Zinke prepares draft bills

Lowering worker’s compensation costs, funding education and loosening restrictions on Montana breweries are a few of the proposals Ryan Zinke is taking to Helena in 2011.

The legislative session convenes in Helena Jan. 3, 2011.

“My focus for this legislative session is worker’s compensation,” said Ryan Zinke, the Republican state senator from Senate District 2. “We have to address the fundamentals of business in Montana and dead center of those fundamentals is worker’s compensation. It’s not sexy, it doesn’t hit headlines, but worker’s compensation rates are so high businesses don’t hire people, especially small businesses because they can’t pay worker’s comp.”

Montana has the highest worker’s compensation rates in the nation. And as Zinke pointed out, the benefits of payouts are among the lowest.

Zinke also wants to see the equipment tax reduced or repealed, but not without another method of funding in place.

“Some communities, like Columbia Falls, a large percentage of their funding comes from the equipment tax,” Zinke said. “If you eliminate the equipment tax without backfill, it will inadvertently shift the burden to homeowners. I don’t like the business tax as a form of revenue. It inhibits investment. I want to help small business owners that are struggling.

“I think the tenure of the senate this time should be focused on creating opportunities for jobs using our natural resources responsibly. We need to streamline excess regulations on small business so that businesses can focus on business instead of filling out paperwork.”

ZINKE WANTS TO help the quintessential small Montana business, the brewery.

“My Made in Montana Brewery Act promotes small breweries to produce local and regional beer and export,” he said.

The senator wants to help small breweries overcome regulations against them during this legislative term. He said he supports breweries seeking an operating hours change. Currently, Montana breweries are only allowed to be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Breweries would like to see the hours changed to noon to 10 p.m. Zinke also wants the Montana government to stop regulating the types of vessels beer can be served in at breweries. State law currently prohibits breweries from using pitchers to serve beer. Breweries are subject to excise taxes by volume as well and cannot host gambling.

“The rules for a brewery are different from a tavern, as it should be, but the regulations have to be reasonable,” Zinke said. “I want to help breweries make world-class beer in Montana.”

WHEN IT COMES to education, Zinke would like to see cooperation between school districts to save money.

“I have a school district cooperative and efficiency act,” he said. “It empowers districts to form cooperatives and to cost share. It provides greater flexibility among accounts so districts can manage better without Office of Public Instruction constraints.”

Zinke recalled that as a former Navy SEAL commander, he also advocated for putting more resources on the front line. He takes the same approach with education. Zinke argues that too many of education dollars are going toward supporting bureaucracy in Helena.

“We need to put more money in the classroom rather than in Helena, so people close to education can make the right decisions,” he said. “Teachers and district administrators have a better idea of where the money needs to be spent.”

Zinke is apprehensive of Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s budget. The governor claims that his budget will give more money to schools, but Zinke contested that claim in the Dec. 8 edition of the Hungry Horse News.

“It’s a high risk budget,” Zinke said. “We still spend more than we take in. It places too much risk on K-12 education.”

The governor has proposed using oil and gas revenues to further fund education and Zinke feels this is a dubious prospect.

“It sounds like a good idea to pull oil (revenue) away from the east,” he said. “But many of these oil communities have significant infrastructure burdens. The issue is more complicated, it’s more than a sound bite than it is practical.

“If you want to have jobs in the future, you have to have education. Education and jobs are intrinsically linked. We’ve got to put more money in the classroom.”

Zinke wants to see Montana’s many resources developed to help fund education in the future.

“We have to look at using our resources better,” he said. “We need to develop coal, petroleum, our wind, our high tech. We need to leverage our lifestyle and recreation. The future of the West is recreation, lifestyle and high tech versus traditional extraction. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t push for the timber industry, but it can’t carry the burden like it once did.”

DURING THIS session, Zinke also plans to make corrections to antiquated bills, such as exempting property owners from being sued for allowing recreation on their properties. He wants to prioritize the budget and balance it well.

“I don’t think this election was a mandate for the right,” Zinke said. “This election was about solving the problems facing our state. We have to find common ground. These problems are too big for Republicans and Democrats to solve on their own. We need to put Montana first. When I look at a problem, I prioritize the problem according to resources available. I’m an optimist. What man can break, man can fix. We’ll do what’s right for Montana, for the families. We’ll make sure we do right by them.”