Montana Editorial Roundup

Billings Gazette, March 18, on not letting the sun set on Montana economic development:

A state as vast and diverse as Montana needs a multitude of economic development tools - programs that fit different types of business and communities.

The Montana Legislature and Gov. Marc Racicot recognized that need 20 years ago by establishing a suite of economic development tools for Main Street businesses. These programs were re-authorized ten years ago and are now approaching sunset on July 1 - unless they are renewed this legislative session.

The Department of Commerce and an impressive list of Montana businesses have asked the Legislature to lift the sunset as proposed in House Bill 52, sponsored by Rep. Jim Keane, D-Butte. The proposal doesn’t request an increase in funding, just level-dollar funding. HB52 has virtually no opposition, yet it remains in House Appropriations Committee a month after its hearing while the clock ticks toward the session’s adjournment next month.

So we are calling on lawmakers to take notice of HB52 and give it the prompt attention it deserves. This is a very modest request for funding that would sustain these economic development programs. Without action, these tools will be lost to Montana businesses that create and retain jobs.

These financial and technical assistance programs have assisted more than 15,000 businesses and created or retained more than 12,000 jobs since 2012, according to the Montana Department of Commerce.

The programs in Keane’s bill would invest $3.36 million per fiscal year into Montana’s economy, according to Emilie Ritter Saunders, Commerce Department spokeswoman. Since 2012, these programs have leveraged assets of $667.5 million while assisting more than 15,000 businesses and creating or retaining more than 12,000 jobs.

Although the total funding would remain unchanged, HB52 would shift some funds between programs to create the greatest positive impact. For example, funding for Small Business Development Centers would rise from $125,000 to $325,000. These centers are in Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Havre, Helena, Kalispell, Miles City, Missoula and Wolf Point. The bill would reduce funding for the Montana Board of Research and Commercialization Technology from $1.27 million to $500,000. Most of this program money has gone to research in Bozeman and Missoula in the past.

HB52 is supported by the Montana Economic Developers Association, Montana Association of Counties, League of Cities and Towns, the Department of Agriculture and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. The list of private businesses calling for approval of HB52 includes Spring Back Physical Therapy, Havre; Sage N’ Spur, Harlem; Crossroads Coffee & Bistro, Malta; Fitness Central, Lewistown; Synthesis Industries, Lewistown; Kvichak Fish Co, Polson; Western Montana Growers Co-op, Missoula; Agmor Incorporated, Belgrade; Resodyn, Butte; Shot Tracer, Billings; Spika, Lewistown; Camelot Ranch, Billings; Lasting Legacy Assisted Living, Billings; Lattice Materials, Bozeman; West Paw, Bozeman; and Lilja Precision Rifle Barrels, Inc., Plains.

Montana invests just $3.36 million in these programs annually through the state coal severance tax. If they sunset, the state stands to lose an estimated $2 million each year in federal matching dollars. The requested investment is small, the expected payoff is significant and time is short. Lawmakers should act now to send HB52 to the governor’s desk.

Editorial: https://bit.ly/2HxjvhQ

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Bozeman Daily Chronicle, March 17, on making University System mill levy permanent:

State lawmakers are considering a proposal to end the requirement of a vote every 10 years to renew the statewide 6-mill property tax levy that helps fund the University System.

And they should approve this legislation.

The 6-mill levy was first enacted in 1948 with a provision to require voter approval every 10 years for it to continue. And voters have approved it every time since then, the last time in November of last year when it was approved by more than 60 percent of voters. But the uncertainty of whether it will continue each time around makes it very difficult for U-system officials to plan for the future. And the campaigns to convince voters to vote for the levy get more expensive each time.

The levy raises a little over $20 million a year for the colleges and universities. And while that is a relatively small component of total U-system spending, make no mistake: Distributing $20 million-plus in budget cuts across the system would wreak havoc. By some estimates last year, failure of the levy to win voter approval would have forced a nearly 20 percent tuition increase - something that could push college education out of reach for some Montana families.

One of the most persuasive arguments for making the levy permanent is the dwindling state contribution to higher education. The state appropriates money for the system on a per-student basis. But the total state contribution to Montana State University’s budget has dwindled from more than half several decades ago to just 27 percent in this fiscal year. The levy is one stabilizing factor in state funding and that factor should be made permanent.

The measure, Senate Bill 152, passed the Senate on final reading with a comfortable six-vote margin. It’s scheduled for a hearing later this week in the House Taxation Committee where it likely faces tougher scrutiny. Fiscal hawks on the GOP-controlled committee will not likely look kindly on any measure that lessens popular say-so over taxes.

But they are urged to consider the value of the U-system to state residents and the importance of the 6-mill levy in keeping it affordable. Vote yes for SB 152.

Editorial: https://bit.ly/2TOkXTf

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Missoulian, March 17, on Montana’s businesses needing to make a case for funding preschool:

Only six states provide no perennial public funding for preschool programs: Idaho, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. And, of course, Montana.

However, Montana was able to launch a pilot program after the 2017 legislative session thanks to the generous support of the business community - specifically, 14 hospitals that offered to cover the $6 million cost in exchange for legislative support for a higher federal Medicaid reimbursement rate.

Now, that pilot program is yielding measurable results that demonstrate the tremendous positive impact of high-quality preschool programs. These outcomes square with data from other states with well-established preschool programs of their own, and show that publicly funded preschool would work in Montana.

Unfortunately, many of Montana’s legislators appear poised to ignore this evidence. Preschool is just not a priority for Republican leadership this session.

It’s up to Montana’s business community to once again step up and make their support for preschool known. Compared to previous sessions, business leaders have been far too quiet, and time is running out.

The need for quality preschool is well documented in Montana, particularly in rural areas. According to the Montana Budget and Policy Center in 2017, the annual average cost of full-time care for a 4-year-old in Montana is nearly $8,000 a year. Despite the relatively high costs, there is a persistent lack of trained preschool teachers and waiting lists can extend so long, children are ready to start kindergarten before they are admitted to preschool.

The case for dedicating public funds is also well established, with several states finding that every dollar spent on high-quality preschool, $7 in other public costs are saved later on, again according to the Montana Budget and Policy Center.

That’s why public preschool has long been a major policy goal of Gov. Steve Bullock. In 2015, he proposed the Early Edge Montana plan, at a cost of $37 million over two years, that would have allowed up to half the state’s 4-year-olds to attend preschool.

The ambitious plan was loudly applauded by business leaders throughout the state, from large companies with multiple locations to small businesses with only a handful of employees. Indeed, several of them banded together to form Early Edge Action, a 501(c)(4) coalition to advocate for the governor’s plan.

Their support was driven primarily by growing recognition of the need to attract and retain employees in an increasingly competitive workforce. The state Department of Labor and Industry noted that Montana has one of the fastest-aging populations in the nation, with at least one in four members of the workforce, or 137,000 people, age 55 or older. Meanwhile, the number of 16- to 24-year-olds entering the workforce totaled only 113,000 - not enough to replace the growing rate of retirements.

Businesses - and their employees - are attracted to states that offer high-quality education. Unfortunately, lacking sufficient preschool options, Montana comes up short for families with young children.

On the other hand, Montana has been fortunate in securing local business support and federal funding to expand preschool.

After the 2015 legislative session, in which the Legislature turned down Bullock’s proposal, the state landed a $40 million federal grant to develop more than 1,000 new slots for preschoolers. That grant ends this year, but will be supplemented by a new one-year preschool grant, for $4.2 million. The new money will be used solely for research and training, and won’t help create any new preschool slots.

In 2017, the Legislature approved a pilot preschool program, paid for by 14 of Montana’s largest hospitals, that established 17 new preschools in 16 communities, including Ronan and Pablo in Lake County, which received two $150,000 grants to support preschool at their elementary schools. Across the state, the program has served more than 300 4- and 5-year-old preschoolers.

Recent assessment data shows the program has resulted in a 21 percent increase in school readiness. That’s especially significant given that 61 percent of the children enrolled in the program have one or more “high needs.” Additionally, a family survey showed that a whopping 97 percent of families felt engaged with the program and their child’s education, and a teacher survey showed that 94 percent were offered effective means to grow professionally.

The temporary hospital tax assessment that paid for the program ends this year, meaning Montana will have to find a new way to pay for preschool if it is going to continue.

Bullock’s budget proposal included $30 million to establish a voluntary preschool program that would provide preschool to about half the state’s 4-year-olds. A more modest $8 million request would merely continue the pilot program, allowing it to expand to 30 classrooms and cover more than 400 students.

Last month, Bullock noted during a visit with about 40 members of the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Missoula group that the idea of expanding preschool still enjoys strong support in the business community.

If that’s true, it’s up to business leaders to reach out to their state senators and representatives, and express support for prioritizing preschool - and for raising revenues to pay for it.

Republican leaders have been straightforward in their opposition to any new revenue increases, be they taxes, fees or other options. But it’s poor legislating to simply say “no” to every idea. They should be willing to at least consider some of them, evaluating them on their merits and perhaps finding some middle ground.

For instance, if they are not willing to look at raising tobacco taxes, they should at least extend the tax to cover vaping products. And they certainly ought to look at updating the fee paid by investment advisers that want to do business in Montana, which, as Bullock explained to the Missoulian editorial board last fall, was set at $50 in 1982 and hasn’t changed since. Doubling the fee to $100 would bring it closer to what other states charge, and raise about $12 million for the biennium.

Republican legislators are unlikely to be persuaded of a need to raise revenue by Governor Bullock, a Democrat. But they will listen to Montana entrepreneurs, small businesses and leaders of large companies if they say they are willing to shoulder a bit more of the burden in acknowledgement of the larger benefits.

Montana’s business community should unite in making the case to reluctant legislators to find a good way to fund preschool.

Editorial: https://bit.ly/2OfsmoF