By Michael Lucci, The Center Square

Real-time unemployment rates climbed across all states during the week ending April 18, based on data from the Department of Labor. A new wave of 4.4 million American workers filed for unemployment insurance benefits, bringing the total count of initial unemployment claims up to 26.4 million in the last five weeks of Department of Labor data.

Montana’s real-time unemployment rate was 18.7 percent. Nationally it had climbed to 21.4 percent on the initial claims data, based upon 50 Economy labor market estimates. Initial claims have decreased week-over-week for three weeks in a row. However, the total count of unemployed American workers continues to climb by millions per week even as new claims slow down.

Real-time unemployment rates vary widely across the states from Kentucky (31.2%) Pennsylvania (29.1%) and Michigan (28.7%) at the high end to Wyoming (12.5%) Utah (11.7%) and South Dakota (9.3%) on the low end.

The real-time unemployment rate uses March Bureau of Labor Statistics data as a baseline, and includes recent workforce dropouts as unemployed. This baseline unemployment count is combined with 5 weeks of initial unemployment claims from the Department of Labor to arrive at the total estimate of unemployed for each state.

This method shows an estimated 35 million unemployed Americans through April 18.

The federal CARES Act and the extensions of its aid provisions have provided financial support to workers and businesses affected by the crisis in order to help them survive the crisis. The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically depressed economic activity, consistent with prior economic research on pandemics, and economic activity will not return completely until there is a vaccine or curative drug for the virus. States now have the tremendous responsibility of executing safe strategies to gradually reopen their economies, balancing the trade-off between healthcare risks and the risks of an economic depression.

Once states are re-opened, they can ease regulatory red tape in order to allow for more efficient business formation and job creation. Re-opening strategies should be followed up by public policy reforms that make it easier to start businesses and find new jobs. State and local red tape should be scaled back, and state tax codes should improve their treatment of operating losses and the depreciation of new business investments.

America needs innovation and growth from the private sector in order to pull the economy out of crisis. This can occur more rapidly if there is policy innovation in the public sector to clear the pathway to economic success. Federal government aid to help businesses survive should not be unwound by state and local red tape. Policymakers can instead take a proactive role in advancing overdue measures to produce a better tax code and lighter regulations.

Michael Lucci is the President and publisher of 50economy.org. He also serves as a Senior Policy Advisor to the State Policy Network. He  was the Vice President of State Projects for the Tax Foundation.

By Evelyn Pyburn

While getting a disaster loan through the US Small Business Administration is an important salvation for many businesses suffering losses because of the COVID-19 business closures, waiting weeks for the loan approval process may still be too much for some small businesses to survive.

To bridge that gap Big Sky Economic Development (BSED) has structured a more immediate loan process designed to get cash into the hands of small businesses, as soon as possible.

In talking to many small businesses in the Billings area and asking them what they needed to survive, Dena Johnson, SBDC Regional Director and BSED Entrepreneurial Development, said that they were repeatedly told that weeks will be too long to wait. She said that one businessman of ten years in Billings said, “I won’t make it if funding takes more than a couple weeks… I need cash and I need it fast.”

A BSED team went to work structuring a program that would fit the urgent need, which will utilize funds from a reserve set aside by BSED for just such a purpose.

In a special BSED “zoom” board meeting, on Monday, the program received approval and Brandon Berger, BSED Director of Business Finance, was given authority to administer it.

Berger explained that the board made available $250,000 to make interim loans of up to $15,000 per owner /business who has filed for an SBA Disaster Relief Loan. Upon application the funds should be available within 24 to 48 hours. The one year loan will be charged 2 percent interest. When the SBA loan comes through for the business owner, the first disbursement will be to repay the $15,000.

If the applicant should be refused by the SBA for a disaster loan, the BSED bridge loan will convert to a three-year loan.

Details for the “BSED Stabilization Loan Program” are still being worked out, but the US Small Business Administration is accepting applications for disaster loans now. BSED will announce when they are ready to accept applications.

Since SBA 504 loan clients are being offered an opportunity to defer their principal and interest payments for six months to help cope with the losses suffered from COVID-19 economic impacts, Berger said those clients will not be considered eligible for the BSED Stabilization Loan Program. Many of those clients have already applied for deferred payments. Berger said those applications are coming “fast and furious.” So far they have received 19 requests.

[Forms to apply for SBA loans is available on line at https:// www.sba.gov/ disaster/ apply-for-disaster-loan/ index.html? mc_cid= 00841b9e69& mc_eid= 906d2a23d1]

Berger explained that the $250,000 is being drawn from a reserve of $1 million that BSEDA acquired through the administration of a federal Small Business Credit Initiative. BSEDA was charged with loaning the money to businesses and as the principle and interest was repaid the agency was allowed to retain the funds to use as they see fit to support businesses.

Pedestrian fatalities have been increasing over the past decade, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, which expresses puzzlement as to why.

In the end, their analysis seems to blame it on drivers shifting from the use of cars to SUVs and pickup trucks. Pedestrians struck by a large SUV are twice as likely to die as those struck by a car.

Another possible reason is the legalization of pot.

Based on data from the first six months of 2019, the Association projected there were 6,590 pedestrian deaths that year, which would be a 5 percent increase over the 6,227 pedestrian deaths in 2018 — the highest number of such deaths in more than 30 years, according to the association.

“In the past 10 years, the number of pedestrian fatalities on our nation’s roadways has increased by more than 50 percent,” said GHSA Executive Director Jonathan Adkins, calling the trend “alarming.”

Pedestrians are projected to account for 17 percent of all traffic deaths in 2019, compared to 12 percent in 2009.

While nationally the increase (based on 2017 data) was 35 percent over a decade, in Montana the increase in pedestrian fatalities has been 20 percent – increasing from 5 to 6 in 2018.

The report mentions that of “[t]he seven states (Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Washington) and DC that legalized recreational use of marijuana between 2012 and 2016 reported a collective 16.4 percent increase in pedestrian fatalities for the first six months of 2017 versus the first six months of 2016, whereas all other states reported a collective 5.8 percent decrease in pedestrian fatalities.”  But so far the data is inconsistent about the impact of pot legalization.

The Association’s report states, “In recent years, the number of pedestrian fatalities in the United States has grown sharply. During the 10-year period from 2008 to 2017, the number of pedestrian fatalities increased by 35 percent (from 4,414 deaths in 2008 to 5,977 deaths in 2017); meanwhile, the combined number of all other traffic deaths declined by six percent. Along with the increase in the number of pedestrian fatalities, pedestrian deaths as a percentage of total motor vehicle crash deaths increased from 12 percent in 2008 to 16 percent in 2017. . . . GHSA estimates the nationwide number of pedestrians killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2018 was 6,227, an increase of four percent from 2017.”

Unmentioned in the association’s conclusion is the fact that there has been an all-out press by the federal government trying to encourage, if not force, more people to walk and cycle rather than drive. If there are more pedestrians as a consequence, would not that increase explain the increase in the number of pedestrian / vehicle accidents?

According to the report:

—25 states (and DC) had increases in pedestrian fatalities;

—23 states had decreases; and

—Two states remained the same

— Five states (Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia and Texas) accounted for almost half — 46 percent — of all pedestrian deaths. On a per capita basis the highest is New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Hawaii,

—  New Mexico had the highest rate of pedestrian deaths per resident population, while New Hampshire had the lowest.

— Increases in pedestrian fatalities are occurring largely at night.

The study suggests that pedestrian fatalities may be linked to population growth in specific cities and states.

It also states: “The increasing shift in U.S. vehicle sales away from passenger cars to light trucks (with light trucks generally causing more severe pedestrian impacts than cars) is also a factor. Although passenger cars are the largest category of vehicles involved in fatal pedestrian crashes, the number of pedestrian fatalities involving SUVs increased at a faster rate — 50 percent – from 2013 to 2017 compared to passenger cars, which increased by 30 percent.”

An analysis of states with an increased number of fatalities compared to those with a reduced number, interestingly reveals that most of the states with increases are southern states, while those with lower rates are northern states.

One analysis of the data by ………..suggests that the reason for increased pedestrian fatalities has to do with the trend of states legalizing the use of marijuana and the fact that more pedestrians and drivers are under its influence.

Despite the state’s number of SUVs and pickups on the highways, Montana, on a per capita basis comes in just below the mid-point of a ranking of the states in terms of pedestrian fatalities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with the Justice Department, announced the release of the Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (BPSOU) consent decree.  This document provides the framework for the continued cleanup of mining-related contamination to protect public health and the environment in Butte and Walkerville, Montana. 

The consent decree requires Atlantic Richfield to undertake or finance over $150 million in cleanup actions, provide financial assurances for future cleanup actions, and provide enhanced community benefits through the implementation of end land use plans along the Silver Bow Creek Corridor.

Additionally, EPA Region 8 is releasing an amendment to the 2006 Record of Decision for the BPSOU Operable Unit in this matter that will expand cleanup efforts. The amendment will require the removal of contaminated tailings at the Northside and Diggings East Tailings areas and contaminated sediment and additional floodplain contamination from Silver Bow and Blacktail Creeks.  The amendment will also require the treatment of more contaminated stormwater before it flows into the creeks, and the capture and treatment additional contaminated groundwater.  Once executed by the parties and entered by the Court, the consent decree will implement this amended remedy.

The release of the consent decree will provide the commissioners of Butte Silver Bow County – who must approve the document before it can be submitted to the court – an opportunity to consider the document in a public forum.  This process allows Butte Silver Bow County to inform and educate the public and the county commissioners about the content of the consent decree. Once that process concludes, the county commissioners will vote on whether to approve the document.

Once all consent decree signatures are obtained, the consent decree documents will be lodged with the federal district court of Montana.  The Justice Department will publish a formal notice in the Federal Register, stating that the department is accepting public comment on the document for a period of thirty days from the date the notice is published.  Under State law, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality is also required to hold a public comment period on the consent decree, which will run concurrently.

While the public comment period will not start until after the consent decree is lodged with the court, EPA, the state, Butte Silver Bow County, and Atlantic Richfield have posted the document on their websites, and paper copies will be made available at the Montana Tech Library (1300 W. Park St.) and Citizens Technical Environmental Committee (27 W. Park St.) for public review at www.epa.gov/superfund/silver-bow-butte.