Montana State Fund (MSF) announced a $35M dividend declaration to more than 24,000 policyholders across Montana. MSF is the state’s not-for-profit and leading workers’ compensation insurance company. It insures approximately 24,000 employers and their workers in approximately 400 industries from every Montana county.

This is the 25th consecutive year MSF has declared a dividend, totaling $431 million distributed to its customers.

Dividends are not guaranteed. If financial circumstances warrant, the MSF Board of Directors may opt to declare a smaller dividend, or no dividend at all. Dividend payments will begin in late October and are expected to be complete by the end of November.

At Hoven Equipment Company,c Governor Greg Gianforte and Representative Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, celebrated recent reforms to the business equipment tax which permanently eliminate the tax for more than 5,000 small businesses, farms, and ranches.

“Taxing critical business equipment makes it harder to grow a small business and is a wet blanket on job creation,” Gov. Gianforte said. “With hardworking Montanans in mind, we prioritized and secured historic business equipment tax relief, eliminating this tax burden for more than 5,000 Montana small businesses.”

Gov. Gianforte praised Rep. Kassmier, the sponsor of the new law, saying, “I appreciate Rep. Kassmier for championing these reforms so small business owners can grow their operations and create more good-paying Montana jobs.”

Proposed by the governor in his Budget for Montana Families and signed into law in March 2023, Rep. Kassmier’s House Bill 212 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.

“Montana small businesses, farms, and ranches have been burdened by the business equipment tax for too long,” Rep. Kassmier said. “By raising the business equipment tax exemption to $1 million, small businesses across Montana will be able to save money, invest in their businesses, and be more competitive. I thank Gov. Gianforte for making meaningful tax relief a top priority.”

In 2021, the governor worked with Rep. Kassmier to increase the business equipment tax exemption from $100,000 to $300,000.

Taken together, these reforms eliminate the business equipment tax burden for more than 5,000 small businesses, farms, and ranches.

Montana’s business equipment tax requires businesses, including family farms and ranches, to reallocate resources they would otherwise invest in their operation and create jobs with to pay a tax on the equipment and machinery they need to operate.

The business equipment tax also imposes a costly compliance burden, with businesses required to inventory and report their equipment to the state each year.

Reducing the burden of the business equipment tax on Montanans, Rep. Kassmier’s new law encourages business investment and promotes job creation.

During the press conference, small business owners and agricultural producers praised the recent reforms.

Klayton Lohr, treasurer for the Montana Grain Growers Association, said, “I’m a small farmer southeast of Shelby, and this business equipment tax being raised to a million dollars in exemption is huge for me – being a small operator, that will encompass most of my equipment.”

Praising the governor and Rep. Kassmier, Cyndi Johnson, state president of Montana Farm Bureau Federation, added, “We really appreciate all of your work on behalf of Montana farmers and ranchers. This effort of yours to lower business equipment tax is right in line with the Montana Farm Bureau policy down the line.”

Finally, Brian Hoven, owner of Hoven Equipment Company, said, “It takes investment to create jobs, and that’s what the governor’s done. He’s put more money in the pockets of job creators that have the opportunity to create jobs.”

With locations in Lewistown and Great Falls, Hoven Equipment carries new and used farm and construction equipment.

By Casey Harper, The Center Square

A new U.S. Department of Labor regulatory effort could impact retirement plans by requiring them to monitor whether plan members access electronic communications, a cost that may be passed on to consumers.

Chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., sent a letter to the Employee Benefits Security Administration raising concerns about the federal agency’s Request for Information, a document suggesting the agency will add more regulatory burden onto retirement accounts.

More regulations could mean more fees and higher costs for some Americans with retirement plans.

“The RFI includes several questions targeting the paper statement requirement enacted in section 338 of SECURE 2.0,” said the letter to EBSA Assistant Secretary Lisa Gomez. “These RFI questions contemplate amendments to DOL regulations well beyond the provisions of section 338. Congress’ directives to the Secretary of Labor in section 338 are clear, specific, and intentionally limited. This letter is intended to remind DOL of its obligation to comply with the statutory provisions of section 338, as limited by Congress.”

The rule in question came after Congress passed SECURE 2.0 last year, a bill that made several legal changes to encourage employers and employees to build retirement accounts.

Foxx said the federal government’s interpretation of that law, though, may go too far, adding unnecessary regulatory burdens.

“RFI Question 21 contemplates additional, and very significant, regulatory requirements not authorized by Congress,” the letter said. “Question 21 asks, ‘should [DOL’s electronic delivery guidance] be modified such that their continued use by plans is conditioned on access in fact?’ To require a plan administrator to monitor electronic access is as ridiculous as requiring a plan administrator to confirm that a participant opens and reads paper mail.

Montana ranks #7 in the nation for interest in homeschooling (1.58 per 100,000 residents), according to Age of Learning. Montana residents 327% more likely to search for homeschool info than Nebraska residents.

New Education Bills Would Block CRT, Back Parents

By Casey Harper, The Center Square

A new trio of House education bills would push back on Critical Race Theory and federal rules in local public schools, the latest in an ongoing battle led by Republicans to respond to curriculum and policy changes in education.

U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., introduced the three new education bills, including the Defending Students’ Civil Rights Act, which codifies that teaching CRT is illegal discrimination; as well as the Empowering Parents Act, which allows parents to hold schools accountable if those schools embrace more progressive racial or gender ideology in the classroom.

Good also introduced the Empowering Local Curriculum Act, which says schools receiving federal dollars cannot be forced to include CRT in their curriculum.

“These three bills would combat federal encroachment in curriculum, protect students from the harmful ideology of Critical Race Theory, and defend parents’ God-given right to educate their children,” Good’s office said.

CRT is an increasingly controversial set of ideas based on the idea that the U.S. is an inherently racist country and always has been and that the U.S. and its institutions can largely be viewed through that lens.

“Parents know what is best for their students and have primary responsibility for their children’s education,” Good said. “Local school boards should represent the will of the parents, not teachers unions, the Biden Administration or DC bureaucrats. I am fighting back against the Biden Administration’s overreach into the classroom with my back-to-school agenda that empowers parents, protects students from racist curriculum, and permits children to focus on their academic pursuits.”

The bills come amid a nationwide debate over the role of parents in their kids’ education. Parents have begun organizing and protesting at school boards, raising concerns about school curriculum and sexualized books in school libraries.

Those parents have often been brushed aside in recent years, sometimes caught on camera in videos that went viral and fueled the “parental rights” movement.

Democrats have pushed back, saying teachers know best what curriculum is needed and that the effort to ban books that Republicans say are age-inappropriate is a form of censorship.

In recent years, equity and CRT ideology in education has become increasingly common with billions of taxpayer dollars behind it.

House Republicans launched an inquiry last year after reports showed that federal funding passed for COVID-related student learning loss was spent to promote “equity warriors,” critical race theory teachings and more at local schools.

The Center Square previously reported on similar funding at the collegiate level. Federal grant documents show that the U.S. Department of Education awarded millions of dollars to a Florida-based education program that trains future educators and other professionals in CRT.

Another similar program, “The Research Institute for Scholars of Equity,” received millions of taxpayer dollars for training college students in critical race theory at several higher educational institutions.

Good is not the only lawmaker raising concerns about progressive ideology in schools and introducing legislation.

U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., in July reintroduced the Protect Equality and Civics Education (PEACE) Act, a bill that would prevent tax dollars from promoting CRT within the Department of Education’s American history guidelines, which have increasingly incorporated those ideas.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has also introduced the Combating Racist Training in the Military Act as well as the Stop Critical Race Theory Act.

Good’s legislative effort has received support from several family and education groups.

“The Empowering Local Curriculum Act will end funding for schools promoting divisive ideologies like Critical Race theory that separate students into opposing categories of victims vs oppressors simply based on the color of their skin,” Terry Schilling, president of American Principles Project, said in a statement. “The Defending Students’ Civil Rights Act clarifies that position further by outlining how such a practice violates these children’s Civil Rights, an offense actionable by law. And finally, the Empowering Parents Act ensures that these children, their rights, and their innocence are being protected, not by a distant bureaucracy that can be bought out by well-funded organizations, but by those who have their best interests at heart: their parents.”

Matt Buckham, executive director for Institute for Educational Reform, backed the bills as well, calling out a recurring point of criticism: politicization of schools.

“Government teacher unions push the toxic political agenda of the Democratic party along with their radical lies through Critical Race Theory and woke ideology,” Buckman said in a statement.

Montana roads are getting safer, according to Quote Wizard. Their analysts found that traffic fatalities have decreased by 14 percent in Montana over the past year – that’s the 3rd biggest decrease nationwide.

Key findings for Montana:

* 206 people were killed on roadways in 2022

* Smaller city roads had an 8% decrease in traffic fatalities nationwide

* Nationally, Connecticut and New Hampshire had the largest increases in traffic fatalities while Idaho and Rhode Island had the biggest decreases

By Chris Woodward, The Center Square

Montana sold 52 million board feet of timber from State Trust Land in fiscal year 2023, state agencies announced this week.

Those sales resulted in $8 million in revenue, according to the governor’s office and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. In Montana, revenue from agriculture, grazing and recreation on State Trust Land is allocated to public schools and other public education.

Gov. Greg Gianforte said in a statement that state goals for timber production means “reduced wildfire risk, improved forest health, and greater predictability and certainty for the wood products industry” in Montana.

?DNRC?s commitment to responsible forest management has led to exceptional outcomes,?ÿForest Management Bureau Chief Dan Rogersÿsaid. ?Montana?s State Trust Land serves as a vital source for regional forest products, and we’re proud to provide a steady supply of timber while supporting local economies.?

Montana reported 51 million board feet of timber in fiscal year 2022, 64.1 million in 2021, and 45.5 million in 2020.ÿ

“In Montana, schools and other public institutions are funded in part by revenue generated from certain state-owned lands ? those state lands are Trust Land,” the state’s website says. “Montana state trust lands are working lands. These lands are held in trust for the perpetual yield of revenues to support Montana?s public education institutions.”

By Lauren Jessop, The Center Square

The federal government’s electrified vision for the nation’s transportation sector needs a modernized power grid to support it – and experts say they need it now.

More concerning still, they say, upgrades aren’t on track to meet the Biden administration’s 2035 target for an electric vehicle takeover.

That’s because shoring up grid capacity, moderating the variability of renewable energy, and appeasing duplicative government regulations complicate the process, creating doubts about whether these goals are attainable at the scope and pace being set. 

Robert Charette – a longtime systems engineer, contributing editor for IEEE Spectrum, and author of “The EV Transition Explained” – said simultaneously transforming the transportation and energy sectors “will involve a huge number of known and unknown variables, which will subtly interact in complex, unpredictable ways … and each proposed solution will probably create new difficulties.”

Lehigh Valley engineer James M. Daley, PE, a member of the IEEE Standards Association – with decades-long experience developing criteria addressing the interconnection of new energy technologies to the electric grid – told The Center Square that “variable renewable energy already has an impact on the resiliency of the national grid.”

“The introduction of EVs will only serve to exacerbate the issue,” he said.

It’s important, he said, to differentiate between renewable energy, or RE, and variable renewable energy, or VRE. For example, geothermal, nuclear, and hydroelectric are considered RE, whereas wind and solar are VRE. 

The distinction between the two is made because wind and solar power are contingent on weather and atmospheric conditions, while other sources are constant sources of energy.

A dramatic demonstration of that system vulnerability, Daley said, occurred in Texas in 2021, when a winter storm severely impacted their wind turbines. The blades iced up, ceased to produce energy, and grid operators brought on their natural gas-fired turbine generators. With high demand for residential and commercial heating, the remaining supply was insufficient to make up for the loss of wind power – resulting in outages affecting millions of customers for days. 

The Texas Department of State Health Services later confirmed 246 people died during the deep freeze, close to two-thirds of which succumbed to hypothermia.

Daley analyzed solar insolation data from 14 national weather stations from Maine to Florida, finding southern states have a 25% difference – a significant advantage – in harvesting solar energy. This should be kept in focus when deciding what form of renewable energy is to be harvested, he said.

Daley is one of an increasing number of people adding solar panels to their homes. He harvested almost 47% more energy than he used, but his utility company still had to provide 63.3% of his electricity. 

“You harvest energy during the day when the sun is out, but you use energy 24 hours a day – so on rainy days and in the evening, your energy comes from the utility company,” he said.

Typically, energy harvested from renewable sources is used immediately, and not stored, so any excess is sent to the grid where it can be distributed to others. The utility company applies credits to your bill for that energy.

Swiftwater Solar, an 80MW facility awaiting approval in Monroe County, will encompass 476 acres and is estimated to provide power to approximately 14,000 homes. Daley says that’s a lot of virgin forest to lose. 

There are debates over whether solar panels reduce carbon dioxide emissions more per acre than trees, and on other tradeoffs such as area aesthetics and loss of wildlife habitat. Offshore wind projects have also created controversy over their potential effects on marine life. 

Daley said currently, the largest source of non-polluting energy is nuclear power. 

Energy generation technologies are rated for their capacity – a measure of reliability, or how often a plant is running at maximum power. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, in 2021, nuclear plants were the highest rated at more than 92.7%. 

Geothermal received a 71% rating; natural gas 54%; coal 49.3%; hydropower 37.1%; wind 34.6%; and solar 24.6%.

Creating energy is one issue, but the bigger problem is transferring it to the grid because transmission infrastructure needs a massive upgrade. 

The DOE says that to meet growing clean electricity demands, transmission systems need a 60% expansion by 2030, and possibly tripled by 2050. 

The department admits “building transmission is difficult, time-consuming, and hard to get over the finish line.” As a result, the large amount of potential clean power capacity is gridlocked due to wait times and costs of connecting to the transmission grid. 

Alleviating the issue, they say, will require a collaborative, holistic approach, engaging other federal agencies, state and local governments, American Indian and Alaska Native tribal nations, industry, unions, local communities, environmental justice organizations, and other stakeholders. It will also require changes to transmission planning and generator interconnection processes.

Charette says any hope of having a carbon-free electricity grid by 2035 involves adding tens of thousands of miles of new transmission lines to the more than 600,000 circuit miles of existing alternating current (AC) transmission lines. 

He cites a report showing that from 2010 to 2020, only 18,000 miles of new transmission lines were added to the grid, with only 386 added in 2021. Currently, there are only 5,000 miles on track for delivery between now and 2025. 

Further, Charette adds, the local electricity distribution network needs to be upgraded as well, with new substations being built and tens of thousands of line transformers in need of replacement.

The proximate causes for the slow progress, he says, are numerous competing federal and state regulations that must be followed, as well as possible landowner objections. As a result, new projects can take a decade or more to complete, and often double or triple in cost – if they get built at all. 

Daley said these challenges mean a 100% renewable energy future “will never happen.”