What are Self- Government Powers?

Article XI, Section 6, of the 1972 constitution provides that a local government, which adopts a self-government charter may exercise any power not prohibited by this constitution, law or charter. At first reading by a municipal official, this sweeping constitutional grant of any power not prohibited to a self-governing municipality would appear to reverse “Dillon’s Rule” and with it the municipality’s dependence upon a specific legislative grant of governing authority to perform some function or exercise some power. Such an interpretation would be perilous. The governing reality is that the Montana State Legislature has found it appropriate to prohibit the exercise of a very broad range of governing powers, even by a self-governing municipality. In general, these legislatively imposed prohibitions are set forth explicitly in law at 7-1-111through 7‐1-114, MCA, which, in aggregate, significantly diminish the substance of local self-governing authority.

Notwithstanding the prohibitions noted above, possession of self-government powers may well enable a municipality to act in the best interests of its citizens under circumstances where a general powers government would not be able to act. For example, and because they possess self-government powers, Billings was enabled to expand its solid waste service area; Great Falls gained greater authority to dispose of public lands; Helena and
Billings were able to implement local development fees; Anaconda-Deer Lodge altered its organizational structure; Libby and Troy were enabled to develop and operate an electric utility; and the Attorney General recently decided that Butte‐Silver Bow’s self‐government powers enabled it to acquire and operate electric and natural gas utilities within and outside the boundaries of its jurisdiction. The availability of self-government powers to a municipal government will not, in and of itself, solve community problems or improve local government performance. At best, self‐government powers will enable a community and its local government to become more effective participants in their own problem-solving and governing processes.