A Montana Senate committee has sidelined a seed bill that sought standards for how biotech companies test crops for patent infringement, burying the bill after attending a private dinner also attended by Monsanto representatives.

House Bill 445, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Betsy Hands of Missoula, was tabled on a 6-3 vote.

The Senate Agriculture Committee's action Tuesday followed a bill hearing process that provoked charges of unfairness over a dinner attended by most of the committee at the Montana Club, a private club in Helena.

The St. Louis-based company did not offer public testimony about the bill but did express its opposition in private at the dinner, according to committee chairman Sen. Donald Steinbeisser, R-Sidney. Five of nine committee members attended the dinner, paid for by another bill opponent, but all were invited, he said.

Along with Steinbeisser, Sens. Terry Murphy, R-Cardwell, Ken Hansen, D-Harlem, Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, and Rick Ripley, R-Wolf Creek, attended the dinner. Senate President Bob Story, R-Park City, was also at the meal.

"The lobbyists wanted to inform the committee of their concerns, and that's all it was about," Steinbeisser said.

A nonprofit North Dakota-based group known as Growers for Biotechnology said it picked up the tab and sent out the invitations.

Hands, the bill's sponsor, blasted the private meeting, saying "the cards were stacked" by the time the committee met for the bill's actual hearing.

Committee dinners are not illegal in Montana, but veteran lawmakers and lobbyists both said hosting such an event prior to a bill hearing is highly unusual.

The controversial measure discussed at the dinner split the state's farm lobby. It would have set rules for how companies such as Monsanto can test farmers' fields for what is known as seed piracy.

When farmers buy genetically engineered seeds, they must agree not to harvest and reuse them from year to year. Some farmers, however, argue that pollen can drift with wind and water, exposing small growers to expensive legal tussles with big biotech companies even when they are innocent.

"After the death penalty and horse slaughter bills, this is the largest number of communications I've had, and these are from farmers," said Sen. Cliff Larsen, D-Missoula, before voting in favor of the measure.

Opponents of the bill, which included both the Montana Farm Bureau and the Montana Agribusiness Association, told lawmakers it would discourage the development and sale of biotech products in the state.

"I don't want to lose any kind of research, whether it's the big boys like Monsanto or anyone else, because we have serious, serious problems out there," committee member Hansen said in voting against the bill Tuesday evening.

The bill would have required Monsanto and other companies to get permission from a farmer before taking a sample from their crops. If the farmer denied permission, the company could seek a court order. Under the measure, either the farmer or the company could also ask the state Department of Agriculture to oversee the sampling.

Accusations of seed theft have resulted in hefty legal fees and fines for growers in other states.

In 2001, one such lawsuit prompted the North Dakota Legislature to pass what is known as the "Nelson bill," which requires biotech companies to notify farmers when they suspect them of patent infringements.

In fact, Sen. Terry Murphy, R-Cardwell, suggested to fellow committee members they might simply amend Hands' bill by replacing its text with a copy of the less ambitious North Dakota legislation.

Instead, the committee voted to write a letter asking all sides to work together to develop a bill for the next legislative session.

"We need to all work on pulling the wagon in the same direction and we're not right now," Hansen said.