Archive for Business & Labor
Are Corporations People?
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Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations are allowed to make independent expenditures in political campaigns. This ruling struck down decades of laws that said that these companies could not spend from their corporate treasury for electoral actions.
This Supreme Court justified this ruling under the notion that corporations are essentially people.
This ruling was especially damaging in Montana, where we had some of the best laws in the nation regarding corporate influence in elections. Many of our fantastic laws were put in place as a response to the abuses of the Copper Kings.
Because of this ruling, corporations will now be able to spend millions of dollars attempting to defeat candidates that they think don’t have their best interests at heart.
In 2010, we already saw some signs that corporations were opening their coffers, and thus drowning out the voices of average Montanans and Americans seeking to participate in their democracy.
Rep. Ellie Hill (D-Missoula) has introduced a resolution that calls on the U.S. Congress to pass legislation that eliminates corporate person-hood, in order to return our democracy to the actual people. This bill will be heard tomorrow in House Business and Labor Committee.
Standing Up For Workers
Posted by:The Montana House, today voted on its first significant workers’ compensation bill of the session.
Unfortunately, this bill, HB 334, takes a narrow approach to reducing costs of workers’ compensation. The only true means of cost savings this bill attempts to address is benefits paid out to injured workers. The bill almost totally neglects reducing the costs of treatment. If the bill is passed into law Montana would have one of the most restrictive workers’ compensation programs in the nation.
If this bill is signed into law it would put a 5-year cap on benefits for workplace injuries. In response to this, legislators heard a story about a Missoula police officer that was shot in the neck in the line of duty. The police officer obviously suffered intense injuries and was no longer able to go back to work. As a result of the injury, he also requires around the clock care. If this bill were in place when he was injured, this police officer would see his benefits cut, despite the fact that he was no longer able to work.
Rep. Chuck Hunter (D-Helena) has led efforts to ensure that any bill passed that attempts to address workers’ comp in the state takes a comprehensive approach to the problem, and does not burden injured workers. He understands that a solution to our workers’ comp problem in the state must help both employees and business owners. A solution that only tackles a part of the problem will do nothing to improve our economy and keep Montanans working.
Standing up for Consumers
Posted by:Today, a bipartisan majority in the Montana House took steps to protect victims of securities fraud. They approved of setting up a Securities Restitution Fund, which would reimburse the victims of securities crimes for a portion of their loss. Victims would only be eligible for this fund if the perpetrator of the crime was unable to pay.
What makes this bill so great is it costs the state nothing at all. The compensation for the victims of these crimes would come from perpetrators of these similar crimes.
Unfortunately, forty-four Republicans voted against the measure, despite the fact that this bill protects consumers and costs the state no money. If they were successful, victims of these crimes would often be left with no way to reclaim their losses. In the video below, Rep. Krayton Kerns (R-Laurel) explains his vote against this bill.
This bill is a step in the right direction to protecting consumers and securing our economy.
"We believe that the current budget, heading to the Senate Floor next week, unnecessarily pits Montanans against, creating winners and losers” 