Like Maine, Montana's State Entomologist provides an annual report at the annual Montana State Beekeepers Association Conference. Also, some years ago, an angry legislature attacked the state bee law, complaining that hobbyists had to register, and more or less trying to upend the law itself. The requirement for hobby beekeepers was dropped, but then again there were only a handful of hobby beekeepers in the state. And, the state told me that the legislature was one who had had problems with the state because of AFB - a familiar story.
This session, a bill passed that brought the hobby beekeepers back into the fold - they now need to register. The anti-government folks were angry. But, the Governor signed it, so July 1 it becomes law. Under the voluntary system, about 40 hobby beekeepers in the state registered. We know that there are over a dozen clubs, with 50-100+ members. I and the state entomologist guess that we may have as many as 1000 hobby beekeepers in the state.
Registration fees are small, but it will help the State Entomologist whose Apiary part of the position is a fraction of her time. Overall, the commercial beekeepers have voluntarily agreed to adjustments in fees as a means of supporting the position, and it ensures that there is someone to inspect and issue interstate health certificates. A couple of incidents last year with the hobby group demonstrated that it was virtually impossible to contact them. Our state office prefers, and historically has preferred, to put education and service first. They'd rather avoid problems. They only go into compliance mode when they have a beekeeper who is combative, refuses to cooperate for the greater good of the health of other beekeeper's bees.
As per the problem with getting data in states who do not have active programs like Maine and MT - the answer is obvious, there's no one inspecting, no one collecting data. It simply doesn't exist.
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