Business Equipment Tax Relief One Vote from Governor’s Desk

Bill would boost exemptions from $300,000 to $1 million

State Director Ronda Wiggers reports from Helena on the small-business agenda for the legislative and political week ending February 24

This is “transmittal week” when all of the general bills must have passed through their originating legislative chamber or they are dead. Friday, February 24, was the last day to introduce general bills.

There was a total of 338 bills introduced since last Friday! All of these, along with any previously introduced bills not yet heard, had to be heard prior to the last day of February and pass floor debate and third reading by next Friday, March 3.

As you might expect, this creates a chaos of long days, short notices for hearings and rapidly changing bills. For those reasons, this update is going to be super short, covering only the items of immediate interest. A full transmittal report will be sent at the end of next week.

HB 212 to increase the exemption on business equipment taxes from $300,000 to $1 million sailed through the Senate this week. One final vote on Monday and it will be headed to the governor’s desk for his signature.

NFIB testified against two bills, HB 506 and HB 719, that proposed changes which could increase the cost of workers’ compensation. Neither bill has been voted on by the committee at this time.

NFIB also assisted in amending HB 490 related to independent contractor’s licensing to remove language that mirrored the ABC test required in California. We continue to work on this bill as it moves forward.

Hearings of Interest this Week

Monday: 7:00 House Judiciary Committee–HB 658, which would generally revise card transaction fees. Language is not currently available for this bill. The sponsor indicated that he wants to make it clearly legal for a business to charge a fee for customers using a credit card unless specifically prohibited in their credit card agreement.

Tuesday: 8:00 House Business & Labor Committee–

— HB 651 would establish the Montana family and medical leave insurance act. This would be an additional cost to Montana small-business owners with no real guarantee of any benefit to employees. The definitions are very broad, making the program likely very expensive.

— HB 652 would revise unemployment insurance law relating to benefit duration. This cuts the maximum unemployment benefit down to 20 weeks rather than the current 28 weeks.

— HB 768 would create the Warehouse Worker Protection Act. This is a bill that appears to be aimed at Amazon but cut down to Montana size.

— HB 628 would phase out use of Styrofoam in food-related products. The bill pretty much does what the title implies.

Workers’ Compensation Legislation

NFIB is working on, or monitoring, the following proposals.

HB 719 would revise workers’ compensation laws relating to designation of treating physician. In 2011, Montana had the highest workers’ compensation rates in the nation. We made changes to the law, one of them being that the insurance company could direct the injured party to the correct type of treatment recommended by the physician and that the injured could not continuously change doctors without approval. The rates have dropped and we are now 15th from the top and very near the median in cost. This bill would repeal that portion of the 2011 law.

HB 678 would generally revise workers’ compensation laws. This proposal covers a number of issues in workers’ compensation. NFIB will be meeting with other employer groups this week to learn how the attorneys feel this proposal would affect rates.

SB 496 would revise workers’ compensation definition of wages related to lodging. This measure is proposing to increase the rate paid annually according to inflation.

This link will take you to the list of bills we are watching. It is an active link that will automatically update as information changes. Once a bill is drafted, you can click on the link to read the text. As the bill moves through the process, you can track its progress and even watch the recordings of the hearings through this page.

Previous Weekly Reports and Related Information