By Cameron Arcand, The Center Square

The United States Customs and Border Protection is asking Americans to stop trying to smuggle in raw eggs from Mexico. 

As avian flu is causing the price of eggs and poultry to rise, along with the current inflation rate, people are purchasing the products in Mexico instead of shelling out the extra cash at the grocery store.

“There has been a large increase in the volume of prohibited food items, such as raw eggs and raw poultry meat, brought by travelers from Mexico. We would like to remind the traveling public that federal agricultural regulations remain in effect,” Jennifer De La O, CBP Director of Field Operations in San Diego, said in a news release on Jan 20. 

In a separate tweet, De La O said that people could face up to a $10,000 fine if they take a crack at illegally smuggling the items. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that over 57 million birds have died from the illness, according to the news release. 

As of December, egg prices have increased 60% in the U.S. compared to December 2021, the Consumer Price Index determined. 

Confiscations have reportedly increased by 300% since last month, according to KENS 5. 

By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square

Twenty-five attorneys general and several other plaintiffs have sued the Biden administration asking the court to halt a federal ESG policy that could negatively impact the retirement savings of 152 million Americans. Montana is one of those states.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court Northern District Amarillo Division naming Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh and the U.S. Department of Labor as defendants.

It alleges the U.S. Department of Labor created a rule prioritizing “woke” Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing that jeopardizes the retirement savings of 152 million workers, or two-thirds of the U.S. population.

Last November, the Department of Labor finalized a rule allowing companies to prioritize ESG policies when choosing retirement plans. It was the last phase of a nearly two-year effort to reverse a Trump-era rule banning the practice.

The department said it was implementing the rule to “remove barriers to plan fiduciaries’ ability to consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors when they select investments and exercise shareholder rights.”

In response, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said President Joe Biden was “using unelected bureaucrats … to push his radical ESG agenda, undermine the Texas economy and jeopardize our national security and energy independence.

“Even as free market forces begin to erode the ESG fairy tale and expose the intellectual dishonesty and utter lack of transparency in this investment scam, President Biden is using the DOL rulemaking process to double down on policies that put his social agenda above the retirement needs of hard-working Americans.”

Less than two months later, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued, along with 24 other attorneys general.

“Beyond being detrimental to the retirement accounts of hardworking Americans, the rule is fundamentally unlawful, as well as arbitrary and capricious,”  Paxton said, noting that it violates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), created to protect retirement assets, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

“This rule is an affront to every American concerned about their retirement account,” Paxton said. “The fact that the Biden Administration is now opting to risk the financial security of working-class Americans to advance a woke political agenda is insulting and illegal. For generations, federal law has required that fiduciaries place their clients’ financial interests at the forefront, and I intend to fight the Biden Administration in court to ensure that they cannot put hard-working Americans’ retirement savings at risk.”

The rule, “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,” follows an executive order Biden issued last May. His order directed the federal government to implement policies “to help safeguard the financial security of America’s families, businesses and workers from climate-related financial risk that may threaten the life savings and pensions of U.S. workers and families.”

The rule change “will bolster the resilience of workers’ retirement savings and pensions by removing the artificial impediments – and chilling effect on environmental, social and governance investments – caused by the prior administration’s rules,” Acting Assistant Secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration Ali Khawar said in a statement last fall. “A principal idea underlying the proposal is that climate change and other ESG factors can be financially material and when they are, considering them will inevitably lead to better long-term risk-adjusted returns, protecting the retirement savings of America’s workers.”

November’s notice followed a March 2021 and October 2021 announcement and included comments received from the public.

Last August, Hegar directed state agencies to divest from 350 individual investment funds and 10 financial companies that were prioritizing ESG, and particularly boycotting oil and natural gas companies, as part of their portfolio. Not long after, Gov. Greg Abbott told The Center Square that the directive was working. He said some of the companies on Texas’ list were making an effort to get off of it.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has also taken action, including prohibiting the state’s retirement fund from investing in funds that prioritize ESG.

Samuel Stebbins,  24/7 Wall St. for Center Square

Public employee pension systems are some of the largest financial liabilities on state government balance sheets. The 50 states have over $4.5 trillion in cumulative pension liabilities combined, roughly double the amount all 50 states spent in fiscal 2020. For years, state pension systems were woefully underfunded in much of the country, but according to a recent report from the Pew Charitable Trusts, this trend may be reversing.

Driven by higher investment from both employees and employers, state pension systems have largely stabilized as of 2020. Since 2007, states across the country have more than doubled annual pension contributions, often cutting funding for other programs to do so.

Still, some states are better positioned to pay public sector employees in retirement than others. In Montana, pension liabilities totaled an estimated $17.5 billion in 2020. Meanwhile, the state’s pension assets totaled $11.8 billion. Considering both assets and liabilities, Montana’s pension funding ratio is 67.3%, the 20th lowest in the country.

According to 2021 estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Montana state government employs some 27,800 people, or 5.6% of the total private and public sector workforce in the state.

It is important to note that 2020 is the most recent year for which comprehensive state level data is available and that the recent market downturn has all but erased much of the financial gains states have made in recent years. Still, while markets are always susceptible to turmoil, improved policies have gone a long way to improving pension funding in much of the country.

All state pension data in this story was compiled by the Pew Charitable Trusts using comprehensive annual financial reports from each state.

By Brett Rowland, The Center Square

The Federal Trade Commission proposed a ban on noncompete clauses which the FTC said were often exploitative and suppressed wages and competition.

“The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy,” Chair Lina Khan said in a statement. “Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand.”

The federal agency said ending the practice of noncompete clauses could increase wages by almost $300 billion a year and expand career opportunities for about 30 million Americans. The FTC is seeking public comment on the proposed rule. The rule was based on a preliminary finding that such clauses constitute an unfair method of competition.

“Research shows that employers’ use of noncompetes to restrict workers’ mobility significantly suppresses workers’ wages – even for those not subject to noncompetes, or subject to noncompetes that are unenforceable under state law,” said Elizabeth Wilkins, director of the Office of Policy Planning. “The proposed rule would ensure that employers can’t exploit their outsized bargaining power to limit workers’ opportunities and stifle competition.”

The FTC’s proposed rule would make it illegal for an employer to:

* enter into or attempt to enter into a noncompete with a worker;

* maintain a noncompete with a worker; or

* represent to a worker, under certain circumstances, that the worker is subject to a noncompete.

The proposed rule would apply to independent contractors and those who work for an employer, paid or unpaid. It also would require employers to rescind existing noncompetes and inform workers that they are no longer in effect.

Montana saw another year of record business registrations in 2022.

According to the Montana Secretary of State’s Office, roughly 53,000 new businesses were registered after registration fees were cut in half and other fees were eliminated entirely.

The Montana Secretary of State’s Office released the following information:

Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen announced another record number of new businesses were registered in Montana in 2022. Secretary Jacobsen made the announcement during the Montana Chamber of Commerce Business Days at the Capitol at the beginning of the month.

“The pandemic has changed Montana: more people, different people, more expensive housing. In economics jargon, demand for Montana increased,” proclaims the Bureau of Business and Economic Research, (BBER), in explaining the issues that will be discussed at the 2023 Montana Economic Seminar in Billings on January 31.  Director of the BBER, located at the University of Montana, Dr. Patrick Barkey, says that the forces driving this change are likely to persist.  “As such, Montanans must grapple with our response — particularly, how much to increase supply to meet demand.”

The way Montanans act to increase supply affects how increased demand manifests itself in Montana. Neither more people nor higher prices are strictly good or bad. Each option comes with different tradeoffs.

The half-day seminar will be held in eight other Montana cities. In Billings it will be held at the Northern Hotel, 8 am to 1 pm. Registration is required at the BBER website.

Bryce Ward, founder of ABMJ Consulting, a firm that provides economic analysis, strategic advice, conflict resolution, etc., will be a speaker at the event. He has a PhD in economics from Harvard University and BAs in economics and history from the University of Oregon. He has expertise in urban and regional economics, labor economics, health economics, public finance, social economics, real estate economics, environmental and natural resource economics, and statistics/econometrics.

A report was quietly released from the Department of Energy (DOE) in the last days of 2022 with no comment from the White House, about the economic impacts of cancelling the Keystone XL Pipeline. If the pipeline had been allowed to go forward it would have been completed this year.

A report from Fox News, recognized Sen. Steve Daines for having forced the release of the report that was supposed to have been made public over a year ago, which analyzed what would have been the positive impacts of the pipeline if President Biden hadn’t revoked its federal permits in the first days of becoming president.

The DOJ report says the Keystone XL project would have created between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs and would have had a positive economic impact of between $3.4 billion and $9.6 billion. A previous report from the federal government published in 2014 determined 3,900 direct jobs and 21,050 total jobs would be created during construction which was expected to take two years.

“The Biden administration finally owned up to what we have known all along — killing the Keystone XL Pipeline cost good-paying jobs, hurt Montana’s economy and was the first step in the Biden administration’s war on oil and gas production in the United States,” Sen. Daines. R-Mont., said. “Unfortunately, the administration continues to pursue energy production anywhere but the United States.” 

“These policies may appeal to the woke left but hurt Montana’s working families,” he continued. “I’ll keep fighting back against Biden’s anti-energy agenda and supporting Montana energy projects and jobs.”

The DOE was forced to issue the report after Daines and Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, successfully inserted a bill mandating the report into the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Biden signed into law in November 2021. The agency was required to publish the report within 90 days of the bill’s passage but ultimately waited more than a year before releasing it.

In its release last week, the DOE did mention that the project would have had minimal permanent job impacts, but they failed to address the thousands of jobs that would have happened during its construction. Long term permanent jobs would have been about 50.

(Also unaddressed was a projected $80 million-plus of property tax revenue that would have been paid to Montana, of which $65 million would have gone to the counties through which it passed.)

Biden’s decision to cancel the pipeline has received widespread criticism from Republican lawmakers and energy industry representatives who have argued it would have helped keep gas prices down and ensure energy security. 

Keystone XL had been slated to be completed early this year and transport an additional 830,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada to the U.S. through an existing pipeline network, according to its operator, TC Energy.

The project labor agreement that TC Energy signed in August 2020 with four labor unions promised the pipeline would create 42,000 American jobs and provide $2 billion in total wages.

TC Energy ultimately gave up on the project in June 2021 as a result of Biden’s decision. Last year, a federal judge tossed a legal challenge from nearly two dozen states asking the court to reinstate the pipeline’s permits.

In July 2021 TC Energy, the Canadian company that owns the Keystone Pipeline System, filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the Biden administration in compensation for damages that it has suffered as a result of the U.S. Government’s breach of its NAFTA obligations. They claim that the US administration violated the North American Free Trade Agreement with its decision to kill the $9-billion project.

Early this month, Governor Greg Gianforte spotlighted his pro-family, pro-business tax relief agenda in a press conference at the State Capitol.

“All of our tax proposals are rooted in a simple philosophy: hardworking Montanans should keep more of what they earn,” Governor Gianforte said. “We’re ready to give Montanans $1 billion in tax relief, and we look forward to working with the legislature to do it. Now, it’s time to get to work and get it done.”

During the press conference, the governor highlighted elements of his Budget for Montana Families, which provides Montanans with $1 billion in property and income tax relief, the largest tax cut in Montana history.

“Hardworking Montanans need tax relief now and without delay,” Gov. Gianforte said. “Our budget is built for them – hardworking Montanans who make our state stronger and enrich our communities. Our budget is for the farmers and ranchers, teachers and law enforcement, small business owners, seniors, and all our hardworking people – those who make Montana the Last Best Place.”

The governor’s budget provides $500 million in property tax relief for Montanans for their primary residence, with a $1,000 property tax rebate in both 2023 and 2024.

“We can make a difference for the retired couple in the Flathead who, because they can’t afford their rising property taxes, are thinking about selling the home they raised their kids in,” Gov. Gianforte said. “Let’s provide them with $2,000 in property tax relief over the next two years.”

Recognizing the overwhelming bulk of property taxes go to local government, the governor has also called for property tax reforms, including greater transparency and accountability in local government spending, an option to pay property taxes monthly, and greater fiscal responsibility from local governments.

To make Montana more competitive and help Montanans keep more of what they earn, the governor’s budget reduces the income tax rate most Montanans pay from 6.5% to 5.9% and substantially increases the state’s earned income tax credit. When the governor took office in 2021, the top income tax rate was 6.9%.

To support hardworking families, the governor’s budget also provides families with a $1,200 child tax credit for children under six years of age, as well as a $5,000 adoption tax credit to make it easier for Montanans to open their homes to children.

“Family is the foundation of our society. We should do everything we can to make families stronger,” the governor continued. “Let’s provide families with a $1,200 child tax credit to help them raise their kids and pay for food, clothes, child care and health care.”

The governor’s budget cuts taxes for Montana’s small business owners, family farmers, and family ranchers by expanding the business equipment tax exemption from $300,000 to $1 million. Taken with similar reforms from 2021, the measure eliminates the business equipment tax burden for more than 5,000 small businesses, farms, and ranches.

“Our proposed tax relief will support small business owners as well as family farmers and ranchers,” the governor said. “They are the backbone of our economy, create jobs and opportunity for Montanans in every corner of the state, and make our families and communities stronger. Let’s provide them with tax relief by further reforming the business equipment tax.”

Under Governor Gianforte’s leadership, more Montanans are working than ever before and Montanans created a record number of new businesses in 2022, which follows a year of record-breaking business creation in the governor’s first year in office.

Big Sky Economic Development has announced that two new members have joined the board of the Economic Development Authority Board of Directors and the Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors. The EDA and EDC boards meet together to set policy and economic development strategy for the community.

Joining the EDA Board of Directors is Kate Vogel with North 40 Ag. The EDA board is a quasi-public, TradePort authority, whose board members are appointed by the Yellowstone County Commissioners. The EDA has 11 appointed board members.

Vogel grew up in eastern Colorado helping with the neighbors’ cattle, this is where her fondness for agriculture was first discovered. She studied dryland, no-till systems at Colorado State University and after completing her Masters, she moved up to Montana. Kate joined her husband Marcus in 2014 at North 40 Ag in as a way to bring seed and education to their community.

“As we developed the mission of North 40 Ag, I kept coming back to the importance of people. We have grown our family here since the start,” said Kate. “Our employees have become part of our family, but so have our customers. My favorite part of what I do is getting to build relationships with our clients and seeing the improvement they can make on their operation in their journey to meet their soil health goals.”

North 40 Ag has provided Vogel with the outlet to continue to assist the regions farmers and ranchers in implementing cover crops, no-till practices, crop rotations and other soil health practices. It is her passion for farmers and ranchers that keeps her pushing North 40 Ag forward.

The newest board member joining the Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors is Tyler Wiltgen, Executive Director, St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation. The EDC is a not-for-profit corporation made up of 140-Member Investor companies. The EDC has 22 board members elected who are elected by the Member Investor companies.

Wiltgen started his role as Executive Director of the St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation in July 2021 and serves as a member of the St. Vincent Healthcare Senior Leadership Team. Before joining the St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation, Tyler served as Vice President of Advancement for Rocky Mountain College. His prior experience includes development positions in the College of Agriculture, Athletics and Gift Planning at the Montana State University Alumni Foundation in Bozeman. Tyler was also the radio voice of Montana State University Bobcat Football and Men’s Basketball. A native of Wilsall, Montana, Tyler graduated from Montana State University-Bozeman, where he received both his undergraduate and master’s degrees. He and his wife, Malaree, live in Billings with their three children.

The City of Billings has named Jeff Roach, A.A.E., as its next director of Aviation and Transit. He will fill the position following the retirement of Kevin Ploehn after 33 years of employment with the City. Ploehn’s last day is Jan. 13.

Roach comes to Billings from Nashville, TN, and is scheduled to begin his new role on Jan. 16, 2023. Roach will plan, direct, and manage the City of Billings MET Transit System, and the Billings Logan International Airport (BIL).

He brings more than 30 years of experience in transportation, aviation, and airport management to Billings.

Most recently, Roach was Assistant Vice President, Executive Director for John C. Tune Airport, the general aviation reliever airport in Nashville, TN.

Roach is no stranger to the cold climate, as he was previously the Airport Manager for Fairbanks International Airport. He has also worked for the State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities as Transportation Planning Manager.

Finding someone with management experience in both aviation and transit was no easy task. The City called on ADK Consulting and Executive Search to find top tier candidates for this unique job title.  Roach earned his bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of Alaska and went on to receive his master’s degree in Management from Webster University.  He also received a master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the United States Air Force Air University. Roach is an Accredited Member (A.A.E.) of the American Association of Airport Executives, and has a commercial, instrument helicopter pilot license. In addition, Mr. Roach served in the Alaska Army National Guard.