Government

KC Fed: Manufacturing Activity Down, Services Up

21 May 2024
Press Room
No comments

By Derek Draplin, The Center Square

Manufacturing activity declined last month in the Federal Reserve’s 10th District, while services activity increased, according to surveys from the bank’s Kansas City branch.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s 10th District covers Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Wyoming, and parts of New Mexico and Missouri.

The bank’s composite index for manufacturing in March was -7. The index for February was -4 and -9 in January. The composite index measures several other indexes such as production, employment, and raw materials inventory.

“Regional factory activity fell further in March, and expectations for future activity were again steady,” Chad Wilkerson, senior vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said in a statement. “Employment levels expanded modestly even as production and new orders contracted, and over half of firms have given mid-year wage increases recently but fewer plan to this year.”

Despite the drop in activity, “expectations for future activity were again steady,” according to the KC Fed. The future composite index in March was 1, which is down from 2 in February.

In service-related industries, activity grew in the district last month, but “expectations for future activity were flat.”

Governor on BLM Rule

21 May 2024
Press Room
No comments

Governor Greg Gianforte issued the following statement in response to the Bureau of Land Management’s new “Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation” rule, which will take effect on June 10.

“Today’s announcement from the Bureau of Land Management is the latest attack in President Biden’s war on energy. By issuing this rule, the Bureau is undermining Congress by acting outside of its statutory authority,” Gov. Gianforte said. “This regulatory overreach will undoubtedly raise the cost of reliable energy for Montanans. Instead of promoting his radical green agenda, President Biden should be expanding natural gas production and prioritizing policies that provide affordable and reliable energy for American consumers.”

The recent rule follows one of several actions from the Biden administration that threaten American energy independence and businesses.

Gov. Gianforte visits with apprentice for Dick Anderson Construction.

21 May 2024
Press Room
No comments

“Promoting and increasing access to apprenticeship opportunities and trades education empowers Montanans and ensures employers have a highly-skilled workforce,” said Governor Greg Gianforte as he highlight apprenticeship opportunities in Montana.

He made his statements while visiting with Dick Anderson Construction apprentices in Helena and at the Highlands College pre-apprenticeship program in Butte. He thanked Montana employers and educators for the important role they play in supporting apprenticeship opportunities and trades education. “We thank them for their investment,” he said.

The governor declared the week of May 5-11 as Youth Apprenticeship Week in Montana to emphasize the advantages of apprenticeships in enabling Montana workers and ensuring employers have access to a workforce with in-demand skills.

Since 2020, Montana’s Registered Apprenticeship Program, administered by the Department of Labor & Industry (DLI), has seen a 20 percent increase in active apprenticeship enrollment in over 100 different fields where workers receive paid, supervised, on-the-job training.

Dick Anderson Construction is one of more than 600 businesses that have partnered with the program that employ more than 3,000 apprentices statewide.

Highlighting apprenticeship opportunities within the company, the governor visited a Dick Anderson worksite in Helena to hear from apprentices on the impact of the program.

“When I came on the job, I knew nothing about construction. It’s been great to get a textbook instruction through first-hand experiences,” said Quinn, a Dick Anderson employee and former apprentice.

Dick Anderson’s Education Coordinator, Bill Ryan, added, “When our apprentices finish the four-year program, they gain a certificate of completion from DLI to be a carpenter and they have a job with us waiting for them.”

In 2022, Montana added more apprenticeships to the Registered Apprenticeship Program than ever before. Many of these were added following a rule change supported by the governor that went into effect that year.

While maintaining workplace safety and training standards, the revised rule changed the journeyman-to-apprentice ratio from 2:1 to 1:2. Now, one journeyman can supervise two apprentices.

And, to improve the skills of hardworking Montanans and address employers’ needs, the governor proposed and implemented the Montana Trades Education Credit (MTEC) in 2021. This credit offers employers credit for employee education and training, and it has nearly doubled MTEC in 2023.

Rounding out the day in Butte, the governor visited the Highlands College pre-apprenticeship line program to learn more about the opportunities available to students interested in becoming a line worker.

The one-semester, pre-apprentice line certificate program prepares students for groundman and apprentice positions within the line trade. Upon completion of the course, students also are provided the pathway to obtain a Class A Commercial Driver’s License before entering the workforce.

Partnering with local employers, the program helps to connect students to jobs in the construction and utilities industry after graduation.

Visiting with students in the program and watching a demonstration, the governor learned more about the course that instructs on how to assist with the installation, construction, maintenance, and repair of electrical power line systems.

Five National Register Nominations in Montana To be Forwarded to National Register

21 May 2024
Press Room
No comments

Two ranger stations, a significant tribal site, a shopping center, and an expanded hospital district all are nominated for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Zortman and Main Boulder ranger stations include clusters of buildings constructed in the early 1900s by some of the first U.S. Forest Service employees.

The Main Boulder Ranger Station, located southwest of Big Timber, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, continually operated USFS administrative facilities in the Northern Region 1, according to the nomination form. Starting in 1908, Harry Kaufman constructed the ranger station, outbuildings, and a home with a hand-crafted bay window, which today serves as a museum filled with his personal effects and original furnishings.

“The property captures the story of the life and duties of one of the earliest Rangers in the U.S. Forest Service and his attempts to establish government influence in the vast reaches of what is now the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness area,” the form states, adding that Kaufman’s diaries “gives a vivid picture of life for an early forest ranger.”

The Zortman Ranger Station buildings predate the log buildings commonly associated with Forest Service facilities presenting a simpler wood frame style that lack ornamentation, architecturally resembling the buildings that populate the community of Zortman.

It includes “functional buildings that reflect the rustic character promoted by the Forest Service in its early years,” the nomination form states. It served as a station for forest guards to monitor and fight forest fires and “timber predation” in what then was the Jefferson National Forest in central Montana. The property was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management in 1966.

The Head Chief-Young Mule Charge Site is just east of Lame Deer in Rosebud County on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. It was the site of a deadly confrontation between two young Northern Cheyenne men, Head Chief and Young Mule, and the U.S. Army cavalry on Sept. 13, 1890.

The property retains deep cultural significance to the Northern Cheyenne in many ways, notes the nomination form. The incident is recalled in a tribal warrior song, handed down through generations.

Head Chief fatally shot a young man who had stumbled across the Northern Cheyenne as they butchered a milk cow belonging to the young man’s uncle.

“Head Chief and Young Mule refused to submit to the military, and instead met their fate in a traditional manner, culminating in a dramatic mounted charge by Head Chief and Young Mule at army lines in full view of gathered Northern Cheyenne bands; the charge resulted in the deaths of both young men,” the nomination form states.

In Bozeman, the Westgate Village Shopping Center was built in 1957 and represents the first small neighborhood multi-unit retail shopping center in the city.

“Although a simple design, the building is characteristic of the mid-20th century Modern Movement style,” the nomination report states. It was designed by Hugo Eck, a locally famous architect and Montana State University professor.

The final nomination includes expanding the boundaries for the Lewis and Clark County Hospital District to include the Poor Farm Cemetery. The cemetery was used from 1890 to 1916. None of the burials are marked.

The nominations will be forwarded to the National Park Service’s for a final determination.

Feds Aim to Electrify Homes in Tribal Communities

21 May 2024
Press Room
No comments

The Department of the Interior announced a grant of $71 million to help Tribal communities electrify their homes with clean energy sources. This is the second round of funding from the Office of Indian Affairs’ Tribal Electrification Program, part of an overall $150 million grant from the Inflation Reduction Act. Secretary Haaland announced $72 million in awards from the first round of funding earlier this year.

“As the Interior Department implements this new program, we will continue to support Tribes as they work to develop their electricity infrastructure and help meet our shared clean energy goals,” said Secretary Haaland. “Through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we’re providing reliable, resilient energy that Tribes can rely on, and advancing our work to tackle the climate crisis and build a clean energy future.”

A key pillar of Bidenomics, the President’s Investing in America agenda is deploying record investments to provide affordable high-speed internet, safer roads and bridges, modern wastewater and sanitations systems, clean drinking water, reliable and affordable electricity, and good paying jobs in every Tribal community.

A press release claims that the tax funded effort is to bring electricity to homes in Tribal communities that have never had electricity. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland reports that Tribal Nations have their own unique energy and electrification-related needs and implementation capacity.

In 2000, the Energy Information Administration reported estimated that 14 percent of households on Native American reservations had no access to electricity, which was 10 times higher than the national average. In 2022, the Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy reported that 16,805 Tribal homes were unelectrified, with most being in the Southwest region and Alaska.

Through this funding, the program will provide financial and technical assistance to Tribes to connect homes to transmission and distribution that is powered by clean energy; provide electricity to unelectrified Tribal homes through zero-emissions energy systems; transition electrified Tribal homes to zero-emissions energy systems; and support associated home repairs and retrofitting necessary to install the zero-emissions energy systems. The program is also intended to support clean energy workforce development opportunities in Indian Country.

The Tribal Electrification Program also advances the Biden-Harris administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which was established by President Biden as part of his January 2021 Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. The goal recognizes the importance of electricity to sustaining a higher standard of living and in curbing pollution. It set a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that have been marginalized by “underinvestment.”

County to Propose RSIDs be Required in the Future

21 May 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
No comments

Yellowstone County Commissioners are split on a proposed change in the regulations regarding the formation of subdivisions.

At issue are private roads in some subdivisions for which property owners believe the County should maintain their roads, having not realized the roads were private and therefore the responsibility of homeowners, or perhaps being members of a non-functioning home owners association (HOA) which fails to maintain roads.

Two of the commissioners, John Ostlund and Mark Morse, want to require that future subdivision developers in the county, wanting to provide private roads must have gated communities, so that it is clear to everyone that the roads are private and not public. Developers are often eager to make roads private because it lowers costs, even though initially the roads are required to be built to county standards.

Commissioner Don Jones said this is just “big government getting in the way.” Some HOA’s do work, said Jones, adding that in the market place it’s the buyer’s responsibility to know what they are purchasing. “Buyer beware,” he said. The means are available for homeowners to take care of roads themselves, including an increasing number of companies that are available to contract with HOAs to provide regular maintenance. “You are just putting on more regulations,” said Jones.

The commissioners pondered the issue at a discussion last Thursday afternoon, with Tim Miller who heads the Public Works Department and with Woody Woods who heads the county planning board. Both Miller and Woods agreed that HOA’s seldom work.

Ostlund said that as the homes are sold and resold information about the roads being private is not passed along to new buyers and they are later surprised and resistant to having to be responsible for maintaining them. Ostlund noted that gated communities do provide a measure of security.

County officials are proposing to change county subdivision regulations to require that every subdivision create a Rural Special Improvement District (RSID) and make roads public, unless the developer designs it to be a gated community, which makes it obvious that the roads are private. An RSID is a formal means of assessing and collecting the cost of road maintenance (and perhaps other maintenance needs) as a part of taxes, payment for which is treated just like payment of taxes.

Miller said that often nothing is done to keep the roads in good condition until they become so bad that it is very costly to bring them back to standards.

The county plays a role in not only establishing the RSID and collecting the revenues, but every year the Public Works Department analyzes the subdivision’s needs and arranges, usually through third party contracts, to do the work, which the county oversees, explained Miller. Property owners in the RSID can choose to adjust the revenue paid into their RSID or to extend collections to cover other needs, such as lighting etc.

The county can also assist subdivisions without RSIDs in creating one. It requires 60 percent approval of property owners in the subdivision.

The county commissioners have put forth a resolution which is currently before the county planning board to change the subdivision regulations. Miller said that the process will involve holding three public hearings in the community to explain the proposal to citizens.

AGs Investigate Investment Company Over anti-Israel Policies

21 May 2024
Press Room
No comments

By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square

A coalition of Republican attorneys general has launched an investigation into MSCI, a New York-based investment company managing roughly more than $5 billion in assets, after allegations surfaced of its boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) policies against Israel.

The coalition, led by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, gave MSCI chairman and CEO Henry Fernandez until April 18 to respond.

They contacted Fernandez after the Jewish News Syndicate reported that MSCI’s ESG policies appear to downgrade dozens of companies “that it said committed ‘human rights violations’ simply for conducting business in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.”

JNS reported that it found “that MSCI has tagged nine companies that generated ESG controversy ratings at Morningstar for doing business in Judea and Samaria with its own such ratings” and contacted Florida officials.

In a letter to Fernandez, the AGs express “great concern” over the report saying, “the states we represent unequivocally support Israel’s right to exist and oppose the BDS movement.”

The coalition represents the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

“While the BDS movement ‘markets itself as a nonviolent movement’ designed to pressure Israel to ‘withdraw to its pre-1967 borders,’ its leadership in reality ‘seeks nothing less than the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state,’” they said. “According to a cofounder of the BDS movement, it is ‘but the first stage on the road to fulfilling the vision of the dismantling of Israel.’ The movement often focuses on pressuring large investment portfolios – such as those run by municipality or university – to divest from companies that ‘aid Israel’s occupation.’”

They also said the BDS movement has two goals: “to economically cripple Israel and create a false narrative of Israel’s occupation and colonization.”

Businesses Seek Tax Abatements

18 April 2024
Press Room
No comments

Several local businesses are requesting tax abatements from Yellowstone County on their investment in new equipment. The abatements are for qualifying Class 8 Property – primarily manufacturing concerns that generate economic growth. A recent change in state law (SB 530) requires that county commissioners grant the abatement requests, with the only options available to them being whether to apply the abatement at the 80 percent, 90 percent or 100 percent.  The abatement is phased out over the next five years at which time the company pays the full property tax.

The County Commissioners approved a supplemental application for a tax abatement request from CHS. In January, the County Commissioners approved, at 80 percent, an initial property tax abatement request from CHS for manufacturing equipment totaling in value $38,872,419.88.

They have also approved, at 80 percent, an abatement request of Class 8 property from Phillips 66 on the investment of $7,459,311 of equipment.

The Commissioners also approved a tax abatement for Signal Peak Energy and Coca Cola are requesting abatements on new investments in their businesses.

Signal Peak Mine will receive a 80% abatement n $36,841,583 of manufacturing equipment located in Yellowstone County.

Coca Cola received an 80% tax abatement on $47,150,873 involving the construction of their new manufacturing plant.

Opposition Mounts to Strict EPA Emissions Standards

18 April 2024
Press Room
No comments

By Kevin Bessler, The Center Square

Saying it’s too much, too soon, numerous groups are denouncing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recently announced emission standards, with the Illinois Corn Growers Association being one of them.

On March 20, 2024, EPA announced a final rule, Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles, that sets new, more protective standards to further reduce harmful air pollutant emissions from light-duty and medium-duty vehicles starting with model year 2027.  

The EPA said the new rules, which are less strict than what the agency proposed last year, will avert 7 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

“The standards announced today are a step forward for cleaner air and lower costs for drivers,” said Peter Huether, senior research associate with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. “They will lead to the cleanest vehicles to date and help us meet the president’s climate pledges.” 

As EVs sit on car dealer lots, some companies are scaling back their electric offerings, including Ford and GM.

A new poll by The Center Square Voters’ Voice shows that nearly two-thirds of voters say the government is pushing EVs too hard because there is insufficient demand. 

Garrett Hawkins, vice president of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, said the rush by the government to convert to battery EVs would be devastating for the Illinois farming community.

“With this policy, we could have a 50% decrease in the price of corn, and with that you would have rural America and farmers not doing as well,” said Hawkins. “It’s going to be a direct hit to the Midwest.”.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said his goal is to have 1 million EVs on Illinois roadways by the year 2030. State officials said there will need to be around 36,000 charging ports to support that number. 

Critics also point to the high cost of electric vehicles. The Rivian R1T EV pickup truck, manufactured in Normal, starts at $73,000.

“It is disappointing that the Biden Administration continues to be actively working against its stated goal of ‘equipping the American middle class to succeed,’” said David Holt, president of Consumer Energy Alliance. “While electric vehicles clearly have a role in our vehicle mix, the middle class cannot succeed with the EPA forcing an unworkable, expensive EV quota on working class families.” 

NFIB Questions Feds Increase Minimum Wage

18 April 2024
Press Room
No comments

NFIB (National Federation of Independent Businesses) filed an amicus brief in the case State of Texas v. President Joseph R. Biden at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. This case questions whether the President and Department of Labor (DOL) have authority to increase the minimum wage for federal contractors. NFIB’s brief argues that the lower court correctly decided that the DOL rule, Increasing the Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors, exceeded the statutory authority delegated by Congress.

“At a time when small businesses are battling historic inflation and labor shortages, this decision will have economic consequences for many small business contractors,” said Beth Milito, Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. “Small business owners already strive to provide their employees with the highest wages and benefits they can afford. Mandating further increases to their operating costs will only make it harder for them to do so.”

NFIB’s brief argues two main points: 1) the Procurement Act is a limited Congressional delegation of legislative authority, and 2) the court must subject the rule to meaningful judicial review. NFIB filed the amicus brief with the Pacific Legal Foundation.

The NFIB Small Business Legal Center protects the rights of small business owners in the nation’s courts. NFIB is currently active in more than 40 cases in federal and state courts across the country and in the U.S. Supreme Court.