The political committee working to ban trapping on public lands in Montana was found to be in compliance with state campaign laws, according to a decision signed Tuesday by Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jon Motl.

Kalispell resident Richard Hawk filed a complaint with the commissioner’s office on April 25, alleging that Montanans for Trap Free Public Lands had violated Montana’s law prohibiting the practice of paying employees based on the number of signatures they had gathered during petition drives.

In his decision, Motl wrote that while the committee paid its signature gatherers “$10 per hour with raises for outstanding production” and expected an average of 15 signatures per hour as part of its job requirements, the payment plan was not on a per-signature basis.

In his decision, Motl refers to Montana In Action’s fraudulent practices while campaigning for a series of ballot issues in 2006.

“The ballot committee payment plan lacks the ‘per signature’ incentives that compelled aggressive signature gathering, including the bait-and-switch tactics, employed by MIA petitioners seeking signatures on all three 2006 initiatives,” Motl wrote.

That year, the Montana Supreme Court struck down the three ballot initiatives after finding that Montanans In Action had paid staffers on a per-signature basis, used false certifications, fictitious addresses and “bait and switch” tactics during its successful campaign to place two constitutional and one statutory initiative on the November 2006 ballot.

The 2007 Legislature then codified the state court’s decision that banned per-signature payments by ballot initiative campaigns.

Montanans for Trap Free Public Lands is pushing Ballot Initiative 177, which would create a law prohibiting the placement of traps and snares on public lands, with an exception for public officials working “to protect public health and safety, protect livestock and property or conduct specified scientific and wildlife management activities.”

Violations would be charged as misdemeanors.

According to the Montana Secretary of State’s website, the initiative was approved for signature gathering last August, and as of Wednesday had obtained 13,079 of the 24,175 signatures needed to appear on the November ballot. It also will need the signatures of at least five percent of the voters in 34 state House districts, a threshold it has met in 18 districts.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.