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Here is a guest editorial from the Chairman of the Montana Republican Party, Mr. Will Deschamps:

As chairman of the Montana Republican Party, I’ve been working with our legislators to help them deliver the job-creating, budget-cutting, pro-freedom agenda for which Montanans voted. During the first half of the Legislative session, Republicans moved so many bills creating jobs that space in this column won’t allow me to list them all. These are just a few of the most important.

 

This bill will help Montana’s job creators by reducing their costs for workers’ compensation. Employers have given us a very simple, direct message about work comp costs in Montana: “I could hire more people today if my work comp costs went down. This bill does that. It passed the House on February 23.

 

This bill will allow future legislators to estimate a bill’s impact on small businesses. That will help job creators by reducing the burden of unwelcome legislation that holds our businesses back and keeps Montanans in the unemployment line. It has already passed the House.

 

This bill does the same thing, but for regulations rather than legislation. Regulations can be even more harmful to businesses than the law, and studying their impact on business will improve Montana’s economy. This bill already passed the Senate.

 

This bill would make it easier to prospect for coal, creating new economic opportunity for all Montanans. From Brian Schweitzer to Denny Rehberg, people have called Montana the “Saudi Arabia of coal.” This bill will help us unlock that opportunity and turn it into jobs. It’s already passed the Senate.

 

This bill will help Montana’s businesses create jobs in our natural resource industries. It makes it easier for common sense development projects to get through the environmental permitting process. It passed the Senate on February 23.

 

This is another really big one, reducing the tax on business equipment owned by Montana job creators, leaving them more money to hire workers. It’s coming up for a floor vote after the transmittal break.

 

This bill eases the permit process for small-time mining operations. That will allow Montana’s natural resource industries to put more people to work. It passed the Senate.

 

This bill creates jobs by revising energy efficiency building codes. It reduces costs to the homebuilding industry, so the construction industry has more money available to hire people. The bill already passed the Senate.

 

This bill creates jobs by making it easier for businesses to hire temporary workers without having to worry that they’ll be charged for unemployment insurance even though the job was always supposed to be temporary. The Senate voted on it on February 23.

 

This bill helps Montana’s housing development industry create more homes, and more jobs building those homes, by protecting them from interference from bureaucrats. It passed the House.

 

This bill reforms malpractice lawsuits. That leads to lower costs for Montana’s health care industry, which leads to lower costs for us and more ability for health care businesses to add workers. The House passed it.

 

We’ve got half the session in front of us yet, and we’ll be using it to pass even more job-creating legislation.

Last fall, the people of Montana sent a loud and clear message: they want government to get out of the way so our businesses can create jobs and our people can live free. That’s exactly what your Republican legislators are working on.

Will Deschamps of Missoula is the chairman of the Montana Republican Party. He’s a small businessman, a lifelong Montanan, and a retired Marine.