during a bad fire season it would bankrupt the state,” Perry said, noting that could lead to the sale and privatization of public land. “The public lands, they belong to the citizens of the United States of America and we don’t want them to become vulnerable to private sale.” 

O’Neil made a similar statement, but said he thinks the concept should be studied more because it might be possible to transfer manageable increments of land into state hands such as the North Fork — but not a national park such as Glacier.

“I don’t think we can afford to take that over,” O’Neil said. 

Colvin said he thinks the way things are currently is fine, but said transferring the land could mean more jobs.

“People say with the transfer of land, more logging could be done. I don’t know about that, but we do need more logging,” Colvin said.

The topic of property rights has surrounded the controversial Confederated Salish-Kootenai water compact. Perry was the only candidate to provide a firm stance on the issue.

“The Montana Legislature should approve a water compact with the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes in 2015,” Perry said. “The last thing we need is an unnecessary and drawn-out court battle that would negatively impact our state economy and destabilize our current water rights as Montanans. We need to focus on negotiation rather than litigation.”

Colvin and O’Neil said they were still studying the compact, which is detailed in an approximately 1,200-page document.

“I think we need a water compact but I’m leery of the one they proposed,” O’Neil said. “I am not really in favor of the unified management ordinance they’re trying to put in that.”

O’Neil went on to say that he is against the water compact if it subjects nontribal property owners living on the reservation to the tribal government. 

“The proposed water compact would take away their right under Montana Constitution and put it subject to the tribes. They have the right to be under the state government they pay taxes to like you and I do so they should have rights to water like you or I do.”

Colvin said he has attended various lectures about the water compact and does not yet feel well-informed enough to have an opinion. “A good deal is better than no deal and no deal is better than a bad deal,” Colvin said.

Gov. Steve Bullock is expected to renew his push for expansion of the Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act — and that expansion decision is likely to come before the Legislature.

O’Neil said he is against Medicaid expansion. He offered alternatives to expansion in the form of new legislation, which will be his priority if elected.

“I intend to introduce some legislation to lower the price of health care and we can do it without the federal government taking it over,” O’Neil said. “One would be to allow purchase of insurance across state lines. Another would be to reduce or eliminate health-care insurance mandates.”

O’Neil also talked about the state’s current Certificate of Need program, which requires individuals or facilities to apply for approval from the state if they plan to expand health-care services.

“Several years ago I carried legislation to eliminate it,” O’Neil said. “Another senator took my bill and he got it through but reduced it in scope for hospitals. I would like to go back and eliminate more requirements, or eliminate it all the way. If you want to go into the health-care business you shouldn’t have to ask the government for permission.”

Perry and Colvin favor Medicaid expansion.

“We don’t refuse federal highway dollars to keep our roads intact. We don’t refuse farm subsidies that assist farmers every year. I think Montana should accept the federal dollars and cover the working poor,” Perry said.

Colvin had similar sentiments. 

“The government is willing to pay for it 100 percent and it is important to the working poor, which includes most of the working people in Montana,” Colvin said.

Health care is a top issue for Colvin, who said that the state should subsidize the education of primary care physicians who would sign contracts to work in Montana. 

“We have a doctor crisis right now,” Colvin said. “We need to increase the supply.”

One way to fund education subsidies would be to use money from an expected large cash reserve going into the next legislative session. Colvin also said there should be published and set prices for medical visits or procedures.

“Licensed providers should publish all prices and charge everyone the same price whether they’re on Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance or uninsured,” Colvin said.

O’Neil suggested the state public-employee pension funds for utilizing cash reserves.

“We attempted to make it solvent for last session and I’m not sure that we actually succeeded,” O’Neil said. “If necessary, we would use the cash reserves to make them solvent, but only if we didn’t have to bail them out in the future, other than that I would like to return it to the taxpayer.”

Perry said, while there are a lot of possibilities, he leaned toward returning the money back to taxpayers.

While health care was a priority for both Colvin and O’Neil, Colvin said his number one priority is cleaning up the environmental contamination of the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. plant.

Education is Perry’s priority if elected.

“We have a strong education system in the state of Montana that doesn’t need to be undermined by allocating funds to private school or charter schools,” Perry said.

Perry said he’s running in this election because he has a vested interest in the community and the state.

“I’m a 36-year resident and product of Columbia Falls and the Canyon area,” Perry said.

O’Neil, who has eight years serving in the Senate and four years in the House, said he is running to protect freedoms for his children and grandchildren.

For Colvin, it was a matter of breaking a two-party system of Republicans and Democrats.

“I think the ‘1 percent’ owns the two major parties and they control the laws,” Colvin said. “They corrupt the government and so I think enabling a third part to function is very important.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.