April 30, 2011

Great Falls Chamber of Commerce

2011 Final Legislative Report

Prepared by:  Ronda Wiggers, lobbyist

The Chamber successfully supported a number of bills during the 2011 Legislative Session that will be helpful to both your business and regional and statewide economic development.

HB 43 Employer’s Rights Concerning Medical Marijuana – this new law clarifies what an employer can and cannot do to regulate the use of medical marijuana by their employees.  Attached is a sheet explaining the details. (score)

HB 59 – Allows hydro expansion projects to be included as “green energy” for energy credit and tax purposes.  The Governor proposed amendments that struck Rainbow dam from the bill.  The House voted 90 to 10 to not accept those amendments and the Senate followed with a 39 – 11 vote to do the same.  The Governor then vetoed the bill on the final day of session.  Because the bill had more than a 2/3 vote, the Secretary of State will poll the legislators for a veto override.  We will work with PPL to try to accomplish this in the next few weeks. (score, however, this score will be updated with the veto override vote)

HB 198 – Eminent Domain – We supported this for energy and infrastructure development.  The bill makes virtually no changes to the law as everyone thought it read for over 100 years.  However, with the recent district court ruling putting the law into question, this bill made it clear that power lines have the right of eminent domain.  It has passed both chambers and is headed to the Governor. (score)

SB 206 – Allows the DEQ corridor for transmission lines to be wider and more flexible.  Again, we supported this for energy development and the MATL.

SB 358 – Improve the Tax Increment Financing laws for counties.  TIF’s are used to create the infrastructure needed for industrial growth in the county.  These changes make the TIF more usable for counties.  It has passed both Chambers but the Governor proposed amendments that are unacceptable to both the sponsor, the Chambers and the local governments so they were rejected.  We are assuming that he will now veto the bill.

SB 417 – Military Affected Areas – this is to support positive land use policies that enhance our military mission.  It has passed both Chambers and is at the Governor’s desk. (score)

SB 372 – Lower Business Equipment Tax -  this bill has passed both the Senate and the House but is still waiting for the Governor’s signature.  The final version of the bill provided for 100% reimbursement to local governments.  (they are the ones that actually collect and use this tax money)  This reimbursement keeps the tax burden from simply moving from equipment to real property.  We were not successful in changing the current $20,000 threshold into a straight exemption, nor were we able to increase this number.  If you have less than $20,000 in total business equipment, you have been and will continue to be, exempt from business equipment tax.  What the bill does is to lower the first $2 million of business equipment from a taxable value of 3% to 2%.  (basically lowering your tax by a third after mill levies are applied).  If the total amount of revenue collected in income and corporate taxes increases by 4% on a year over year basis, then the law will change to read that the first $3 million of business equipment is taxed at 1.5%.  All business equipment over these amounts will continue to have a tax rate of 3% of market value. This has not yet been signed by the Governor. (score)

Work Comp Bills:

HB 334 Generally Revise Worker’s Compensation – this bill is a fairly comprehensive re-write of Montana Work Comp law.  It is designed with the intent of lowering premium rates.  A full review of the details of this bill is attached to this report. (score)

HB 186 Allocate funds for Worksafe MT with assessment on Work comp – The Chamber took no position on this bill.  Although it is a great program to promote workplace safety – and it does appear to be netting results - we did not feel we could support an increase in work comp rates in order to fund the program.  In the end, it did end up funded at about half of the original request and will result in a slight addition to work comp rates.

HB 604 Reallocate funds to General Fund – This is one of the many supplemental budget bills.  The legislature needed to address a shortfall in the Old Fund Liability that was created when the 2003 Legislature “borrowed” from their reserves in order to balance the budget.  The first proposal was to move reserves from Work Comp into the Old Fund.  This was met with opposition as they are contractually required to carry those reserves.  The final proposal moves $2 million in general fund money in 2011 and another $11 million in 2012 into the Old Fund account.  It then assesses a 2.75% premium on new and renewing policies in order to generate another $7 million.  This assessment does have a sunset. (2023)  It is also equal to the amount of tax paid by private carriers.

HB 334 is projected to reduce rates by an average of 22.4% - there are additional cost savings coming on line that should increase that number to an average of 26.7%; the legislature passed HB 186 to assess .25% for the Worksafe Montana program and then another 2.75% in HB 604 to fund the Old Fund liability.  All totaled, the legislators involved are projecting about a 23% decrease in premiums. 

We were able to successfully stop bills that had a negative effect on business as well.

Tax issues: (defeated)

There really were not all that many this session. 

SB 70 Eliminate Net Operating Loss Carryback Provisions – was tabled in Senate Tax.  This would have had negative tax consequences on anyone that had a bad fiscal year and needed to take advantage of the carryback provisions provided in current tax code.

SB 94 Revise Waters Edge Provisions of Corporate Taxes – was held up in the House

SB 396 Provide for Nonresident and Resident Tax Equity on Business interest sales – died in the Senate.

SB 399 Decouple from Federal Domestic Production Deduction – we followed the lead of Montax and the CPA’s that had indicated that this may cause an additional tax burden on Montana businesses.  It died in committee.

Illegal Alien Issues:  (defeated)

We were also successful in stopping bills that would fine a business or suspend their business license if they unknowingly hired an illegal alien.  It is already illegal to hire them.  These bills would have added another burden of proof on an employer if they accidently hired or had an employee whose green card had expired without anyone realizing it.

We successfully opposed a law that would have denied work comp benefits if you unknowingly employ an illegal alien, pay premiums on them, and they are hurt.  This would have transferred all of the liability to the employer. (HB 71 and HB 274)

Other miscellaneous issues:  (defeated)

We were successful in stopping all the “bring your gun to work” bills.  This seemed like something that each employer should have the right to decide – not the state government. HB 368 and HB 201

SB 196 Bullying in the Work Place – although well intended, this bill was simply unworkable for employer’s.  It was tabled in committee.

SB 163 Clarify Municipal Authority to Regulate Light – commonly known as the “dark skies bill” was tabled in committee.  The Chamber opposes this bill due to both the expense of the new lights and the safety and security issues related to dark areas around our businesses.

SB 164 Require Consideration of Conservation Measures in the Growth Policy – A growth policy is not a regulatory document and this bill would have made portions of it so.  It included vague language that indicated that local governments would need to manage the land around rivers with a no development policy and allow people from outside the county to protest and proposed development.  This bill was tabled in committee.

HB 634 Generally Revise Law Relating to Data Privacy – This bill would have made it nearly impossible to keep a customer list of any kind.  It was tabled in House Business and Labor and a similar bill to study the idea - HJ 27, met the same fate.

HB 601 Limit the Use of Credit History in Employment – This bill intended to do just as the title suggested.  It was tabled in committee.

The Chamber was not successful in all of their endeavors this session.

We testified in favor of bills that would have made it more difficult for a county to use emergency interim zoning to stop legitimate businesses from locating and beginning operations.  There are two of these bills that are similar – both have passed thru the system – one has already been vetoed by the Governor – we assume the second will meet the same fate.  HB 366 and SB 183 (score 366)

We supported SB 306 to allow ore to be transferred from a mine site to an existing processing site.  Again, this bill was successful in both the House and the Senate, but met with the Governor’s veto iron last week. (score)

We supported 2 bills that dealt with tort reform – HB 341 Revise Interest Payments in Civil Cases and HB 342 Revise Appeals Bonds in Civil Cases – both bills did exactly what their titles indicated and would have been good for businesses that were being sued.  Both have successfully passed both the House and the Senate.  However they both met with the Governor’s veto iron last week – the House has voted to override those vetos, but the Senate did not.

Finally, the Chamber assisted some of our membership with bills of importance to their industry.

SB 234 Revising conditions for municipal garbage service and SB 236 Revise solid waste laws related to local government – Both of these bills deal with the working relationship between local governments and private refuse carriers.  The Chambers offered their support to the local businesses and both bills have passed.

Bed tax issues:  The legislature made an attempt to take 10% of the bed tax collected and place it in the general fund in order to fund general government.  The hotel/motel and tourism industry asked for our assistance in stopping this proposal.  We were successful in convincing the Senate Finance and Claims committee to remove this provision from the proposed bill.  However, the conference committee put it back into the bill.  After a floor fight that saw the bill die once, it was once again revived and this money will be used to fund “one-time-only inflationary increase” in school funding.

Scoring:

Attached, you will find a voting record for local legislators on our major issues.  I have chosen to use the last vote cast in each situation.  This is typically “third reading” in both Chambers.  However, in a few instances, the final vote was on second reading.  I have not attempted to create a scoring method that recognizes votes in committee.  A number of the detrimental bills were stopped in committee and there is really no way to recognize, on a score card, the good work done on our behalf by these legislators.

April 28, 2011

Just thought I would pass along today’s events:

The Senate passed HB 2 on the first try.

HB 604 (that transfers reserves from Board of Oil and Gas and the Orphan Share to the general fund and reserves from work comp to the old fund liability) ran into some trouble in conference committee today but ended up passing out with a few amendments.  It may face a tough crowd on the House floor as no one is real comfortable with what may be the final result of making the “new fund” responsible for the “old fund”.

HB 316 – that skimmed 10% off of the bed tax and the metal mines tax died on the House floor today.  However, the motion to reconsider their actions tomorrow passed later in the day.  This only contains $4 million and many have said that they do not think that they really need it to make everything balance.  They received a lot of negative calls about taking the bed tax.  However, there is a clause in the school funding bill that says that if HB 316 does not pass, then they do not get the last bit of inflationary growth in 2013 ($4 million).  Tomorrow will tell…

The bonding bill did not get enough votes on third reading to pass.  However, the motion to reconsider did pass and they will vote again tomorrow.  I have chatted with any legislators from Helena and Great Falls that originally voted “no” and let them know that the Chamber did not take a position due to the controversy of bonding in a bad economy – we would not be unhappy to see them vote “yes” for both the Museum in Helena and the College of Technology in Great Falls.  I believe they will get the votes for this before the end of the day tomorrow…

The school funding bill passed the house 50-49 today.  Although this bill contains all of the growth and inflation as well as the direction for distribution, the main portion of funding for the schools remains in HB 2.  This bill contains about $25 million (not including the $4 million in 316 that it spends) and directs the transfer of oil and gas funds from those schools collecting it, to the other schools statewide.  If these two additional bills do not pass, schools will be down about 3% statewide.  (we have not been following these closely.  I simply sat with the school board representatives during the debate and they explained the situation in terms that I felt I could pass along J)

They expect to finish up tomorrow.  However, there are a few of these supplemental bills (604 and 316 as well as school funding) that are struggling.  I could not seem to get a definite answer if these are all necessary in order to balance with a strong ending fund or if there was room to allow these “funding source” bills to die – using the existing general fund money to pay the costs – and still have the required ending fund balance.  Tomorrow will tell…

Ronda

April 27, 2011

Good morning,

                As I am sure you are reading in the newspaper, things did not go as smoothly as they normally do once we get an “agreement”.

                The 10% skimming of the bed tax was put back into HB 316 in order to balance the budget.  Due to a number of comments made last week, many of us thought that this may be inevitable.  It does have a 3 year sunset on the “theft” so without further legislative action, it will revert back to the tourism fund at that time.

                They also took 10% of the metal mines tax that goes to 6 counties for a total of about $900,000 over the biennium.

                The house failed to pass the state pay plan.  The amendments were to make the pay increases dependent on income tax collections going up by appropriate amounts.  Many thought that may be the key to getting enough votes.  They were still 8 votes short.

                Although the house accepted the Senate’s amendments to the bonding bill – also contingent on income tax collection increasing – they were 10 votes shy of the necessary 2/3 to pass the actual bill.  They will vote on 3rd today and that will be the vote that will count.

                The business equipment tax subcommittee met and made the necessary technical amendments.  That should be on the floor today in both chambers.

                The house did pass HB 2 – much to the surprise of everyone.  As of last night, the Senate was not sure if they had the votes to pass it the first time out today…

                In HB 604, they are still planning to take reserves from Worker’s Compensation.  I was told that there are amendments prepared for today’s subcommittee, however, the Work Comp people indicated that the amendments actually take more money from their reserves, not less.  It does not look like there is much we can do to change that decision at this point either.

                On the subject of Work Comp – last week I reported to many of you that the Governor’s choice in board appointments, Elizabeth Best, had failed to pass Senate approval.  The committee voted 5 to 6 to appoint – the negative report still goes to the Senate floor – there, they debated for some time and then voted to postpone to a date uncertain – that usually means that they will not come back to it.  They brought it back yesterday and she was confirmed on the Senate floor.

                The House also resurrected the Water’s edge tax bill.  This is one of those tax changes that we have fought for at least 8 years.  Montana is one of only two states that has this law in a manner that is different than the Feds.  We currently have a fairly limited list of countries in our law.  If a business operates in any of these countries – considered “tax havens” – they cannot make the Water’s edge election on their Montana taxes.  This can substantially increase their tax bill in Montana.  This legislation proposed to add both Ireland and the Netherlands to that list.  There are currently Montana companies doing business in Ireland and Irish companies doing business in Montana, so it is assumed that it is aimed at those companies.  Working with Montax, the CPAs and all of the other Chamber lobbyists, we were able to defeat this bill on the House floor yesterday.

                Although I did not attend the education subcommittee, it was reported that they passed a bill out with minimal amendments.  I was not able to get a read on how it looks for either AA schools or the eastern oil and gas schools.  At last report, it did not contain as much money as the first wanted and still took about 10% from the oil and gas counties and made changes in how they can build their reserve funds in the future.  No one was completely happy, but it was considered an improvement from where both sides started.

                The Governor is proposing an unusually large number of amendatory veto’s and this is taking a lot of extra time on the floor of both Chambers as well.  With any luck, they will finish up most of their work today.

Ronda

April 22, 2011

Hello all,

                As I am sure you read in the paper, the legislature has once again taken a few days off in order to get the budget negotiated.  We have to finish by next Saturday.  However, if the rumors are correct today, they are getting closer to an agreement.  At this point, once there is an agreement, the remainder of the formalities move fairly quickly.  This means we could be done a few days early if negotiations over the week-end prove positive.

                Business equipment tax reductions are still in conference committee.  However, it is on technical coordination language and not the body of the bill.  I am watching 2 appropriations bills that had “skimmed” from snowmobile trail money, county entitlement money, bed tax and gaming license fees.  All of those were removed in committee but now the bills are in a “free” conference committee and that means anything could happen. 

                I am also watching for “blast” motions – where someone on the floor attempts to revive a bill that we have had dead for some time and working to override a couple of Governor’s amendments.

                Other than those few items, we are about finished up with our portion of the work.  Once they come to an agreement on school funding we should be done.  I will send complete session reports soon.

Happy Easter!

Ronda

April 14, 2011

Good morning,

                As I am sure you have seen in the paper, we are taking a break for a few days.  Although I am not confident that it is going to work out as they are hoping, their plan is to save a few working days for after the Governor gives his inevitable veto to HB 2.

                We only have a couple of things that I am still watching on your behalf. 

                HB 316 – Reduce certain Revenue & Income – this is the bill that originally took 10% of the Bed Tax and diverted it into the General fund.  We worked with others to get this removed in the Senate and now the House has refused the Senate amendments.  It will go into conference committee to be worked out.

                SB 372 – to reduce business equipment taxes – was amended in the House and is headed back to the Senate for their approval.  The House amendments made the local governments whole so property taxes would not increase and made the computation for the tax decrease much simpler and straight forward.  We need to make sure that the Senate keeps the House amendments.

                HB 198 – Eminent Domain – as you know, this bill failed to get out of Senate Energy and is currently Tabled in that committee.  This bill has the potential to have a devastating impact on current investments in Montana.  For this reason, there is talk that they may attempt to “blast” it out onto the Senate floor for a vote.

                SB 417 – Designate Military Affected Areas – the bill that we are working on with both the County and JLUS committee to assist the work at MAFB and MANG – was amended in the House.  Senator Buttrey will recommend that the Senate accept the amendments next week.  As the amendments are a reduction in the proposed change, they should be easily accepted.

                SB 358 – Generally revise TIF districts – the other bill we were working on with Cascade County – has passed both the House and the Senate.  However, it is our understanding that the Governor plans an amendatory veto.  Sen. Buttrey is already working with the Administration on language that is acceptable to everyone.  This will take a bit more work to get it to the Governor’s desk, vetoed, and then back thru both the House and the Senate for amendments prior to Sine Die.

                HB 43 – Clarify employers rights Related to Medical Marijuana – both the House and the Senate have accepted the free conference report.  The Senate still needs to have a 3rd reading next week and then we need to encourage the Governor to sign the legislation.     

                The Governor has vetoed a number of pro-business bills that we were supporting including the bill to allow gold and silver to be mined in one area and shipped to an existing processing plant; tort reform; and changes to the interim zoning laws.         

                Next week will be mostly going between floor sessions and conference committee work sessions just trying to hang on to what we have.  I will be working on a full session report to send your way when all the dust is settled. 

Ronda

April 8, 2011

Good afternoon,

                This is likely to be one of the last weekly updates.  HB 2 (the overall state budget) has come out of the free conference committee and will likely be debated on both the House and Senate floors on Monday.  Although at this point, it is mostly just guessing, the “plan” seems to be to send a very lean budget to the Governor’s office with the knowledge that he will veto it and then they will need to add some more funding back in.  I believe that the legislature is already working with the Governor’s office to determine what funding he will expect added back in order to get his signature.

                School funding is roaming around in 3 different bills – 2 in the Senate and 1 in the House.  I understand that the eastern Montana schools are much happier with the House proposal than they were with either the Governor’s funding proposal or that of the Senate GOP.  Although it will likely still be amended, they are getting much closer to a solution.  I think that some of the oil & gas money will still be in the mix, but it won’t be nearly as much as was proposed by the Senate bill nor the Governor’s proposal.

                HB 495 funds the Local Government Entitlement at its current level (no inflation or growth for this biennium) and then provides a new growth rate factor.  MACo reluctantly supported this bill as it is the only funding vehicle available.  It is designed to attempt to fund local government services without raising local property taxes.

                The current form of the business equipment tax reduction bill still keeps the “threshold” rather than changing it to an “exclusion”.  If you will recall, the current law says that if you have less than $20,000 in business equipment, you are exempt from business equipment tax.  However, if you have $20,005 then you owe on the entire amount.  We were hoping to both increase this number as well as make it a true exemption (i.e. if you have $20,005 in equipment, you pay tax on only the $5 that is above the exclusion.)  Neither of these changes are included in the current form of this bill.  What is in the bill is that the first $2 million of business equipment will be taxed at 2% rather than the current 3%.  Any amounts over that $2 million will remain at the 3% rate.  If the total amount of income tax and corporate tax collected in Montana increases by 4% or more over the biennium, then the first $3 million of business equipment will be taxed at 1.5% (the remainder of property will remain at 3%).  This tax revenue primarily funds local government and the bill backfills these funds with income tax money collected at the state level.

                The downside to this bill is its funding mechanism.  As you know, anytime you bring in less revenue you either need to reduce your spending or find another source of income to replace it.  The legislature has made a number of spending cuts this session.  However, the majority of the funding for this reduction is found in the bill that eliminates a large number of individual tax credits – including the well-used energy efficiency credits.  The reasoning is that it is better to have ongoing lower business equipment taxes than to have a one year credit for new windows and the like.  As we had discussed lowering business equipment tax as something we supported, I offered our support on that bill.  However, we had not determined an appropriate source of income, nor discussed individual income tax credits, so I offered no comment on that proposal.  It is still in its final budget review in House Appropriations.

                HB 43 that outlines how an employer can deal with the use of medical marijuana by his/her employee has passed both Chambers and is currently in conference committee.  The conference committee is not making any changes to the language but is making sure that it coordinates with whatever bill finally gets signed into law regulating the sale and use.  The new law will allow an employer to discharge an employee for impairment and to have policy that does not allow the use of medical marijuana by your employees.  Once the bill is signed into law, I will send a full report on the details.

                The Work Comp reform bill has been signed by the Governor.  When you receive your next renewal, if this bill implements as planned, your premium should be lower – and by next year, it should be as much as 10 to 15% lower.  A detailed list of the changes will be included with the final legislative report.

                So now that you have the general overview – this is what happened to our bills this week:

                Last Saturday we offered our support to the Hotel/Motel industry by asking Senate Finance and Claims to remove the language that “skimmed” 10% of the bed tax from tourism and placed it in the general fund.  Early this week, the committee did remove this language from the bill.  However, we are now concerned that there may be an amendment on the Senate floor to put this money back in the bill.  We will oppose this amendment as well.

                On Tuesday we offered our support for changing the way that counties can use Tax Increment Finance Districts.  (SB 358)  Currently the law requires that they choose 1 of 3 types of TIF when creating a district.  Any other types of business can either not locate within the district, or that tax increment does not go toward the district.  This bill combines them into one general TIF district and changes a few of the requirements.  The Chamber felt that this would help grow our industrial areas outside city limits.  It has passed out of committee and will be debated on the House floor early next week.

                We also supported SB 417 allowing counties without zoning to create Military Affected Areas.  This is a bill to allow the counties the ability to adopt the suggestions of the Joint Land Use Study if they so choose.  This committee is designed to look at our land use policy and to create an environment that was appealing to both keep and expand our military missions.  It has also passed out of committee – with amendments – and will be debated on Monday on the House floor.

                We were asked to offer our support for HB 261 – Upland Game Bird Hunting – as it created a 3 day visitor’s hunting license, much like the one available for visitors wishing to fish – and may increase our tourism dollars.  We supported this on Thursday afternoon in Senate Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee.  I am not exactly sure what the committee didn’t like (some thought that it would create too many hunters, others thought the $50 fee was too cheap, etc) but they tabled the bill that same day.

                We also opposed HB 274 – the e-verify bill – in Senate Business and Labor.  This bill had been significantly watered down, but would still put into code the requirement that any business with more than 25 employees needed to begin using the e-verify system.  The committee agreed with our concerns and tabled this bill.

                I have attempted to “clean up” our watch list by deleting all of the bills that have either already become law or have been tabled. (Sorry about the strange formatting – I can’t seem to override the state’s formatting)  The ones highlighted in red still require some work on our part.  SB 94 is the only bill remaining that we want to have tabled.  We are working to pass the remaining bills that are highlighted in red.

                Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or are concerned that we are not covering a bill that interests your business.

Have a good week,

Ronda

April 4, 2011

Hello all,

                The reports are growing shorter and shorter as the bills we are interested in work their way thru the system and the legislature turns their focus toward balancing the budget.

                I have marked those bills still in play that we are just monitoring in green.  Those that are actively working on – or that I have questions for the board – are marked in red.  You can look over the list below and see the incremental progress each bill is making and I will not repeat that information here.

                There are a few bills I want to highlight this week.

                First, as you can see, the Worker’s Compensation reform has passed both chambers and is headed to the Governor’s office.  I believe he has indicated that he will sign this bill.  We are hopeful that these changes will decrease everyone’s premiums by at least 10% in the first year of their implementation.

                The House Tax committee held the hearing on SB 372 to reduce business equipment taxes on Friday.  All proponents indicated that we would like to see a true “exemption amount” rather than the “threshold” that currently exists.  We also indicated that we would like to see that number substantially increased and the tax % decreased.  Almost all asked that the local governments be kept whole as well.  The current bill only reimburses local governments to 90%.  The committee has indicated that they will try to simplify the bill a bit and then wait until they learn how much money is left in the budget for them to allocate to this tax relief.  We should see some action late next week.

                One of the ways they intend to fund business equipment tax relief is to eliminate a number of targeted tax credits with SB 253.  We chose earlier in the session to take no position on this bill.  It eliminates large numbers of tax credits that are often used in Montana.  The sponsor’s argument has been that most people would prefer to reduce or eliminate business equipment taxes on an ongoing basis rather than to get a once in lifetime tax credit for a targeted project.

                I testified in opposition to HB 316 today (yes, on Saturday – it is that time of session!)  The committee asked no questions and did not seem real receptive to removing the transfer of the bed tax to the general fund from the bill.  This takes 10% of the bed tax collected for tourism (the 4% not the full 7%) and moves it to the general fund for the funding of HB 2.  The hotel industry has asked that we support them in getting this provision removed and keeping the money for the use it was intended.  The committee should take executive action on the bill early next week.

                SB 417 – Military Affected Areas and SB 358 – Allowing counties to use TIF’s – will both be heard in the House on Tuesday.  I have spoken to most of the committee members and believe they will be well received.  I do know that the Farm Bureau is working with Sen. Moore on some amendments to SB 417.  However, they have asked me to participate in the meeting, so I do not believe that they will destroy the intent of the legislation.  SB 358 was heavily amended in the Senate and I believe we have addressed everyone’s concerns.

                Sen. Caferro has asked that we support her SB 359 Provide Jobs for Montana Veterans.  It can be read at http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0359.htm  and the fiscal note is at http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/SB0359.pdf .  This bill was originally written to give grants to those veterans wanting to learn to drive trucks and it was not only narrowly defined in job choices, it was very wide in who qualified and very expensive.  It now includes a large number of career opportunities and is a loan program.  The Chamber board is determining whether or not to take a public position on this legislation.

                HB 274 to require that employers e-verify has been very heavily amended to just be a “recommendation” that employers do so.  It has also passed the House after being “killed” on numerous occasions.  I will still join others in opposing this bill in the Senate.  If it becomes law, a few sessions from now, someone will come back and say that no one is doing this because there is a lack of enforcement and no one will remember that the lack of enforcement was the compromise agreement in order to get it passed.

                The legislature is primarily focusing on pulling together all of the different aspects of the budget, including the cost of legislation that has passed this session and school funding.  With the exception of the bed tax to the general fund and oil & gas taxes to the school funding, there is really no mention of increasing any other tax collections in order to balance the final budget.  This makes the final days a bit easier for the Chamber.

                Final note – although we have chosen to watch from afar in order to not be hypocritical when we ask for no new taxes, it appears that the bonding bill will pass and the College of Technology will get building money.  The sad note is that they do not appear to be getting their funding for operations even up to the level of the last biennium.  I will continue to encourage those appointed to the HB 2 conference committee to restore this funding.

Have a good week,

Ronda

March 28, 2011

Greetings from your lobbyist,

                We are at that point in the session when there doesn’t seem to be a lot of activity (there really is, but it is focused on the big picture rather than the detail bills) and when there is activity, it seems to happen without much notice.  With the exception of Study Resolutions and committee bills to implement HB 2, it is also past the date for requesting new legislation, so there isn’t much “new” for you to read thru.  However, remember that this is one of those rules that was made to be broken, so there may still be bills introduced and rushed thru the system if the majority is in agreement.

It is my understanding that the Senate will hold committee meetings at 8:00 on both Monday and Tuesday (even afternoon committees will meet in the morning if necessary) and then will devote the remainder of both days to HB 2 on the Senate floor.  The Senate has only one hearing scheduled for Wednesday at this time, so I am guessing that they are holding that day in case they need it to complete HB 2.

All Appropriation bills needed to pass to the second chamber on Friday (yesterday) and all Revenue bills need to pass to the second chamber on Wednesday of this week (30th).  The Senate dealt with these bills on Friday and Saturday so that they can now focus on HB 2.  The House will possibly need longer floor sessions the first part of the week in order to make sure these bills have all passed 2nd and 3rd reading on the floor.

All general bills that the second chamber amended – these are bills that had to make the first transmittal deadline – need to be sent back to their originating chamber for amendment approval by this Friday (April 1st) or the amendments die.  Because of this deadline, there will be a push to get general bills that may need amendments thru committee by Wednesday of this week.  We could have a long day on Wednesday if the Senate still needs to work on HB 2 and hold hearings on general bills.  However, most committees have pretty much heard every bill in front of them and are just waiting for revenue and appropriation bills.

I have gone through the “Bill Watch List” and highlighted those bills that are still in play.  The ones in red are those that the Chamber has taken an active position;  the ones in blue are bills that we are watching for the outcome and/or to make sure that they are not amended in a way that would cause us to take a position in opposition.  We have not taken a position on these bills.  You will notice that most of the items highlighted below have had all of their necessary hearings and are just waiting for executive action, final floor action, or a second chamber concurrence on their amendments.  OOPS!  I just counted, due to the large number of your bills deal with taxation, there are still 20 bills on your list that may have one more hearing!  Though I guess that is substantially less than we were dealing with a few weeks ago…

Last week in review:

Wednesday, March 23rd:

HB 334 Generally Revise Work Comp – had a well attended hearing.  Due to the large number of business owners that came to testify, as well as those that are well versed in work comp issues also lined up to testify, I joined many others and simply had all of our testimony given as a “me too” thru one lobbyist.  Your letters of support were also submitted.  As you have read in the paper, amendments were agreed to that protect employer’s exclusive remedy, allow the worker’s a bit more benefits, and slightly change the doctor’s reimbursement while still lowering the premiums.  The Governor has indicated that he will sign the bill.  It has already passed out of the committee and passed the Senate floor.  It will go back to the House for acceptance of the amendments before going to the Governor’s desk.

HB 306 Revise mining laws regarding cyanide health and vat leach open-pit mining – which allows ore to be mined in one area and trucked to an existing processing plant for processing – had a long hearing on Wednesday evening.  Due to the large amount of business by these existing mines and their employees in the Great Falls trade area, the Chamber has endorsed this as good economic development with high paying jobs.  The bill has since passed out of committee and will be debated on the House floor early next week.

Thursday, March 24th:

                The hearing on HB 261  Revise Upland Game Bird Hunting Laws – was canceled.  The sponsor asked the Chamber to support this bill as it allows for an out of state visitor to buy a short season license (3 days) much like the 3 day fishing permit – and the fiscal note indicates that there will likely be more visitors to Montana purchasing this license and possibly increasing our tourism revenue.

Friday, March 25th:

                The Senate held a second hearing on HB 71  Provide that Illegal Alien May not Receive Worker’s Comp Benefits – there is concern that an employer could hire someone that seems to have all their paperwork in order, only to find out after an accident that it was a student visa (not a work visa) or that the visa had expired.  This could then compromise exclusive remedy portions of the work comp law.  We opposed this bill and it was tabled in the same committee meeting.

              I then went to the hearing for HB 634 Generally Revise Law Relating to Data Privacy.  I had not checked with the board about this bill as it just showed up on Thursday.  It would have been a nightmare to follow as it required huge amounts of notification if you were keeping even the simplest of information (address and phone number) in a customer list or data base.  The sponsor had so many negative responses the day before that he simply asked for his bill to be tabled and is instead bringing a study resolution.  I assume you would like me to oppose the study resolution as well.  It can be read at:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HJ0027.htm  Montana has some of the strongest privacy laws in the nation.  We worked on this 2 or 3 sessions ago and came up with a good compromise bill.  I am guessing that there will be so much opposition that I may not even have to comment at the hearing Tuesday on the Study Resolution.

What to expect next week:

Tuesday, March 29th:

9:00  (H) Business & Labor  HJ 27  Study Resolution for Securing Personal Information the link is included in the paragraph above.

Due to a combination of approaching deadlines, dealing with all of the appropriations bills, and a rumored pending early ending to the session, not much has been scheduled at this time for next week.  I am assuming that most of the bills highlighted below will be acted upon either this week or early next week.

There are two bills that we have been tracking that have not been added to your watch list (they were on another list so I wasn’t missing them) - SB 306 (mentioned above) and HB 316.  I have added their status at the top of the list below.

HB 316 attempts to add money to the general fund by taking 10% of a number of statutory appropriations.  Much of this bill has been amended out but it still includes a raid of 10% of the bed tax collection.  In its currently amended form, it reduces the amount that is available for tourism promotion from about $35 million to near $32 million.  The Hotel/Motel Association has asked our assistance in defeating this.  I testified in opposition to a number of provisions in the original bill in the House and we worked to have the bed tax amended out on the House floor (the amendment failed on a tie vote).  I will continue to assist the Stuart Doggett, the lobbyist for the hotel association, in defeating this in the Senate.

Have a good week,

Ronda

March 21, 2011

Greetings,

                 I have changed up the watch list a bit for you.  I have highlighted in green the bills that we were working on but are, for the most part, finished with.  These have either died in committee, are likely to go no further or have made it thru the process and are on their way to the Governor’s desk.  I have highlighted in red those that we are still actively working on.  Those that are in black are being watched but are not a high priority.

                There are also some new tax bills that have been introduced in the last week.  Many of them are the ones that we see each year from the DOR and they will likely not make it past their first committee hearing.  Rather than include detailed explanations and text, I will just follow our policy from past sessions and work with Montax and the CPA’s to monitor and defeat the bills.  If one appears to be moving forward, I will then send all the detailed information for review. 

Last week in review:

On Tuesday we signed in opposing SB 399 Decouple from Federal Domestic Production Deduction.  Montax and the CPA’s offered detailed testimony on how taxpaying businesses in Montana would be affected.  I do not believe this bill will pass out of this committee.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0399.htm

Our support was also given to SB 183  Revise Interim Zoning Laws in its second committee hearing.  This is the bill that is endorsed by both MACo and business that would make it less likely that emergency zoning could be used to stop an otherwise legal project that was allowable under existing zoning (or lack thereof).  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0183.htm

On Wednesday we again signed in opposing a tax increase bill and then left the detailed testimony to the accountants!  SB 396 Provide for Nonresident & Resident Tax Equity would attempt to tax investment income based on which state the actual business was done.  It is a very complicated bill but it had a very positive impact on the state’s tax collections and a negative impact on Montanans’ that invest.  I do not believe this bill will pass out of Senate Tax.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0396.htm

We again offered our support to SB 206 Generally Revise law Related to Energy Transmission Siting.  This is the bill that would allow for a wider corridor to be approved by the DEQ when permitting.  If this had been in place for the permitting of the MATL line, we would not be facing a number of the current problems on placement.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0206.htm

Thursday was a busy day.  We had second chamber hearings on 4 bills that we have been supporting.  Two that deal with tort reform:

HB 341  Revise Interest Payments in Civil Cases  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0341.htm

HB 342  Revise Appeal Bonds in Civil Cases  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0342.htm

Note:  We are not the lead on these two bills.  The bill on interest rates was amended substantially in the House and does not provide the original relief that was contained in the first draft.

And two that assisted the Solid Waste companies against unfair government competition:

SB 234  Generally Revise Municipal Solid Waste Services  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0234.htm

SB 236  Revise Solid Waste Laws Related to Local Government  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0236.htm

Note:  Again, we are not the lead on these bills, only assisting.  These have both been heavily amended.  However, those that requested the bills are still happy with the language.

What to expect in the upcoming week:

Wednesday:

9:00  (S) Business & Labor  HB 334 Generally Revise Worker’s Compensation  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0334.htm This is the major Work Comp reform bill of the session.  I understand that the sponsor will be bringing amendments that somewhat lower compensation to the doctors and deal with the 5 year cut-off date so that it does not cause exclusive remedy to be challenged.  I have submitted the names of the businesses that requested to be added to the letter of support.  If any business owner wishes to testify, the sponsor and the committee have asked to hear from the public rather than a parade of lobbyists.

3:00  (H) Natural Resources - SB 306  Revise Mining Laws Regarding Cyanide  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0306.htm The Montana Mining Association and their member companies had asked for your support of this bill in the Senate.  This is the bill that would allow ore to be trucked from a new mine to the existing processing plants that were grandfathered under the cyanide ban.

Friday:

9:00 (S) Business & Labor – HB 535  Revise Uniform Limited Liability Partnership Act – monitor only - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0535.htm

• -          SB 375  Generally Revise Workers’ Compensation – monitor only - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0375.htm  This bill deals with the internal financing of the State Fund so we are just monitoring it at this time      

General information:

                I continue to support the bills that lower Montana’s business equipment taxes as well.  It appears that Sen. Tutvedt’s bill will be the vehicle used to accomplish some tax relief. Current law exempts the first $20,000 of business equipment from tax and then taxes the remainder at 3%.  His bill would leave the existing exemption and then tax the first $2,000,000 in equipment at 2%.  As the tax revenues collected by the state improve, it would ratchet the $2 million number up and the tax rate down.  It also makes the local governments, who receive this revenue stream, whole thru state reimbursement.  This has passed out of the Senate Tax committee and will likely be debated on the Senate floor this week.

                Prior to the beginning of session, the Great Falls Chamber agreed to work with the County and MAFB on a bill to deal with Military Affected Areas.  Since the drafting began, we have also added language at the request of MANG and Fort Harrison.  The bill draft is done and the bill will be introduced this week.  The text is as follows:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/lchtml/LC0866.htm

                There are a number of bills that attempt to raid the bed tax money and we continue to assist the Hotel/Motel Association in trying to keep this money used as it was intended.  We also continue to work to keep our College of Technologies funded at their existing levels.

                Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Have a good week,

Ronda

March 14, 2011

Greetings from the lobbyist,

                Although I am attaching the entire watch list at the bottom of this email, I will only offer comment on those that were heard in the last week and those that we will be debating next week.  As most of the bills have passed thru their originating house, we have already discussed them in previous updates.

Recap of week 10:

                                We supported the following bills:

                                At the request of Sen. Buttrey, we offered support of SB 294  Revise Workforce Training Program in House Business and Labor.  This bill reduces the amount the wages must be in order to qualify for this grant.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0294.htm The committee passed this bill and it should be debated this upcoming week on the House floor.

                                HB 366 Revise County Interim Zoning - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0366.htm This bill would make it more difficult for a county to stop development using “emergency zoning” to change or create zoning after a project has already been announced.

                                HB 59  Expand Renewable Energy Portfolio to Include Hydro - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0059.htm This bill will allow the improvements made at PPL’s dams to be counted as “green energy” and encourage upgrades of the remaining hydro facilities.

                We opposed the following bills:

                                HB 601 Limit the Use of Credit History in Employment - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0601.htm This bill would make it illegal to check credit on a potential employee unless they were going to have “fiduciary responsibility” in your company.  Federal law already gives very strict guidelines for how credit reports can be used in employment and the Chamber felt that this is a necessary background check for many employers and that they should be able to continue to use this when hiring.  The bill had only one proponent and was heavily opposed by banks, chambers and other business interests.

                Although the Chamber chose not to take an official position on the following bills, we did monitor them in order to report their final outcome to our members:

                                SB 342 Define Misconduct for UI Laws – http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0342.htm This has passed the House Business committee and will have its final debate on the House floor in the upcoming week.

                                SB 392 Class 8 Tax Reduction - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0392.htm Although the Chamber supports the reduction of the business equipment tax, this bill had some problems.  Rather than oppose the bill, we chose to just sit on the sidelines and support the bill that is better designed to adequately reimburse local governments while providing a business equipment tax reduction that is included in the current legislative budget proposal.

                                HB 577 Removing Tip Income for UI and WC - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0577.htm The Chamber chose to just monitor this bill.  The small amount of financial benefit to employers that is accomplished by removing tip income from the UI and WC calculations did not seem to justify the financial hardship that it may cause to an injured or seasonal worker.

What to expect in Week 11:

Tuesday:

8:00 (S) Tax  SB 399 Decouple from Federal Domestic Production Deduction - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0399.htm This appears to be a version of a tax increase bill that we have opposed in previous sessions.  I will talk to the CPA’s and Montax and follow their lead.

9:00 (S) B&L  HB 80 Revise UI Laws - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0080.htm  Monitor only – This is a department clean-up bill.  It primarily extends the amount of time someone that must leave their job due to domestic violence can collect unemployment.

                         HB 179 Disallow UI benefits for Certain Terminations - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0179.htm Monitor only - This bill would eliminate UI charges against an employer if the employee is employed less than 30 days.

3:00 (H) Approp HB 357 Provide Tax Credit for Employer Contribution to Employee Health Savings Account - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0357.htm and the fiscal note:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/HB0357.pdf  While the Chamber has historically supported this concept, due to the financial situation of the State, we chose to only monitor this bill.  Appropriations will only be discussing the fiscal note, not the concepts in the bill itself.  The cost is just under half a million per year.

       (H) Local Govt SB 183 Revise Interim Zoning Laws - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0183.htm Support - This is actually a bill at the request of MACo.  It would state in the law that counties cannot use interim zoning in order to prohibit a business that is legally licensed to operate under state law.  They can still use normal zoning practices to determine how they would like their county to grow.  However, they could not use the “emergency” statutes to prohibit a business.

                A large number of TIF (Tax Increment Financing) bills will be heard as well.  As these are primarily a local Billings issue – the Chamber board has directed me to take no position.  (HB 560; 561; 562; 564)

Wednesday:

8:00 (S) Tax  SB 396 Provide for Non-Resident & Resident Tax Equity on Business Interest Sales - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0396.htm This also resembles legislation that we have opposed in past sessions.  I will contact the CPA’s and Montax and follow their lead.

3:00 (H)FRET  SB 206 Generally Revise Laws Related to Energy Transmission Siting - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0206.htm This bill allows DEQ to set a larger corridor when approving a transmission line, thus allowing the company and land owners a bit more room for negotiation of placement without starting the entire review process over.  If this bill had been law in 2009, we would likely not be facing the eminent domain issues that we are currently facing with MATL.  In support of this and future projects, the Chamber is supporting this bill.

Thursday:

9:00  (S)B&L  HB 341  Revise Interest Payments in Civil Cases http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0341.htm

                      HB 342  Revise Appeal Bonds in Civil Cases http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0342.htm

                                These are the two tort reform bills that we are supporting this session.

                      HB 249  Limit Shareholder Liability for Corporate Acts and Debt - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0249.htm

                                As there was some that felt this is simply restating what the courts have ruled, the Chamber has directed me to only monitor this bill.

3:00  (H)Local Govt  SB 234 Generally Revise Municiple Solid Waste Services http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0234.htm

                                 SB 236  Revise Solid Waste Laws Related to Local Government http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0236.htm

                                The local garbage collection companies asked for our support on these bills.  They deal with direct government competition with private business as well as regulations that are intended to eliminate or hamper the private business when the government intends to compete.  They outline how the private business must be compensated if the government does take over.

There are currently no bills of interest scheduled for Friday.

If you have any questions or thoughts about the legislation, please contact me.

Have a great week.

Ronda

March 7, 2011

Greetings from your lobbyist,

                Due to the transmittal break, it was a short week with only 3 days of hearings.

                This week the Chamber weighed in supporting HB 43 Employer’s Rights Related to Employee Use of Marijuana.  This bill, if passed, will allow an employer to make policy decisions about the hiring and employment of those using medical marijuana if it in any way affects their work ability.  It had a good (and very long) hearing and the committee’s questions seemed favorable.

                Thursday was a busy day with the Chamber supporting the following bills:

                SB 372 Decrease Business Equipment Tax – Phase reduction on State Economic Growth in Senate Tax – it also had a very good hearing, with only MACo expressing some concern that the reimbursement to the local governments was not accurately calculated.

                HB 100  Requiring a Fiscal Note to Include Business Impact Statements in Senate Business & Labor

                HB 359  Revise Worker’s Compensation Law on Lump Sum & Settlements also in Senate Business & Labor – if you recall, this is the portions of the full Work Comp reform bill that are virtually agreed on by all parties.  This bill is going forward to make sure that at least the non-controversial reforms are enacted.

                HB 198  Revise Eminent Domain Law – in Senate Energy.  This hearing lasted for over 3 hours and had a variety of both supporters and opponents.  The Chamber is endorsing this bill as simply putting back into statute what was commonly accepted as eminent domain allowances for utilities prior to the December District Court ruling.  Without the ability to use eminent domain when necessary, it is virtually impossible to build the infrastructure necessary for economic growth.  Based on discussions with the committee members, it is likely this bill will pass out of committee.

                Also on Thursday, the Chamber opposed HB 71  Provide Illegal Alien May Not Receive Work Comp – although it seems reasonable on its face, the Chamber’s concern is that an employer hires someone, fills out the proper paperwork and then, after the employee is injured, learns that they were not legal to be working in the U.S.  This would then make the employer liable for the employee’s medical bills, putting a large hole in the exclusive remedy law.  There were a lot of opponents and no proponents in the hearing so I am doubtful that the bill will pass out of the Senate Judiciary committee.

                On Friday the Chamber supported SB 358 Generally Revise TIF Districts – in Senate Tax.  This bill will allow counties the same opportunities to use TIF districts that the cities currently have.  Although the counties have some options available to them under current law, this would give them more flexibility to use TIF to reinvest in infrastructure in areas of out of town that can support new economic development.

                We also supported HB 268  Revise Laws Associated with Bad Check Fees – in Senate Business.  Current Montana law indicates that a business can charge a “reasonable” amount for a bad check, up to $30.  This bill eliminates the word “reasonable” while maintaining the $30 limit.  Most states have moved this direction after a string of court cases where the word “reasonable” was challenged, arguing that the cap amount listed was actually an “unreasonable” number.  It appears that this bill will also pass out of committee.

What to expect in the upcoming week:

Wednesday:

                SB 294 Revise Workforce Training Program – monitor only in House Business & Labor committee.   (Many years ago the Chambers supported creating this program only if it were used to bring in high paying jobs.  We had concerns that if our tax dollars were used to recruit and train for low paying jobs, that it would simply bring more families requiring social services to our communities.  A few years later, we worked with then Sen. Jeff Mangen to lower the required pay rate in order to make the program more usable.  This bill lowers that amount even more for the same reason.  After discussion with the Chamber committee and the sponsor, it was deemed that our historical perspective probably did not assist with the passage of the bill, so we are simply monitoring the outcome.)  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0294.htm

                SB 342  Define misconduct for UI laws – support in House Business & Labor committee.  This bill simply defines misconduct as there is currently no definition in law and it is up to the Labor Management board to determine in a case by case situation.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0342.htm

                HB 366  Revise County Interim Zoning Laws – Support in Senate Local Government committee.  This bill allows some extra certainty to a business that is intending to locate in the county.  It is supported by MACo as well as the Realtors and the Chambers.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0366.htm

Thursday:

                SB 287  Require Certain Corporate Officers or Manager of LLC’s to Obtain Work Comp – monitor only in House Business & Labor.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0287.htm  As this bill affects only construction companies, the Chamber felt it was best to leave it in the hands of their industry lobbyist, but we are monitoring it for outcome in order to keep all of our members informed of potential law changes.

                SB 392  Revise Laws Related to Class 8 Property Tax Exemptions - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0392.htm This will be heard in Senate Tax.  It is the Governor’s proposal to reduce business equipment taxes. 

                HB 577 Removing Tip Income for UI and Work Comp - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0577.htm  The Chamber will only be monitoring this bill in House Tax.  While the board understands that removing these items from UI and WC calculations when determining premiums, we also understand that when seasonal employees need to be laid off, most employers would like them to still be available for “call back” when the time arrives.  A much reduced UI or Work Comp payment does not encourage this, therefore we chose to take no position on this bill.

                HB 59  Expand Renewable Energy Portfolio to Include Hydro - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0059.htm   The Great Falls Chamber will be supporting this bill in Senate Energy in the hopes of encouraging PPL and upgrade more of their facilities in Cascade County.

Friday:

                HB 601 Limit the Use of Credit History in Employment  - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0601.htm This bill will limit an employer’s ability to use a credit report when hiring to only those positions with a fiduciary responsibility in the company.  

Have a good week,

Ronda

February 28, 2011

Greetings from your lobbyist,

                We have reached the half-way point in the 2011 Legislative Session.  At this point, all general bills must have passed out of their originating chamber or they are dead.  Revenue and Appropriations bills have until the end of March to meet their deadline.

                Because of this “drop date”, it is a good time to go back thru our watch lists and delete the bills that have either died or that we have determined we do not have an interest in.  It also a good time to take a second look at bills that may have been passed over during the original rush.  Below is a list of all of the bills that we will continue to watch during the last half of the session.  In the right hand column you will see the position that the Chamber has taken on the bill.  (Support, Oppose or Monitor)  There are a few of them that are blank, as I am waiting until next week’s meeting for direction from the board.

                We’ve recently received questions about how we determine when we offer testimony.  I wanted to take a minute and address that question for everyone.  First, if the bill is very important to Great Falls, and we are the “lead” testimony – the one with the most information about the bill – we will give that top priority and always testify on those bills. 

                Often on business issues, there are a number of associations that share the same opinion.  In those cases, we often sign in as an proponent or opponent and then split the testimony up between us.  If there is truly not enough testimony to “go around” – and there often isn’t – we may have only one or two testify.  The others will share in the duty of visiting with legislators in the hallway and before the vote.  That is often where the time consuming work is done and unnecessary “me too” testimony often annoys committee members.

                If we oppose the bill, we will often visit with the committee members in advance to see where they stand.  If it is obvious that the bill is not going to pass, lobbyists will generally not line up in huge crowds against it in order to not embarrass the sponsor.  Just one or two will speak in opposition and the rest will visit directly with the committee members.

                Finally, if there is a bill that a member feels strongly enough that they travel to Helena for the hearing, we will always allow them the opportunity to testify.  The legislators hear from lobbyists in the halls every day.  They like to hear from the people that are directly affected by their votes.  Often a bill sponsor will request that we bring members to testify rather than have us at the podium.  The big Work Comp bill that we recently heard is an example of that.  The insurance experts covered the details and Rep. Reichner asked us to bring business owners to testify about the impacts of high work comp costs on their business rather than to have a lot of lobbyists speak.  It seems to have worked, as the bill has passed over to the Senate!

                You may notice that I have dropped all of the grant and appropriation bills from our watch list.  In sessions past, we have monitored the grants and offered our support for those that were in Great Falls.  As these appropriation hearings are often drawn out over days, we generally do not testify but offer a letter of support and I talk to the individual legislators about the programs in Great Falls.  Due to the fiscal situation that the state is facing, the Chamber board decided to not ask for any additional or special funds this session.  For that reason, I have simply dropped them from the list of bills that we are monitoring.

                During the first half of the session we were successful in stopping bills that would have taken away an employer’s ability to set policy on having guns in vehicles in a company parking lot; that would have required all employers to use e-verify; that would have made it even more difficult for the “big loads” to move thru Montana; that would have placed limits on the amount of light you could have coming from your signage and security lights;  and that would have allowed the state and people from other counties to tell us how to develop along the Missouri river.  There were a few other bills that had seemingly better titles – to stop discrimination and bullying in the workplace – but were very unworkable for a small employer to try to implement.  These bills have also died in the process.

And as always, What To Expect In the Coming Week:

   Monday is still Transmittal Break.

  Tuesday they will come back late in the day to discuss rules; have a short floor session and then have a joint session on the budget.

  Wednesday:

                9:00 (H) Tax HB 567  Revise Property Appraisal Process by Allowing Extended Assessment Review http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0567.htm

                                                                (this bill would allow a taxpayer to file an AB-26 once a year, every year, rather than only at a reappraisal or upon changes to the property)

                10:00 (S) B&L  HB 43  Employer’s Rights Related to Employee Use of Medical Marijuana - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0043.htm - Chamber is supporting this bill.

  Thursday:

                8:00 (S) Tax  SB 372 Decrease Business Equipment Tax – Phase more Reduction on State Economic Growth http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0372.htm

                                                (this bill is a bit different in that it ties reduction of business equipment tax to growth in income tax.  These two taxes do not go to the same place –one goes to local

                                                                Government, the other to state.  It does include a reimbursement mechanism for local government.   There is no fiscal note yet.)

                                        SB 295  Revise Manner of Appraising Certain Property for Tax Purposes http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0295.htm

                                                                (this bill would also allow a taxpayer to file an AB-26 once a year, rather than only at reappraisal or upon a change to the property)

                9:00 (S) Jud HB 71 Provide Illegal Alien May not Receive Work Comp Benefits http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0071.htm and the fiscal note: http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/HB0071.pdf

                                                                The Chamber opposes this bill.

                                                                (This bill does not preclude an employer from paying work comp premiums.  However, when the employee gets hurt and WC and the employer discover that the employee

                                                                  was not a legal immigrant, then WC doesn’t pay for the injury.  That leaves the employer to pay for the costs of the injury.)

                         (S) B&L  HB 100 Require Fiscal Notes to Include Business Impact Statement http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0100.htm and the fiscal note: http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/HB0100.pdf

                                                                The Chamber supports this bill.

                                          HB 359   Revise Work Comp Law on Lump Sum & Settlements http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0359.htm and the fiscal note: http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/HB0359.pdf

                                                                (This bill has some of the language that is included in the big Work Comp reform bill.  However, this is only a minor portion where there is absolutely no disagreement in order to

                                                                  make sure that at least this portion becomes law.)  The Chamber supports this bill.

   Friday:

                9:00 (S) B&L  HB 268  Revise Laws Associated with Bad Check Fees http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0268.htm The Chamber supports this bill.

                                                (all but 3 states have adopted this law to remove the word “reasonable” from this section of law and just leave it set at an amount no more than $30)

                Thursday morning would be a great time to come offer “public comment” if anyone is so inclined!  It will be a busy day.  If you have any questions or comments about the legislation we are following, please feel free to contact me.

Have a good week!

Ronda

February 21, 2011

Hello all,

                Due to transmittal, you will be getting a very short report this week-end and a full update next Thursday.

                Today we heard the “spot zoning” bill that we are working on with Cascade County in order to address the SME issue and the court ruling for future development.  It got moved into Tax committee rather than Local  Government (where it belonged) due to the transmittal rush.  I am not real pleased with the way the hearing went – we had some that did not understand zoning and a few attorney’s with a predetermined position.  I will help Commissioner Briggs with this on Monday and hope for a good vote.  The Chairman of the committee really likes the bill and is willing to help.

                “Transmittal” is the 1/2 way point of the session.  It is when all bills that are not revenue related (tax or spend) must have passed out of the house they originated in.  Due to this deadline, and the combination of a large number of freshman, we are in a real rush to get bills heard and voted on this week.

                We have been beginning committee work as early as 7:00 a.m. and not finishing up until after 8:00 p.m. – pretty long days.  Due to this, reports are not as current as they should be and things are changing rather rapidly.

                So….you will not get a weekly report from me other than a quick note when the committee votes on our bill and any emergency floor action.  You will get a full transmittal report on Thursday with details on what has happened in the first half and what to expect in the second half   (the Half time Report)

Have a good week-end,

Ronda 

February 14, 2011

Greetings from the Capitol,

Last week in review:

Tuesday:

                House Local Government hear HB 366 Revise County Interim Zoning – we offered our support as the bill would add some certainty to the process when a business is attempting to open in a new location.  It had a very positive hearing with both the Realtors and MACo on the same side.  The committee has taken no action.

                House Business and Labor did executive action on Tuesday, first voting to pull from the table HB 186 Continue allocation to Worksafe Montana thru assessment on work comp insurer, amend it to make it dependent on the passage of HB 334, and the pass it out of committee.  This is the bill that slightly raised work comp fees in order to fund the safety education program.  We were not enamored by the bill, but chose to stay on the sidelines when leadership from both parties and almost all trade associations supported it.  The sponsor cut the assessment in half of the original bill with an amendment during his opening.  Still, a number of legislators were uncomfortable with the idea that they could pass this bill (raising work comp rates) and then the work comp reform bill could die and they would have to go home and explain their actions.  Thus, tying it to the passage of the major work comp reform legislation.  The committee then passed HB 334 Generally Revise Work Comp.  Both bills have passed second reading on the House floor and will now go to Appropriations prior to 3rd reading.

Wednesday:

                Senate Business and Labor heard SB 243 Generally Revise Worker’s Compensation – we signed in as a supporter but did not offer testimony.   The committee limited time and there were large numbers of people that had traveled to testify and many experts in work comp to offer ideas.  The committee members know that we are in support of lower premiums and keeping exclusive remedy in the law.  It is generally agreed that the House bill needs less amendments in order to be a good bill, and this bill was Tabled.

                Senate Local Government heard SB 234 Generally Revise Municipal Solid Waste Services and SB 236 Revise Solid Waste Laws Related to Local Government – in both hearings our testimony centered around government not creating regulatory road blocks for business and not competing or taking over where a private business is currently operating.

Friday:

                House Judiciary tabled HB 368 Allow keeping firearm in parked vehicle or while on employer's business.  We had opposed this bill as it took the option away from the employer.

What to expect this week:

Monday:

                HB 378 Provide Criteria for Pay Equity & Dispute - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0378.htm will be heard in House Business and Labor at 9:00.  In the past, the Chamber has chosen to simply monitor these bills.  The dispute portion of the bill is generally unfavorable toward business but there is absolutely no way that the Chamber can give any impression that they are supporting unequal pay based on gender.   This bill is very unlikely to pass.

                I will offer our support of the College of Technology maintaining their current funding levels to the Appropriations committee.

                HB 507 Create Safe MT Highways Act - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0507.htm will be heard in House Transportation at 3:00.  This bill is an attempt to stop the “big loads” from coming thru Montana.  As we do not have a position on this, I will just watch and let you know if we need to take a position.

                The House Appropriations committee will be debating the fiscal note on HB 334 Generally Revise Work Comp.

Tuesday:

                HB 440 Require all Employers to use E-Verify - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0440.htm This bill is a less detailed version of the last one on employing illegal immigrants.  However, it still pulls a business license for a violation (this one on the first offense)  Unlike the first bill, this one does not define how a complaint is filed or who can file a complaint or do an investigation.  I have been told that e-verify is not an easy program to use.  The employer must first complete a study guide on how to use the program and then take a test that takes about 90 minutes.  Every time the program is changed or adjusted at the federal level, the employer must repeat this process.  Have any of you used the system that can verify if the information that I received is true?  If so, please respond to the Chamber and let Steve pass along the information.

                Senate Business & Labor will hear SB 294 Revise Workforce Training Program at 9:00  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0294.htm This bill would eliminate the requirement that in order to qualify for a workforce training grant, the jobs must pay equal to or above the local median wage.  A bit of background.  Sen. Ed Buttrey is carrying the legislation and those that use the program feel it is a necessary change.  However, the Chamber supported the need for a wage requirement when this program originated so that it was not being used to train minimum wage workers.  We later supported a bill that lowered the necessary pay from a % above the local median wage to equal to that amount. 

The House Appropriations committee will be debating the fiscal note on HB 186 Funding for WorkSafe Montana.

Wednesday:

                HB 359 Revise Work Comp on Settlement & Lump Sum Payments - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0359.htm  will be heard in House Business at 8:00.  The fiscal note for this is fairly vague: http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/HB0359.pdf

                House Business & Labor will also hear the two Legal Reform bills that you have endorsed.  HB 341 Revise Interest Payments on Civil Cases http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0341.htm  and HB 342 Revise Appeal Bonds in Civil Cases http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0342.htm

                Senate Business will hear SB 270 Revise Appeal Process for Unemployment Claims - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0270.htm and the sponsor’s rebuttal to the fiscal note can be found at:   http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/SNPDF/SB0270.pdf .  This bill allows for disputes to go directly to District Court.  It is an employer friendly change as a disputed claim process within the Department can be lengthy and often perceived as unfair to the employer. 

                Senate Tax will hear SB 274 Classify expansions to hydroelectric facilities for property tax purposes at 8:00.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0274.htm  The Chamber has supported the upgrades at the dams being considered renewable energy.  This bill would move those improvements into a tax category that cuts their tax from 6% to 3%.  It does some complicated math to determine what portion of the total bill would fit into this category.  There is no fiscal note.  This could have a fairly large impact on Cascade County.  If just the upgrades drop, that would all be newly taxable, so it would not affect the tax bill for the remaining tax payers.  However, if, when the math is done, some of the existing taxable is dropped from 6% to 3%, that could have a very significant impact on the taxable value in Cascade County and thus increase the property taxes for all other taxpayers.  I really want to see a fiscal note before giving you any advice. 

Friday:

                SB 306 Revise mining laws regarding cyanide health and vat leach open-pit mining is being heard in Senate Natural Resources.  I would like to discuss this bill on our Wednesday phone call, it can be read at http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0306.htm  What it does is allow gold to be mined in a location where gold is found and then allow that ore to be trucked/shipped to one of the two locations that can legally process it in Montana.  It is definitely a jobs bill as there are a number of gold deposits in our state that had to be abandoned when the processing was prohibited.  However, that prohibition grandfathered the two locations that were currently processing ore.  Because the price of gold is so high, it is now profitable to mine the ore in one location and ship it to another for processing.  Golden Sunlight has asked for our support.

Other items we may want to be aware of:

                HB 427  Revise law related to eligibility for unemployment insurance http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0427.htm and the fiscal note http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/HB0427.pdf  While well intended, I think this bill has all kinds of complications.  I actually missed the hearing last week and just caught it. 

                HB 514 Protect sexual orientation and gender identity and expression http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0514.htm This bill is not yet scheduled for hearing.  Please see my comments on the similar bill above. 

                SB 253 Eliminate certain individual and corporation tax credits http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0253.htm and the fiscal note http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/SB0253.pdf I missed this bill last week.  It is huge and it affects a large number of tax credits currently allowed in Montana.  Please take a look at it – at least the title and the fiscal note – it is really hard to read, as it just pulls the tax credit out in a number of different sections of code.  The Chamber will need to determine if they want to take a position on this bill in the event that it moves forward.

                Below is the current list of the bills we are tracking.  Only one more week and we will be at transmittal and I can drop a lot of these that are either going nowhere or have been determined to not be something we really care to offer comment.  For those of you that would like to read text or track any of these bills – or anything else happening at the legislature, the link is:  http://laws.leg.mt.gov/laws11/LAW0200W$.Startup

Have a good week,

Ronda

February 7, 2011

Greetings from the Capitol,

Last week in review:

Monday:

                House Business and Labor heard HB 334 Generally Revise Worker’s Compensation – this is the major reform bill of the session.  As we are probably not qualified to offer medical or legal opinions, I have simply maintained that our members need lower cost WorkComp and that it needs to remain the exclusive remedy for work place injuries.   There will likely be a number of amendments, but this will be the bill that passes thru the process this session.

                Senate Judiciary heard SB 196 Bullying in the Work Place.  The Chamber opposed this bill as simply unworkable and it has been Tabled.

                Senate Natural Resources heard SB 206 Generally Revise Laws Related to Transmission Siting - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0206.htm We supported this bill that would allow the siting corridor to be up to 1 mile wide.  This would prevent many of the problems faces with the MATL project.  It appears that it will probably be amended down to be closer to the federal guidelines of 1000 to 1300 feet.  It is currently 500 feet.

Wednesday:

                House Judiciary had two bills that dealt with guns in the workplace.  HB 201 was the sponsor’s original draft.  She asked that bill be Tabled and then went forward with HB 368. http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0368.htm   This bill is basically the same principle but adds side boards such as exempting prison employees.  The bill would make it illegal for an employer to have a company policy that does not allow firearms to be in vehicles parked on company property.  The Chamber, along with a large number of other groups, opposed the bill as it should be the employers choice to make these decisions regarding their businesses, not the state.  There are a number of businesses that federal regulations as well as Homeland Security issues do not allow firearms to be present.  The bill remains in committee at this time.

                We also monitored HB 322 to Provide Enforcement of Unlicensed Practice of a Trade.  This bill was also Tabled in committee.

What to expect in the next week:

Monday:

                HB 366 Revise County Interim Zoning Regulations  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0366.htm will be heard in House Local Government at 3:00.  

Wednesday:

                SB 234 Generally Revise Municipal Solid Waste Services  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0234.htm  will be heard in Senate Local Government at 3:00.  The Chamber will support this bill as it makes changes that require a local government to fairly compensate a private solid waste company if the city chooses to go into business against them and require their customers to become city customers.

                SB 236 Revise Solid Waste Related to Local Government http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0236.htm dovetails on the above bill by dealing with regulations that increase costs to private haulers.  This bill will be heard in the same committee hearing and the Chamber will support.

                SB 243 Generally Revise Work Comp – Sen. Zinke version - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0243.htm will be heard in Senate Business and Labor at 9:00.  Although this is not the bill that is expected to go forward, they may implement some portions of this into the final bill. 

Other items to note:

                I expect to see both of the legal reform bills be heard later in the week.  They are not currently scheduled.  The Chamber is supporting both of these bills as common sense reform.

                                HB 341 Revise Interest Payments in Civil Cases - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0341.htm to lower the amount of interest paid in a civil case from 10% to a T-bill plus rate.

                                HB 342 Revise Appeal Bonds in Civil Cases - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0342.htm to limit the amount of a bond when appealing a civil case.

The following message came from the State Chamber, requesting our help:

HB 334 is going to need some help from the grassroots in order to get signed into law. We are going to be compiling a list of associations and private businesses that support the bill, so that we can put it in a letter that can go out to lawmakers. Here’s what I need from your association/company:

• 1.       First tell me if your association or company would like to be included on the letter.
• 2.       Second, if you’re an association, please sent out an alert this week to your members about whether they want their company included on the letter. We’d like to get their company name, a contact person, their location in the state, and an email. You can give them my email address (jon@montanachamber.com)

This is a big bill for business this session, and we’d like to do everything possible to make sure it passes. Please send something out soon to your membership so we can start collecting names for the letter. A brief recap of the bill is pasted below. Thanks,

Jon Bennion, Esq.

Government Relations Director

Montana Chamber of Commerce

406 442-2405, ext. 104

jon@montanachamber.com

HB 334: Work Comp Bill with Big Savings

A bill that is projected to save employers around 25% in just the first year is being debated in Helena!

We can’t pass this big of a reform bill without you contacting your legislators. Lawmakers need to hear from businesspeople from back home so they know to support HB 334.

If you would like us to add your name to a letter of support, please respond to this email address (jon@montanachamber.com) with your name and company and location.

The bill takes many of the recommendations of the Labor-Management Advisory Council on Workers’ Compensation and goes a step further in other respects. Here is a breakdown of the major components:

• 1.      Closure of medical benefits 60 months from the date of injury or date of diagnosis of OD with a limited reopening provision after a medical panel review;
• 2.      Greater settlements of nondisputed medical benefits;
• 3.      Implementation of medical utilization and treatment guidelines;
• 4.      Requires class 2 (moderate) or more impairment rating to receive PPD benefits including payment of the impairment rating, the wage loss benefit and other benefits;
• 5.      Provides that the insurer designates the treating physician, allows for physicians to opt into the treating physician role and receive higher reimbursement rates, or allows them to opt out and receive lower reimbursement rates;
• 6.      Increases the number of PPD weeks from 375 to 400 and retroactively pays back the 4 day waiting period for TTD after 21 days of wage loss;
• 7.      Stay at Work/Return to Work Program; and
• 8.      Prohibits claims for work comp benefits in cases where employees are on breaks off the employer premises and at company recreational activities.

This is one of the business community’s top priorities this session. Employers must see reductions in their work comp costs if Montana’s economy is going to reach its full potential.

If you would like us to add your name to a letter of support, please respond to this email address (jon@montanachamber.com) with your name and company and location.

Below is the current list of bills we are monitoring.

January 31, 2011

Hello,

A quick summary of last week:

On Monday:

We offered support on HB 43 to Clarify Employer’s Rights Related to Medical Marijuana.  As there were a lot of proponents, we focused our testimony on the rights of our employees to expect a safe work environment and how that relates to controlling the use of medical marijuana.  I am expecting this bill to pass out of committee.

We opposed SB 163 to Clarify Municipal Authority to Regulate Light as both an expensive and often unsafe regulation.  I do not think this bill will come out of committee.  As a city with self-governing powers, Great Falls already has the ability to pass a “dark skies” regulation.  However, we still opposed it on principal.

We opposed SB 164 to Require Consideration of Conservation Measurers in the Growth Policy for a number of reasons.  First, a growth policy is not a regulatory document and this bill would have made portions of it regulatory.  Second, it had very vague language that indicated that local governments would need to manage the land around rivers with an emphasis on no development.  It also allowed for people outside the county to appeal or protest local government decisions on land use along the river.  I do not think this will pass either.

On Wednesday:

We monitored HB 186 to Allocate funds to Worksafe MT with an assessment on work comp.  Although we are not in support of raising worker’s compensation in any manner, this bill had huge amounts of support.  This is the funding for the advertising campaign to advocate safe work decisions.  We would have been the only opponents to the bill and many of the associations that represent our individual members were in support as they use the program.  The sponsor cut the amount of the assessment in half with an amendment offered during the hearing.  The committee expressed a lot of concern about raising work comp premiums no matter how important the program.  I spoke with many of them later in the hall and indicated that many of our small businesses shared those concerns.  We know the safety program is valuable, but we simply cannot afford increases in our rates.

We also monitored HB 274 to Provide that Employment of an Unauthorized Alien is Unlawful.  The concept of this bill seems rather reasonable and the penalty for the first violation is very light.  However, the bill has some other problems that caused some concern from the board.  As we have nothing in our position papers to indicate the Chamber’s position on this bill, we opted to just monitor it for now.  The issues of concern are that the bill allows for anyone to complain to the Department of Labor that a business may be employing illegal aliens, without the need for any evidence, the bill then requires the Department to do an investigation and then  gives subpoena power without the need for judicial review;  if a business is found guilty of a second violation, the penalty is a 30 day suspension of any license issued by the state.  As you can see, this results in a very unequal application of the law as many businesses have no state license and others have state permits that could either not be reinstated or would require a long and expensive permitting process to do so.  There is also question as to the affect this would have on stockholders in a publicly traded company if their corporate license were to be suspended.  The intent is to keep Montana from becoming a haven for illegal immigrants and the board supported that concept.

We offered support for SB 201 that Requires a Small Business Impact Statement Prior to the Adoption of Rules.  Many agencies are already doing this.  The current law also allows for 15 legislators to sign a request for an economic impact study and the Department is required to complete one prior to the adoption of rules.  These studies are much more comprehensive than this bill requires.  That being said, the bill was met with a lot of opposition from state agencies.  It did appear that the committee was favorable to its passage.

We also supported SB 183 to Revise Interim Zoning Laws.  It would prevent a county government from using interim zoning to stop a business that is legally licensed and approved by the state.  It does not prevent them from addressing issues with zoning.  However, if the area was either not zoned, or zoned for the particular use, they could not use interim zoning, which is designed for emergencies, to prevent the business from opening.

On Thursday:

HB 268 Revise Law Associated with Bad Check Fees – we did not testify as this seemed a very minor change.  It simply removes the work “reasonable” from the statute.  The statute currently allows for bad check fees to be a “reasonable” amount up to $30.  Those requesting the bill indicated that most states have removed the word “reasonable” after being challenged in court that the set amount was not “reasonable”.  The hearing was short and there were no opponents.

I had misread SB 134 Providing for Economic Impact Statements on FWP Seasonal Rules – and it had a notation that this would only apply to fishing and hunting regulations.  Due to that, I made the decision that we did not have a reason to take a position.

HB 198 Generally Revise Eminent Domain Laws passed out of committee with only 2 dissenting votes.  It was slightly amended to address some private property rights concerns but will still work in order to place utility infrastructure in Montana.  It will likely be debated on the House floor on Tuesday.

What to expect this week:

Monday:

HB 334 Generally Revise Worker’s Compensation will be heard at 9:00 in House Business and Labor.  This will likely be the vehicle to use to reform Work Comp this session.  A summary of what the bill does is attached and you can view the entire text at http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0334.htm  I will be offering the Chamber’s support of reducing our Work Comp rates.

SB 196 Address Bullying in the Work Place will be heard in Senate Judiciary at 10:00.  The opening comments of this bill appear to just be dealing with schools.  However, based on the content of the bill, I am not sure.    http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0196.htm  Sections 1 and 2 are intended to be codified under school law, but the remainder is to be codified under labor law.

SB 206 Generally Revise Laws Related to Energy Transmission Siting will be heard in Senate Natural Resources at 3:00.  The text is available at:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0206.htm  Based on the Chambers position of support of the MATL, I will go in to support this bill.  It simply widens the corridor from 500 feet to 1 mile in order to avoid controversies like we have experienced recently.

Wednesday:

HB 201  Allow Employees to keep Firearms in Vehicle in Workplace Parking Lot will be heard in House Judiciary at 8:00.  The Chamber will opposing this bill as this should be up to each employer based on their own safety regulations.  The text of the bill is available at http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0201.htm

HB 368 Allow Keeping Firearms in Parked Vehicle or While on Employer’s Business will be heard in House Judiciary at 8:00.  Although this version does attempt to clarify that the employer would not be liable if an incident were to occur, we will also oppose this bill as a decision that should be left up to the employer, not mandated by the state.  The link to the text is http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0368.htm

HB 322 Provide Enforcement of Unlicensed Practice will be heard in House Business at 8:00.  We will only monitor this bill as the Chamber has no official position and each individual licensed industry has a lobbying presence to offer their input.

General information about the list below:

I generally keep an eye on the appropriation bills that give grants to the local communities.  I don’t offer testimony unless we are asked by a specific group, but I do try to mention the projects to the committee members and give them a positive reason for funding.

A number of the bills may have an effect on our general business practices, but not necessarily in a positive or negative way (requiring a document to be filed in the clerk’s office rather than the treasurer’s, for example)  Those types of bills are simply monitored in order to report outcome if there is a change.

There are a few other bills that we monitor that currently have no impact, but, with just a slight amendment, could become ugly.  We watch those to prevent that from happening.

Below is the updated list of the bills we are currently tracking.

Have a good week,

Ronda

January 24, 2011

A Quick Summary of the Last Week:

SB 70 – Eliminate Net Operating Loss Carryback Provision – We opposed this bill and it appears that it will not pass out of this committee.  It would have resulted in about $5 million in extra taxes paid by businesses in the next year.

SB 131 – Allow TBID Assessment on Percentage – the hearing was canceled and the bill pulled by the sponsor.  We had planned to oppose.

SB 94 – Revise Water’s Edge Corporate Tax – We opposed this bill and it appears that it will not pass out of this committee.  This tax is aimed at businesses that operate in both Montana and other countries.  It is definitely not an inviting tax when trying to attract business to our state.

HB 179 – Disallow UI for Termination During Probation Period – We just monitored this bill as it doesn’t really work.  UI is paid based on the employees last 4 quarters of work so it appeared to be simply passing the liability back to another employer.  The bill had a lot of practical complications and did not have a successful hearing.

HB 87 – LMAC Revise WC bill – this is the bill that came out of the interim committee but is no longer the favored option, nor endorsed by the committee.  It had a hearing on Friday just to get the process started.  We did not offer any testimony.

HB 19 – Clarify that the Clean Indoor Air Act Applies to Marijuana – this bill will easily become law.  We simply monitored.

HB 68 – Revise Medical Marijuana Act – this is the portion that deals with providers, prescriptions, doctors and zoning.  We determined it was best to only offer comment on the bill that directly affects the employee/employer relationship.  That bill will be heard next week.

HB 190 – Prohibit Reporting Medical Debt to Credit Rating Agencies – As this was not included in our position papers, the Chamber opted to only monitor this bill.  It did not have a successful hearing.

I also attempted to offer our support for the College of Technology budget.  However, there were so many people to testify that the hearing ran short on time.  I will continue to encourage the committee to fully fund the CoT at their previous budget levels.

What to expect in the next week:

HB 43 Clarify Employers Rights Related to Employee Use of Medical Marijuana – will be heard Monday in House Human Services – In accordance with our position papers, I will support this bill on behalf of the Chamber.  If you notice areas of particular concern, or items that you feel need more clarification, please feel free to contact me.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0043.htm 

SB 163 Clarify Municipal Authority to Regulate Outdoor Lighting – will be heard in Senate Local Government on Monday – We have opposed a version of this bill in the past.  Implementing a “dark skies” policy often requires expensive changes in lighting for businesses.  It has also been found to create safety and security issues with some businesses.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0164.htm .

SB 190 Revise Income Tax – Capital Gains on Held Businesses – Will be heard in Senate Tax on Wednesday.  We supported a similar version of this bill last session.  It allows for a tax break based on capital gains taxes if you have held the business a number of years prior to selling.  The text can be found at http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0190.htm  

SB 201 Require Small Business Impact Analysis Prior to Adopting Rules – will be heard in Senate Business on Wednesday.  This is the companion bill to the legislative small business impact statement that we supported last week.  They are both State Chamber initiatives.  We have supported this for a number of years.  The text is available at: http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0201.htm

HB 268 Revise Law Associated with Bad Check Fees – Wednesday in House Business & Labor – This bill does not seem to change current practice.  It will allow bad check fees up to $30 rather than “reasonable fees in an amount no more than $30”.  Only 3 states still include the “reasonableness” standard in their bad check law.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0268.htm

HB 186 Continue Allocation to Worksafe Montana thru Assessment on Work Comp Insurer – Wednesday in House Business and Labor – This bill changes the assessment on businesses to fund the administrative costs of Work Comp from 3% to 3.5%.  The full bill can be read at http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0186.htm  and the fiscal note is available at http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/HB0186.pdf

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HB 274 Provide that Employment of An Unauthorized Alien is Unlawful – will heard in House Judiciary on Wednesday.  The text is available at:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0274.htm .  This bill does pretty much what the title indicates.  It is a lot like a bill that we successfully opposed last session.  However, this bill allows that if an employer has used the free e-verify system to check the status of an employee, they are not responsible if that information is incorrect.  It also has substantially less penalties than the previous bill – from a letter of reprimand to losing a business license for 30 days on a second offense.  My concern lies with the loss of a business license as this is not equal treatment for an equal infraction.  There are many businesses that do not have a state issued business license and thus, could not have a penalty.  Other businesses have state issue licenses or contracts with manufacturers that would be permanently damaged by a 30 day reprimand.  On the other hand, it is difficult to defend a business that is twice guilty of failing to e-verify employees and is employing illegal immigrants.  There is no requirement to e-verify other than to use it as a defense.  The Chamber does not cover this topic in their position papers.  Many other business associations, including the State Chamber, are looking at this to determine if they should just monitor or support this bill.  It has a very good chance of passing this session.

The board had directed me to take no position on this as it is not covered in our position papers.

SB 183  Revise Interim Zoning Laws – will be heard in Senate Local Government on Wednesday afternoon.  This is a MACo requested bill.  It simply says that a local government cannot use interim zoning to stop a business that is legally licensed and approved by the state.  You can take a look at the text at  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0183.htm 

Below is a chart that summarizes the bills we are watching and their current status:

January 18, 2011

Week 2 Report:

                Attached, please find a “watch list” that contains all of the bills that may be of interest to the Chamber and their current status.  It is fairly lengthy so I have not included it in the body of this text.  As I have mentioned before, many of these proposals will never become bills, but we keep an eye on everything that looks like it may apply to local business.

A quick summary of last week:

                HB 71 Provided that an Illegal Alien may not Collect Worker’s Compensation – this bill has passed out of the House Business Committee but has not yet been scheduled for a floor debate.

                HB 73 Allows the Dept of Commerce to Recover Costs for Unlicensed Practice of Trades – the Chamber chose to monitor this bill and allow the trade associations that were affected to take the lead.  The committee has taken no action on this bill.

                HB 140 Transfers fund from Economic Development Special Revenue Account to the General Fund – this bill did not have a receptive hearing and the committee has taken no action.

                SB 109 Revise Definition of Renewable to Include all Hydro – the Chamber board directed me to take no position as our member companies were in disagreement over this bill.  The committee has taken no action.

                HB 100 Require Fiscal Notes to Include Business Impact – was heard in House Business but they have not taken action.  We joined the other Chambers and NFIB in support of this proposal from the State Chamber.

                HB 198 Generally Revise Eminent Domain Laws had a HUGE hearing in House Energy.  The committee is expected to take executive action this week.  This is a controversial bill and our local legislators may need a call from home letting them know that we appreciate their support of this legislation.  Without this, or some other similar change, the recent court ruling has put a halt to almost all development that would require utility infrastructure.

                HB 59 Revise Renewable Portfolio Standard to Include Hydro Upgrades – we supported this bill – and it had no opposition – so I am assuming the committee will take favorable action this week.

What to expect this week:

                Monday –

                                SJR 7 – Resolution to Oppose the Federal Clean Water Act – we have previously taken a position opposing this act.  Although this resolution really does nothing other than to send a letter to Congress telling them that the Montana Legislature doesn’t like the Act, the sponsor often asks for the support of a number of organizations so that it may be included in the letter.  The text is available at  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SJ0007.htm 

                Tuesday –

                                SB 70 – Eliminate Net Operating Loss Carryback Provision – This was included in the update last week.  The text is at this link: http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0070.htm  If this change to our tax code were to be adopted, it would increase taxes to Montana businesses by over $5 million in the next biennium.  The fiscal note can be viewed at  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/SB0070.pdf  We will join the Montana Taxpayer’s Association and the CPA’s in opposing this change.

                Wednesday –

                                HB 190 – Prohibit Reporting Medical Debt to a Credit Rating Agency -  please take a look at this.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0190.htm  It is very short and does just what the title indicates.  I am not sure how many of you rely on credit reports prior to giving credit to your customers or hiring your staff.  If so, I am assuming this would have a fairly significant impact on the value of the information that you are obtaining. 

                                SB 131 – Allow TBID Assessment on Percentage – I am attaching a letter from the Billings Chamber along with this e-mail.  The text of the bill is at  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0131.htm  The Billings TBID seems to make some very reasonable arguments as to why this bill should not pass. 

                Thursday –

                                HB 179 – Disallow Unemployment Benefits for Termination During a Probation Period – I am attaching the language of the bill as well as the fiscal note.  The language seems to make sense.  However, there are some technical concerns addressed in the fiscal note.   Language:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0179.htm  Fiscal note:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/HB0179.pdf 

                                SB 168 – Eliminate Certain Committees and Counsels in the Dept of Commerce – This bill makes some radical changes to the Economic Development programs.  The language is at:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0168.htm 

                                SB 165 – Revise Professional Boards regarding Discrimination and Trade Restraint.  I am assuming that we will want to treat this like we did the other bill affecting the trade boards and just let the individual trade associations work it out.  However, I have provided the language for your information:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0165.htm 

                Friday –

                                HB 87 – the LMAC Work Comp Revision -  This is the bill that was presented to the Chamber in December.  It will have substantial amendments and the GOP is also bringing forward their own version of a Work comp bill.  The text for HB 87 is here:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0087.htm  (remember not to hit “print” – it’s 91 pages long).  The fiscal note is here:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/FNPDF/HB0087.pdf  .  The GOP version is not yet available electronically so I cannot compare and contrast for you at this time.  I am hoping to have that to you by the next report.

                                HB 249 – Limit Shareholder Liability for Corporation’s Actions - http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0249.htm 

                                HB 19 – Clarify that the Clean Indoor Air Act Applies to Medical Marijuana – this bill does just what the title says.  I do not believe that there is any opposition to this bill so we probably do not even need to testify.

                                HB 68 – Revise Medical Marijuana Act – this is not the portion that applies to employers –that is in HB 43 (which I will attach)  This portion deals with regulating the doctors, the suppliers and the zoning of the businesses.  I do not think we need to weigh in on what medical conditions qualify and would instead, recommend that we limit our testimony to the employer/employee relationship in this matter.  I am including the link to both of the bills for your reading pleasure:  HB 68  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0068.htm  and HB 43  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0043.htm  HB 43 is not yet scheduled for hearing.

Additional information:

                From the State Chamber:

Issue Spotlight: Medical Marijuana Reform

Over the past year and a half, the number of people in Montana with medical marijuana cards has grown from a few thousand people to almost 28,000. That’s almost 3% of our whole population that is now legally using marijuana. About a year ago, more businesses started to hear or find out about employees who are now using the drug. Needless to say, it’s a growing concern of the business community.

The medical marijuana law was passed by 62% of voters in 2004 through a ballot initiative. It was sold to the public as a way for people with chronic, debilitating conditions to have some relief. Over the last year, however, it’s clear that a majority of the public may have buyer’s remorse regarding their decision to approve medical marijuana laws. In fact, the 2010 P-base poll of 600 Montana likely voters (4% margin of error) showed that 66% of voters believe the law has gone too far while only 20% support the law as implemented.

The Montana Chamber formed a work group over the spring and summer of last year to develop many of the ideas now contained in a bill (HB 43 – MacLaren) meant to firm up employer rights for medical marijuana situations in the workplace. Those ideas include:

Disallowing wrongful discharge lawsuits and discrimination lawsuits against employers who fire people who use MM in the course and scope of employment;
Expanding drug testing laws so employers have more certainty in the law on who can be lawfully drug tested;
Saying the work comp insurers and health insurance does not have to cover medical marijuana; and
4. Stating that medical use of marijuana cannot enhance disability benefits in work comp.

Because this is a big issue for employers, and because of the work we put into this bill, we are trying to get the support of many business groups and companies at the hearing (not yet scheduled). It’s important for the business community to have a united effort to bring common sense reforms to this law. If you have concerns about the wording or intent of the bill, or if you have stories to share about employee use of medical marijuana, please contact Jon Bennion at the Montana Chamber (phone: 406-697-0568; email: jon@montanachamber.com).

HB 201: Guns In Your Parking Lot

A proposed bill at the Legislature will have a big impact on your private property rights and exposure to frivolous lawsuits. This sweeping new government regulation (HB 201 – Warburton) would ban any employer from prohibiting firearms in employee vehicles that are parked on company property.

So far, the bill has not been sent to a committee for a hearing, but the Montana Chamber is already warning legislators that this anti-business bill will be opposed by a variety of companies and business groups. The opposition stems from concern over workplace safety, liability and a business owner’s right to make his or her own decisions about the worksite – not the government. It certainly doesn’t come from any opposition to gun rights. In fact, most Montana business owners are gun owners themselves.

This will not be an easy bill to defeat. Many legislators who are anxious to prove their gun right beliefs are overlooking the huge implications on business. If legislators truly are looking for ways to make Montana a better place to do business, HB 201 is a big step in the wrong direction

Final note:  Sorry about the length of this report.  They are dumping a lot of legislation at this point in the session and it is easier to keep up if you have a little advanced notice.

January 10, 2011

Legislative Update – Week One:

The first week of session was devoted to educating the large number of Freshman about the process and the budget.  There were no hearings but they did give lobbyists a number of opportunities to address the different committees.

Saturday was devoted to hearing from business owners about their concerns.  Sean Hoven with Hoven Equipment graciously agreed to make the trip to Helena to present on our behalf.  He did a great job.

The Business Committees will be spending Monday learning about insurance so there will be no hearings.  The Tax Committees will spend both Monday and Tuesday hearing from the DOR, Montax and university economics professors so they will have no hearings those days either.

There a few hearings that the Chamber will be watching this week:

HB 198 – Generally Revise Eminent Domain Laws – will be heard on Wednesday, January 12th at 3:00 in House FRET.  The text can be viewed at this link:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0198.htm  The Chamber will be supporting this bill in order to allow for economic development and growth in Montana. 

HB 59 – Revise Renewable Portfolio Standard to Include Hydropower Expansions – will also be heard in FRET on Wednesday.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0059.htm  The Chamber will be supporting this on behalf of PPL and hoping for upgrades on all of our dams.  This bill came out of the interim committee and is generally acceptable to all parties. 

HB 100 – Require Fiscal Notes to Include Business Impact – will be heard in House Business on Wednesday at 8:00.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0100.htm A form of this bill has been introduced the last few sessions and we have often supported it.  This bill does not require a business fiscal note, but rather allows for a legislator to request one if they feel it is necessary.  That probably makes the bill a little more workable.  It is very easy to support this concept – and with the optional nature, even easier.  It is, however, sometimes very difficult for a state fiscal analyst to make a good educated guess on what affect the law may have on all different businesses in the state.  The optional feature would keep from creating a situation where the information was virtually impossible to gather or made no logical sense. 

HB 140 – Transfer Funds From the Economic Development Special Revenue Account – will be heard in House Appropriations on Tuesday at 2:00.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0140.htm  This is part of the Governor’s proposal to move money away from the Big Sky Economic Development fund and into the General Fund in order to balance the budget.  The majority party has already publicly opposed this idea. 

HB 73 – Recover Costs and Fees for Unlicensed Practice of a Trade or Profession –will be heard Tuesday in House Business at 8:00.  The text of this bill is linked at: http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0073.htm  If you operate a business that is licensed by the Board of Labor and Industry, please take a look at this bill.  The Chamber has not taken a position and would like to hear from its’ members that are potentially affected by unlicensed competition as to their opinion of the fines this bill would assess.

HB 71 – Provide that Illegal Alien may not Receive Workers’ Comp – will be heard Monday at 9:00 in House Judiciary.  The text is available at http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0071.htm . 

SB 109 – Revise Definition of Eligible Renewable Resources to include Hydroelectric Power – will be heard in Senate Energy on Tuesday at 3:00.  The text is available at:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0109.htm This is a different approach to HB 59 (which is the committee bill) 

SB 70 – Eliminate Net Operating Loss Carryback Provision – will be heard Tuesday, January 18th at 8:00 in Senate Tax.  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0070.htm

I have attached the list of bills that we are monitoring as well as their current status.  If you are interested in looking at any other bills, checking hearing schedules or voting records, or listening and/or watching the hearings, you can log on to  http://leg.mt.gov/css/sessions/62nd/default.asp