Government

Venture Competition Names Prize Winners

21 May 2024
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The finals of the fifth annual $100K Venture Competition, hosted by Montana State University’s Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship and the MSU Blackstone LaunchPad, were held April 24 in Inspiration Hall at MSU.

During the competition, the finalists pitched their innovative business ideas to a panel of five judges and answered questions to vie for a portion of the $100,000 prize money.

The entrepreneurial event included eight ventures, many from current students. The competition was open to all students, faculty, staff and recent graduates in the Montana University System. The eight finalists were selected from a pool of more than 40 applicants.

The winners are listed below.

* First place, $30,000: Airspace: Modular Vehicle Rack System, a modular rack platform that doesn’t compromise truck bed space and utility, presented by Miles Hogger and Daniel Sierra, both students in the business college’s Master of Science in Innovation and Management program.

* Second place, $20,000: Bridger Bionics, which creates affordable prosthetic adaptations for action sports, presented by Brianna Daniels, an MSU alumna, and Calvin Servheen, a directed interdisciplinary studies and industrial engineering student at MSU.

* Third place, $15,000: Smart Dorm Company, which creates cost-effective, sustainable technology for large-scale residential facilities, presented by Elliot Harrison, an MSU alumnus, and Kolter Stevenson and Trevor Wilson, both University of Montana students.

* Fourth place, $10,000: BioCap Solutions, which sustainably manages algae by cleaning harmful algae blooms and capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, presented by Will Christian, a Ph.D. student in biochemistry. BioCap Solutions also nabbed the coveted People’s Choice Award, which came with a $6,000 award.

* Social Impact Award, $6,000: English Para Todos, which provides holistic, affordable and accessible English language education, presented by Vanessa Zamora Moreno, an MSU alumna, and Kass Thompson, an MSU student studying cell biology and neuroscience.

* Health Impact Award, $3,000: Neurofluidic Diagnostics, which offers precise drug testing environments to detect and monitor the hallmarks of neurodegeneration linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, presented by chemical engineering doctoral students Zeynep Malkoc and Esther Stopps.

* Additionally, the finalists that did not place in the top four each earned a $2,500 award.

“The $100K Venture Competition was an amazing opportunity,” said Hogger, a member of the winning venture. “There are some truly amazing ideas being developed in Montana and by MSU alums. I am excited to see future innovations that will come out of this campus. The resources at MSU provide amazing opportunities to learn and implement to allow anyone to start a business.” 

The judges were Stacie Bruno, MSU class of ’08 and vice president of finance for the Outdoor Performance Group of Vista Outdoors; Magali Eaton, Technology Transfer Office associate director and technology translation lead at MSU; Otto Pohl, startup communications strategist and founder of Core Communications; Mitch Violett, MSU class of ’08 and vice president of product management, data science and business development at Outpost; and Chris Walch, CEO and co-founder of LifeScore.

Supreme Court Validates Supremacy of Individual Property Rights

21 May 2024
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There’s a big property rights victory from the Supreme Court that is being little talked about and somewhat shunned as being as significant as it is by much of media.

The Supreme Court has ruled that home equity theft qualifies as a taking, and that state law is not the sole source for the definition of property rights. The ruling sets an important and valuable precedent.

In a unanimous Supreme Court decision local governments seizing the entire value of a property in order to pay off a smaller delinquent property tax debt has been declared as a takings or “home equity theft.” The case, Tyler v. Hennepin County, addressed the case of Geraldine Tyler. The plaintiff in the case was a 94-year-old widow whose home, valued at $40,000, was seized by Hennepin County  after she was unable to pay off $15,000 in property taxes, penalties, interest, and fees. The County then kept the entire $40,000 for itself, as Minnesota law allows.

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that such practices qualify as takings requiring the payment of “just compensation” under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Importantly, it also concluded that state law is not the sole source of the definition of property rights under the Takings Clause, and therefore state governments cannot seize private property without compensation simply by redefining it as the state’s property.

Besides the clear merits of the case, property rights advocates noted that the case set a significant precedent in declaring that states cannot just redefine property rights at will, which has important implications for other property rights issues.

In the decision, Chief Justice John Roberts pointed out that the Fourteenth Amendment, provides that “private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation…. States have long imposed taxes on property. Such taxes are not themselves a taking, but are a mandated ‘contribution from individuals . . . for the support of the government . . . for which they receive compensation in the protection which government affords.’”

The Takings Clause does not itself define property. For that, the Court draws on “existing rules or understandings” about property rights. Phillips v. Washington Legal Foundation, 524 U. S. 156, 164 (1998). State law is one important source…. But state law cannot be the only source. Otherwise, a State could “sidestep the Takings Clause by disavowing traditional property interests” in assets it wishes to appropriate. Phillips, 524 U. S., at 167; see also… Hall v. Meisner, 51 F. 4th 185, 190 (CA6 2022) (Kethledge, J., for the Court) (“[T]he Takings Clause would be a dead letter if a state could simply exclude from its definition of property any interest that the state wished to take.”). So we also look to “traditional property law principles,” plus historical practice and this Court’s precedents….

SEC Voluntarily Puts on Hold Climate Change Rule

21 May 2024
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By Steve Wilson, Center Square

Requiring publicly traded companies to make climate-related disclosures has voluntarily been put on hold by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC’s move came before a decision was reached by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. John Rady, counsel for the SEC in the case, notified the court in a letter.

The commission’s decision was made, Rady wrote in part, because of “procedural complexities of this litigation” and avoiding “potential regulatory uncertainty” if the rule went into place during the legal challenge.

This means until legal challenges at the 8th Circuit are resolved, registrants are not subject to the newly adopted SEC climate disclosure rules. The phase-in period doesn’t begin until 2025 at the earliest; it is unclear if that will be delayed.

The new rule was to be fully in effect in 2026.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, in a release, said, “The Biden administration wants to radically transform the SEC run by unelected bureaucrats and make them champions of climate change, regardless of what the agency’s functions are – Biden is creating a federal bureaucracy to suit his agenda. The rule would provide for coordinated discrimination against areas of the country like West Virginia that depend most heavily on fossil fuels for energy.”

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, in a statement, said, “Today’s victory shuts down the most outrageous climate mandate for businesses since Biden took office. The SEC’s job is to protect people from fraud. It has no business slapping companies with extremist climate mandates. We are making it clear that Biden has to follow the law like everyone else.

“By halting this mandate, we are protecting businesses from costly red tape, securing our supply chain, and defending family farms. Next, we are going to make this win permanent!”

In the order, the SEC says it “will continue vigorously defending the final rules’ validity in court and looks forward to expeditious resolution of the litigation.”

The SEC rule was adopted in early March and was to have required publicly-traded companies to inform investors of the climate change-related financial risks of that company’s operations. Those include greenhouse gas emissions, severe weather events, and “other natural conditions” such as rising sea levels.

The SEC says most companies are already providing this information, with 90% of Russell 1000 Index (the top 1,000 stocks traded in the U.S.) already providing information related to climate change and 60% of those on the index issuing data on greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide. 

Following the SEC’s adoption of the new rules, challenges were made at six different federal appellate courts.

On March 21, the federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation combined the litigation into one complaint at the 8th Circuit.

Permit to Make Snow at Big Sky

21 May 2024
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The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) published a draft permit and environmental assessment for a proposed discharge at Spanish Peaks Mountain Club associated with their Snowmaking Project to be located in Madison and Gallatin Counties, near Big Sky.  

Cross Harbor Spanish Peaks Acquisitions (CHSP), LLC, applied to DEQ for a Montana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (MPDES) permit to discharge treated domestic wastewater as artificial snow on ski runs of the Spanish Peaks Mountain Club on Spirit Mountain, Andesite Mountain, and the Spanish Peaks base area. The source of the treated wastewater is the Big Sky County Water and Sewer District wastewater treatment facility.  

The reuse of wastewater provides environmental benefits by reducing the demand for freshwater to create snow. In its review, DEQ considered whether the wastewater reuse would contribute to nutrient pollution in the watershed. Excessive nutrients in streams can lead to algae growth and water quality issues. DEQ is currently studying excessive algae growth in parts of the Gallatin River Watershed. The applicant submitted a multi-year study that analyzed data on nutrients from the proposed snowmaking based on a pilot project. DEQ carefully reviewed this information in preparing the draft permit and proposed stringent nutrient monitoring. 

According to the applicant, snowmaking would occur primarily during the early portion of the ski season, as a base layer. During the season, natural snow would accumulate on top of and mix with the artificial snow. DEQ reviewed the application, and the draft permit proposed limitations to ensure protection of human health and the environment as well as the beneficial uses of identified nearby waterbodies. The wastewater would be treated and disinfected to standards required for wastewater reuse prior to snowmaking.  CHSP would also be required to conduct significant surface water and snowmelt monitoring during the spring snowmelt and runoff season. The monitoring must be conducted, and the results reported to DEQ every year of the permit term.  

DEQ prepared a draft environmental assessment (EA) in compliance with the Montana Environmental Policy Act to analyze potential impacts of the proposal. The agency is now accepting public comment on the draft permit and EA, after which DEQ will review comments and make a final decision on permit issuance. Public comment closes June 6, 2024, and comments can be submitted electronically or by mail.

Labor Force Grows

21 May 2024
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The size of Billings’ labor force grew by 2000 over the first quarter of this year.

For the last quarter the size of Billings’ labor force – those employed and those seeking employment  —  has grown about two percent, and stands at 94,800. The labor force – people actually working — has also been growing over the past quarter … Billings has the largest labor force in the state more than double that of Great Falls and a quarter more than Missoula.

Statewide, the number of employed is about 578,000,

Both of these economic indicators probably reflect the increase in population in Billings but most interesting it says that the people who are coming here aren’t just retired people as has sometimes been claimed. The reality is Billings is growing the size of its labor force and therefore the size of its  economy.

 The only economic sector in Billings that declined slightly, over the past year, in the number employed was “business services.” Education and health services increased the most. Statewide construction is the sector that increased the most at 4.3 percent – and a category called “information” which is information technology and media types of businesses  was the only sector in the state to decline and it declined 6.9 percent.

The unemployment rate for Billings has been hovering right around 3.5 percent, which is extremely low compared to the nation and also compared to the rest of the state.

Another factor reported is that about ten percent of the workers in the US belong to unions and that amounts to about 14.5 million people. Since COVID, wages for non- union jobs have been escalating at a much higher rate than union jobs.

The consumer price index rose The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 12-month price growth accelerated from 3.2% in February to 3.5% in March.

Over the past five years, Americans have seen average prices increase more than 20% overall.

KC Fed: Manufacturing Activity Down, Services Up

21 May 2024
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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
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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
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“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
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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
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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.”