Government

County Plans on How to Spend Federal Recovery $$$

22 June 2021
Evelyn Pyburn
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by Evelyn Pyburn

While receiving $32 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) may be considered something of a windfall for Yellowstone County, there’s a lot of needs in the county and it goes quickly, according to Yellowstone County Commissioners.

The commissioners and other county officials are in the process of identifying priorities while trying to sort out the state and federal rules about how they can spend the money. Time frames imposed by federal regulations limit substantially their options, but fortunately Yellowstone County had several projects in the planning stages which also happen to qualify as permissible expenditures by ARPA.

County Commissioner Don Jones said that counties without qualified projects already in the planning may not be able to meet the late summer deadline.

Commissioners are working on meeting their own internal deadline of mid-July to determine what projects they want to set as priorities to obligate in spending the first half of the ARPA grant – -$15.6 million—which has already been released to the county. ARPA requires that the monies issued to counties and municipalities  be spent by Dec. 31, 2024

Besides addressing the needs of health and safety, the county must have direct line of authority over any entity or projects to which they direct the ARPA money. Counties and major municipalities have been allotted funds directly, but the state set aside a separate program for “non-entitled units” of government which would typically include many “districts” or local governments serving less than 50,000 people.

Much of the county’s funding will be spent on rebuilding infrastructure and utilities at Metra Park, according to the commissioners, not only because it involves projects for which much of the preliminary work has already been done but because Metra Park and the role it plays in serving the community easily qualifies within the parameters of ARPA for public health and safety.

County officials had already recognized the need to refurbish Metra Park’s almost 100-year old infrastructure and has already had extensive engineering studies and evaluations completed in anticipation of conducting numerous projects, from replacing water and sewer lines to enhancing broadband capacity. Because of that preliminary work all they have to do to launch many of the projects is issue a “request for proposals.”

Metra Park infrastructure projects include such things as water and sewer lines, storm water retainage, electricity – “everything that is under the ground”, including the possibility of expanding Metra Park’s broadband capacity to 5G. 

Expanding broadband capacity requires the installation of fiber optic cabling. Broadband 5G is the newest global wireless standard which delivers higher peak data speeds which can connect “everyone and everything together,” including machines, objects, and devices.

County commissioners are also eyeing the possibility of doing a pre-engineering study in Lockwood to install water and sewer lines in the areas of Johnson Lane and Coulson Road aimed especially at the planned industrial park, the TEDD (Targeted Economic Development District).

The county, under the direction of purchasing agent, James Matteson, has issued requests for qualifications from architects, engineers and consultants, to design, estimate costs and scope of work for Metra Park and for the Lockwood area. Responses for the Lockwood RFQ is June 14 and for Metra Park RFQs, June 28.

Matteson explained that for any large project that involves architects or engineers, in order to select a firm the county typically issues requests for qualificaions (RFQ) which are reviewed by county officials with the top three candidates interviewed, one of which is then selected to assist in planning and getting a project ready for bid.

Jennifer Jones, the county’s assistant finance director, explained that the county commissioners need to have information that the engineers or other consultants will provide in order to “brainstorm,” and figure out what is feasible and what they can “bid out”. “Some things may not be possible,” she said.

The feasible projects will then be “obligated” under the federal guidelines, which means they have to be designed and put out to bid by the end of summer.

Jones said that the requirements of ARPA are different than most federal grant processes in which they are reimbursed when the project is completed. ARPA sends the funds up front with the stipulation that if they are not spent properly they have to be sent back, so the county wants to be very diligent in making sure they comply with the requirements.

“We have to have our ducks in the row so we have been talking about this for three or four months. We don’t want to be in a position that we can’t spend it properly and effectively,” said Jones. “I’ll do quarterly progress reports,” said Jones, upon which the federal government will determine if the county is in compliance and if they are, they will release the balance of the funds to the county in May 2022.

While many people think of Metra Park primarily as an entertainment venue, for the emergency services providers in the community it is home base for all kinds of activities. “We use Metra Park a lot, for more than just entertainment,” said KC Williams, County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator, who sees Metra Park in a very different light, one totally in keeping with the intent of ARPA. In general APRA funds are meant to be spent in manners that fortify the health and welfare of citizens.

But even as far as being an entertainment center there is much to be said about refurbishing the facility to meet that demand. Metra Park houses the largest crowd gatherings in the state,” pointed out Williams, crowds of that size need better access to 911 and for all public safety and public health that use the grounds.

Metra Park is commonly used as a shelter for situations in which citizens are displaced, as was most recently the case when an irrigation ditch was flooding a Billings neighborhood.  Williams noted that the Red Cross frequently directs people to Meta Park who are in need of emergency shelter.

Metra Park was made available by county officials to the medical community as a backup for potential overflow from the hospitals, and provided an easily accessed location where the pubic could get tested for COVID during the pandemic.

It has often been used to accommodate fire fighters and as a point of staging emergency responses. It is  routinely used by emergency service providers for training exercises and a meeting place. “We need better access to public safety data that we constantly rely on,” said Williams.

Conceding up front that he is no expert on what it takes to increase broadband capacity for Metra Park, Williams fully understands the benefits that it would bring. In addition to responding to emergencies, increasing capacity in and around Metra Park’s 189 acres would be a significant benefit in providing a foundation for the technology for surrounding areas.

“One of the limiting factors in Metra Park serving well as backup for the hospitals’ overflow” during the height of COVID hospitalizations, explained Williams, is that medical records are all electronic now and “in order to do it correctly and most effectively we need to have better broadband capacities. When Metra Park has better broadband capabilities and can handle electronic medical records easily then using it as an alternative cite for a hospital will be easier.”

Red States Have Lowest Unemployment Rates

21 June 2021
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The Center Square

Republican-led states and Vermont reported the lowest unemployment rates in April, according to a new report by the U.S. Commerce Department. States led by Democratic governors recorded the highest jobless rates, according to the report.

Unemployment rates were lower in April in 12 states and the District of Columbia and stable in 38 states, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

States with the highest unemployment rates in April were Hawaii (8.5%), California (8.3%), New Mexico and New York (both at 8.2%), and Connecticut (8.1%). All five states with the highest unemployment are run by Democratic trifectas, meaning Democrats control the governor’s office and both houses of the state legislature.

The four states with the lowest jobless rates in April were all run by Republican trifectas: Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Utah, with 2.8% each. Vermont, with a Republican governor and a Democratic-controlled state House and Senate, ranked fifth-best with an unemployment rate of 2.9%.

Overall, 31 states had unemployment rates lower than the U.S. national average of 6.1%. The majority – 26 – are Republican-led states. Of the 19 states and the District of Columbia with jobless rates higher than the national average, 14 are led by Democrats.

However, the three largest unemployment rate decreases year-over-year from April 2020 to April 2021 occurred in blue states: Nevada, (down 21.5%), Michigan (down 18.7%), and Hawaii (down 13.4%). Ten other states also saw declines of 10% or more.

The report came out as the Dallas Federal Reserve reported lowered expectations for May job growth.

Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said that hiring difficulties have continued through May and will likely lead to another weak jobs report following the lower-than-expected 266,000 positions added in April. The next jobs report is expected to be published June 4.

According to a Dallas Fed survey, weakening job growth is attributed to several factors, including extended additional federal unemployment payments and a lack of childcare options for working parents.

“These structural issues, which we saw in the report for April … all those tensions are not going to go away” immediately, Kaplan said at a Dallas Fed conference on technology. “We think you are going to see another odd or unusual report. … Businesses are telling us they got plenty of demand, but they cannot find workers either skilled or unskilled.”

Republican governors in at least 22 states moved to drop the additional federal payment in response to businesses having difficulty finding people to hire because they were making more or enough money receiving unemployment checks than working. Texas was among the last to do so last week.

MSU and MDT Develop Specialized Concrete

11 June 2021
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Montana State University and Montana Department of Transportation are collaborating in the development of a specialized concrete that is 20 times stronger than regular concrete. It will be used for the first time this summer to form parts of two 60-foot long bridges over Trail Creek near Wisdom.

MSU has been developing this unique concrete for over five years. It is special because it can carry up to 20,000 pounds per square inch.

Due to a specialized mixture that includes conventional concrete materials in addition to steel fibers, fly ash — a byproduct of coal-fired power plants — and chemicals that reduce the amount of added water, the material is roughly five times stronger than normal concrete, according to Mike Berry, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in MSU’s Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. It also cures rapidly, potentially reducing construction time, and resists corrosion, which will extend the lifetime of the structure, he said.

“It’s like normal concrete on steroids,” said Berry, who is leading the MSU research project. “If we could make all our bridges out of this stuff, it would be magnificent.”

The concrete is not new, Berry added, but until now its use has been limited due to high costs charged by companies that treat the mixture as proprietary, meaning only they can install it. The concrete developed at MSU uses the same principles but is non-proprietary and is designed to use locally available materials to further reduce costs.

According to Lenci Kappes, innovations and complex structures engineer in MDT’s bridge bureau, the MSU project could potentially cut the cost of the material in half. That would mean significant savings for the state not only with construction costs but also with reduced long-term maintenance due to the material’s durability.

The future cost savings are anticipated as MDT and contractors become more familiar with procuring, mixing and installing the material with MSU’s support, according to Kappes.

The MSU collaboration with MDT is part of a federal initiative to encourage states to adopt ultra-high performance concrete, according to Berry. Montana isn’t alone in its efforts, but “you can count on one hand the number of states that have actually developed and used this material, so we’re kind of unique in that way.”

According to Kappes, Montana has lots of bridges in need of replacement or repair, so the money-saving MSU mixture is a particularly relevant material coming at an opportune time. “This is really a learning experience,” he said. “We’re excited to take what we learn and apply it around the state.” 

FEMA Approves $1.9 million for Montana Disaster Relief

11 June 2021
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved nearly $1.9 million in additional Public Assistance funding for the COVID-19 response in Montana. The assistance was approved by a major disaster declaration issued March 31, 2020.  FEMA has provided a total of $30.2 million for the Montana COVID-19 response to date.

The $1.9 million was provided to the Billings Clinic for COVID-19 associated costs, contracts, and facilities, which include work completed between March 17, 2020, and December 30, 2020.

This funding is authorized under the January 21, 2021, Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense & the Secretary of Homeland Security and Section 403 of the Robert T. Stafford Act.

For the COVID-19 response, FEMA has simplified the Public Assistance application and funding process to address the magnitude of this event and to allow local officials to receive eligible funding more quickly. These reimbursements play a critical role as state, local and tribal officials work tirelessly to assist their communities during this response.

Wyoming Rancher Files Suit on Rescue Plan

10 June 2021
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Wyoming rancher Leisl Carpenter has announced that she is suing the Biden Administration and the Department of Agriculture for race discrimination under the US Constitution, in response to a “Rescue Plan” loan forgiveness program that explicitly bars her from participation because she is white.  

Carpenter, a 29-year-old rancher from Laramie, is represented by Mountain States Legal Foundation and the Southeastern Legal Foundation. The suit, Leisl Carpenter v Tom Vilsack and Zach Ducheneaux, was filed Monday in the United States District Court, District of Wyoming. She is seeking to be treated fairly and equally, without respect to her race.

In March 2021, the Biden administration signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, providing $4 billion to forgive loans for “socially disadvantaged” ranchers and farmers. White ranchers are excluded, in violation of the Constitution’s guarantee of Equal Protection under the Fifth Amendment.  

 “Like a lot of farmers and ranchers, our client has struggled to keep her family ranch afloat through all the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, only to learn that she is ineligible to even apply for Biden’s loan forgiveness program solely due to her race,” said MSLF Associate General Counsel William E. Trachman Tuesday. “Instead of being rescued by Biden’s plan, she’s been excluded and discriminated against for no other reason than the color of her skin.”

 “The blatant discrimination in the American Rescue Plan Act, Section 1005, is ridiculous,” said Carpenter.  The government needs to bring an end to this horrendous practice of racial discrimination immediately and start treating Americans as individuals based on character and individual qualities, not based on the color of their skin.”

 Carpenter’s 2,400-acre Flying Heart Ranch is a family operation located in Wyoming’s Big Laramie Valley. The 500-plus head of cattle she runs, and grass hay sales are the sole source of income for her, her husband, and her 19-month-old son, Casen. Her maternal grandmother’s family originally homesteaded on the land in 1894. Unlike many family ranches, Carpenter’s outfit has been passed down mostly to daughters rather than sons. She’s proud to follow in a long line of women who work the land.  

 To avoid foreclosure and save her family’s ranch when she was 20 years old, Carpenter decided to take out an FSA loan from the federal government.  As was the case with many ranchers, the COVID-19 pandemic added to the financial difficulties Carpenter faces. When the Biden administration passed a $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus bill, it included a loan forgiveness program for ranchers. This might have been just the lifeline the ranch needed, but Carpenter and other white farmers and ranchers would learn that they weren’t eligible. The loan forgiveness program Biden signed into law excluded white ranchers and farmers, dashing the hopes of many in the agricultural community who believed Biden when he called it a “rescue” plan. 

 “Making skin color the basis of a government benefit is not only unconstitutional: it is also morally wrong,” added Trachman. “One simply cannot promote racial justice by perpetuating racial injustice.  The way to end discrimination is to stop discriminating.”

SBA Sued for Discrimination

10 June 2021
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The Center Square

The Texas Public Policy Foundation and America First Policy Institute have sued the U.S. Small Business Administration, alleging a provision in the America Rescue Act requires the SBA to prioritize businesses owned by women and minorities to receive nearly $30 billion in COVID-19-designated relief money above other applicants.

Greer’s Ranch Café vs Guzman was filed against the SBA and its acting director, Isabella Casillas Guzman, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. It is the first lawsuit filed by the TPPF and AFPI against the Biden administration.

The ARPA, which passed along party lines and was signed into law by President Joe Biden, appropriated $28.6 billion to a Restaurant Revitalization Fund to be dolled out to applicants. Section 5003 of the bill requires the SBA to prioritize applicants who are women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged business owners.

The SBA defines socially disadvantaged individuals as those “who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities. The social disadvantage must stem from circumstances beyond their control.”

Economically disadvantaged individuals are defined as those whose “ability to compete in the free enterprise system has been impaired due to diminished capital and credit opportunities as compared to others in the same or similar line of business who are not socially disadvantaged.”

The lawsuit asks the court to determine whether the government has the right to deny Americans access to federal assistance based on their ethnicity and gender. The groups argue the government’s policy “is wantonly illegal, unconstitutional, and immoral.”

“These race and sex preferences are patently unconstitutional, and the Court should promptly enjoin their enforcement,” the complaint states. “Doing so will promote equal rights under the law for all American citizens and promote efforts to stop racial discrimination, because ‘[t]he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.’”

TPPF’s Chief Counsel Robert Henneke said, “For over 125 years, the United States Supreme Court has recognized that the Constitution forbids discrimination by the government against any citizen because of his race. This lawsuit will enforce that guarantee.”

The lawsuit calls on the court to block the enforcement of any policy that would discriminate against certain classes of people in order to “promote equal rights under the law for all American citizens and promote efforts to stop racial discrimination.”

As of May 12, the RRF has received more than 147,000 applications from women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged business owners, requesting a total of $29 billion in relief funds, representing nearly half of the applicants.

Guzman argues the SBA “is helping thousands of restaurants and other food and beverage businesses across the country get the help they desperately need to recover and rebuild from this pandemic. The numbers show that we’ve been particularly successful at reaching the smallest restaurants and underserved communities that have struggled to access relief. These businesses are the pillars of our nation’s neighborhoods and communities. We are making progress, but we have much more work to do as we continue reaching our underserved entrepreneurs.”

Overall, the SBA received more than 266,000 applications representing over $65 billion in requested funds. During the first week of the program, it received applications from 76,183 women business owners, 6,093 veteran business owners and 42,284 economically and socially disadvantaged individuals.

A total of $2.7 billion of relief funds have already been distributed to 21,000 restaurants since the fund opened May 3, 2021, the SBA reports.

MSU-Billings Hires Interim Director

10 June 2021
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Montana State University Billings announced that their Military and Veteran’s Success Center, opened in 2018, has hired  Shane Grantham as the interim director of the Center to aid in the continuation of veteran outreach on campus.

Grantham, a Billings-native, entered the U.S. Army after graduating high school and served for 20 years in active duty. Throughout his time in the military, Grantham mentored college-aged soldiers which is where he found his interest in guiding others. Following his retirement, he tried a few different career paths until landing a position for Veterans Upward Bound at MSUB where he regained his interest of mentorship through student interaction.

Montana Chamber to Hold Center of Opportunity Forum

10 June 2021
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Dr. Patrick Barkey, Director of the University of Montana, Bureau of Business & Economic Research (BBER), will keynote MCF’s Montana Centers of Opportunity Forum, which will take place in person July 29, 11:30 m at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kalispell.

The event will feature a panel discussion with Michael Goguen, Two Bear Capital;  Bill Mosley, GL Solutions;  Scott Osterman, Montana Department of Commerce ; and Tom Stergios, ATG Cognizant, with moderator, Kelly Schwager, Oracle.

Montana Centers of Opportunity Forum will provide the latest on Montana’s post-pandemic economy.

Patrick Barkey has served as Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at the University of Montana since 2008. He has been involved with economic forecasting and policy research for more than 35 years, in both the private and public sectors. for more information and registration email stacye@montanachamber.com.

Gov. Gianforte Delivers on Promise – Signs Fiscally Conservative Budget

9 June 2021
Dennis Pyburn
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Delivering on his promise to hold the line on new state spending and provide Montanans with broad-based tax relief, Governor Greg Gianforte today signed into law a fiscally conservative, pro-jobs budget.

“This budget lays out the roadmap to our Montana comeback, and will help unlock our state’s full, outstanding potential,” Gov. Gianforte said. “After more than a decade of out-of-control spending in Helena, we’re committed to being better stewards of taxpayer money, and our responsible budget brings much-needed fiscal restraint to state government.”

First introduced by the governor on January 7, the budget cuts hardworking Montanans’ taxes by over $60 million per year, and cuts $145 million in spending.

The budget also fulfills many policy priorities outlined in the governor’s Montana Comeback Plan, including investing $1 million per year in trades education and $2.5 million per year in incentives to increase starting teacher pay.

Importantly, the budget makes a historic investment in combating the drug epidemic through the HEART Fund. The program invests $25 million per year, using marijuana tax revenues, a portion of the tobacco tax settlement, and a federal Medicaid match, in community substance abuse prevention and treatment programs.

Surveys Show Largest Expansion of School Choice in U.S. History

8 June 2021
Behany Blankley
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By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square

More children are likely to have increased access to educational options after state legislators across the U.S. advanced a slew of bills this year expanding school choice, according to several state-by-state surveys.

“This is a banner year for the educational choice movement. Hundreds of thousands of children nationwide will now have greater access to educational opportunities,” Jason Bedrick, director of policy at Ed Choice, a national nonprofit organization that promotes state-based educational choice programs, told The Center Square.

At least 50 school choice bills have been introduced in 30 states so far, designed to create or expand vouchers, tax-credit scholarships and education savings accounts, among other measures.

To date, 10 states have proposed five new programs and 10 states have expanded existing programs, Bedrick told The Center Square. They include the legislatures of Indiana and Nevada creating Educational Savings Accounts for the first time in their states, as well as Kentucky and Missouri creating tax-credit-funded Education Savings Accounts for the first time in their states.

Kentucky’s bill was the first school choice bill ever proposed in its legislature. And the majority of legislators passed the bill twice – first to make it to the governor’s desk, and second, to override the governor’s veto, creating the state’s first school choice program.

Arkansas’ legislature also created its state’s first tax scholarship program. In April, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed the bill designed to help low-income families.

Arkansas is now the 20th state in the nation to adopt a tax-credit scholarship program.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice also signed into law “the most expansive school choice program in the country, a nearly universal option for education savings accounts,” the Heritage Foundation also reports in its analysis of states’ legislation.

“The events of the last year have demonstrated to many families that public schools are not always the reliable institutions many thought they were,” the Heritage Foundation reports. “It also opened their eyes to just how powerful the teachers unions are,” and as a result, legislatures responded to parents requests by undertaking one of the biggest expansions of school choice in history.”

Critics, particularly teachers unions and their supporters, that school choice programs drain resources from public school systems.

Several states expanded their existing voucher programs this year, including Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, and Maryland. Likewise, several states expanded their tax credit scholarship programs, including Florida, Indiana, Montana and South Dakota.

Notably absent on the list is Texas, whose Republican-controlled legislature has failed to advance school choice legislation.

Most of the Texas bills have been held up by the Calendar Committee Chairman, Chris Paddie, R-Marshall, who by not scheduling bills for committee assignments or votes ensures they never see the light of day.

Unlike Texas, “Even in California, hardly a school choice mecca, there is rumbling,” the Clarion Institute reports. “A revolutionary universal education savings account initiative is in the works for the November 2022 ballot. The ESA would give parents control of the money the state spends on educating their child. The funds would be spent on the school of their choice, and any money not spent would accumulate and could be used for college or vocational training.”

In March, a bill was read a second time in the California Assembly, AB 300, and referred to the Committee on Education. It would create a tax-credit funded Education Savings Account under an existing California education program to fund scholarships for private school tuition, online learning programs, tutoring, special needs therapies, transportation, textbooks, testing fees, and computer hardware and software.

And California State Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, proposed “Cal Grant K-12” earlier this year. The privately funded grant program would “help parents who have been forced to pay out-of-pocket expenses to keep up with their children’s remote learning.” According to Kiley’s office, the bill “incentivizes individuals and businesses to make donations that will provide eligible students scholarship funds they can use for approved expenses to help reduce pandemic-induced learning loss.”

A new study from the University of Arkansas suggests that the more a state provides parents with freedom to choose their child’s school, the better the state’s students’ score on the National Assessment of Education Outcomes.