Montana Demos unveil ecomomic plan

HELENA — Montana Democratic Party leaders Monday presented a broad outline to boost the state’s economy, proposing more focus on worker training, affordable health care and long-term planning.

The party said it’s calling on all Montanans to work together toward policies that encourage things like accessible health care, low-cost energy, a high-quality education system and better-paying jobs.

By MIKE DENNISON
Tribune Capitol Bureau

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040127/localnews/300284.html

"I have watched communities in eastern Montana dry up," said Senate Democratic Leader Jon Tester, a farmer from Big Sandy. "We’ve got to take the state in a different direction. There’s a lot of room for improvement."

Tester cited polls released in the past month showing most Montanans believe the state and state government are not going in the right direction.

Although Democratic leaders released a long list of general goals and proposals Monday, they didn’t say much about how to pay for those plans.

Major parts of the plan also resemble initiatives supported by Republican Gov. Judy Martz and her Office of Economic Opportunity, which developed an economic-development plan for the state in 2001 and 2002.

David Gibson, who heads up the office, said Monday that Democrats and Republicans alike provided good support during the 2003 Legislature for initiatives like worker training and boosting local economic-development groups.

"There is lots more work to be done," he said. "If (Democrats) have picked the same things we’ve had on the table and want to keep working hard on it, I think that’s great."

When asked how the Democrats’ plans differed from those proposed by the governor or others, Tester said Democrats want to focus more on the long term and involve the public in formation of the plans.

The plan was unveiled on the first day that candidates can file for office in Montana, but Democrats didn’t talk much about the 2004 election or take shots at Republicans, who since 1995 have controlled both houses of the Montana Legislature and the governor’s office.

Instead, they said it’s important for all parties to work together to boost the state’s sluggish economy.

Highlights of the plan include:

* Expand and coordinate worker education, to provide skilled labor that’s needed by businesses in Montana.

* Make it easier for small businesses to provide health insurance for workers, preferably with a tax credit.

* Work harder to develop natural resources, such as "clean coal" technology, biofuel, small power plants, timber harvesting and agriculture.

* Support more efforts to create "venture" capital or other capital that can finance business expansion.

Tester said one possible way to finance these efforts might be leveraging the permanent coal tax trust, without dipping into it.

The Legislature could create a "trust within the trust" to provide long-term funds for economic projects, he said. The $700 million trust already has several smaller trusts within the trust, earning income that funds various programs.

Rep. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, also noted that Martz’s economic plan has no specific programs to help Montana’s Indian reservations and tribes, which are facing higher poverty rates than the rest of the state.

"The Democrats are willing to recognize tribal needs," she said.

Juneau also said there needs to be more support for the state-tribal economic development commission, which has existed for two years but hasn’t done much.

Gibson agreed that the Martz plan doesn’t have a section tailored toward Indian needs. The administration felt that each of Montana’s eight tribes is unique, and that one plan for all tribes wouldn’t work, he said.

Instead, the administration hoped the tribes could find ways to work with whatever element of the plan they felt was appropriate, Gibson said.

"It’s a fair criticism," he said. "If someone has a way to bring them all together in one comprehensive strategy, I’m all for it."