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INDUSTRY PROFILE
Montana Chamber of Commerce: Working Hard for Montana Businesses
By Courtney Oppel
When the Montana Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1931, US unemployment had doubled to over 16 percent from the previous year as the Great Depression tightened its grip, drought and dust storms began to wreak havoc across the Midwest and Great Plains, and in Montana, income from the state’s largest industry, agriculture, dropped by 34 percent, while mining income dropped by 37 percent. We recognized then, as we do now, the need for an organization dedicated to advocating for Montana businesses to promote economic growth and prosperity for all Montanans.
WHO WE ARE
Our team of professionals at the Montana Chamber work hard for you to create networking opportunities, advocate for legislative and legal reforms that benefit— not hurt—your business, help develop a reliable workforce, and promote infrastructure improvements that make Montana a safer and more attractive place to do business. We bring together almost 800 member companies, representing every size, industry, and region in the Big Sky State. Our Board of Directors— which is comprised of business leaders that serve three-year terms—reflects the diversity of our membership and acts as the compass of the Montana Chamber of Commerce.
HOW WE SERVE YOU
Advocacy is one of the most vital services we provide to our members. Given the size and diversity of our membership, when the Montana Chamber speaks, business and government leaders listen. We actively follow the issues that have the potential to impact your business, and advocate on your behalf in Helena and with our state representatives in Congress. During each legislative session, we provide weekly “Capitol Connection” videos to show you what we’ve been working on in our state capitol. At the end of each legislative session, we publish our Voting Review: a comprehensive analysis of business and economic issues addressed during that session. Leading up to elections, we educate you on the candidates and issues. And through our involvement with the Montana Justice Coalition, we keep you apprised of court decisions that impact Montana’s business climate.
We also make it our priority to help members get plugged into the business community through multiple networking opportunities throughout the year. Whether you have a mom-and-pop shop and need mentorship, a quickly growing enterprise and need to reach more customers, or a multinational corporation looking for new growth opportunities, our targeted networking events provide educational opportunities and enable you to connect with your peers while growing your network. Check out our website at www.montanachamber.com or contact us for more information on these events, which include the Governors’ Cup Golf Tournament, Business Days at the Capitol, Manufacturing and International Trade Day, and our Annual Membership Meeting.
Our members additionally rely on us as a resource for tools to assist you with running and growing your business. In addition to educational events and publications like Eye on Business, we give you access to information about the state of our economy and where it’s headed—so you can make smart business decisions— on an ongoing basis through press releases and various video updates on our website. Additional membership benefits include access to discounts on goods and services traditionally available only to larger employers, such as a retirement plan, office supply discounts, and Electronic Certificates of Origin discounts (through a streamlined, online process).
MONTANA CHAMBER FOUNDATION
The Montana Chamber Foundation (MCF) plays a crucial role in identifying and supporting the Montana Chamber’s programs and initiatives. Established by the Montana Chamber, the MCF provides an important structure for us to fund business education and encourage entrepreneurship among K–12 and undergraduate students, participate in research projects, host events that promote economic development opportunities, and administer funds that support workforce development and entrepreneurship programs in the Big Sky State.
In 2017, for example, the MCF brought to Montana Youth Entrepreneurs, a nationally recognized program that develops employability traits and instills economic and entrepreneurial principles in our future workforce. Youth Entrepreneurs helps students develop the soft skills—such as creativity, focus mastery, and a growth mindset—that Montana businesses have told us they’re looking for in potential employees. In Montana, this program has grown from 4 schools in 6 communities to 41 schools in 36 communities.
The MCF also serves an essential function by funding initiatives associated with the Montana Chamber’s current long-range plan for realizing our mission and vision: Envision 2026.
PILLAR #1 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
BUSINESS CLIMATE
REDUCE THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS IN MONTANA
In our 2019 Workforce Development Survey, 39% of respondents turned down business opportunities due to lack of workforce. Therefore, the Montana Chamber continues to promote and support strategies to provide a qualified workforce. During the 2021 legislative session, we are focusing our efforts to pass bills that continue funding proven career and technical education (CTE) programming, utilize the school funding formula and startup funds to incentivize CTE, create alternative accreditation pathways for teachers, and clarify liability for businesses participating in workbased learning.
To improve the business climate, the Montana Chamber recognized a need to reduce the cost of doing business in the Big Sky State. Through proactive legislative advocacy, we’ve realized several “wins” toward achieving this goal. In 2017, the state legislature passed a bill that lowered the interest rate on mistakes in business income tax filings from 12% to prime rate plus 3. In 2019, the state legislature passed a bill that eliminated tax on pollution-control equipment for manufacturers. Also in 2019, a bill passed that increased the time period a business can carry forward business losses to offset taxes from 7 years to 10 years. And just recently, during the 2021 Montana legislative session, a bill that protects businesses from frivolous lawsuits related to COVID-19 liability became law.
PILLAR #2
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ENVISION 2026
In 2015, our Board of Directors recognized the need to develop a long-term plan to identify and address the priorities of the Montana business community. We invested in consultants with expertise in creating strategic plans for organizations like the Montana Chamber to meet with leaders in the Montana business community. After more than a year of face-to-face meetings with business leaders across the state and across the spectrum of business sectors, the Chamber Board voted to create the first strategic plan, known as Envision 2026.
Envision 2026 is the Montana Chamber’s ten-year plan for creating opportunities— and removing obstacles—for your business to grow and prosper by improving Montana’s talent pipeline, business climate, entrepreneurship, and quality of life through workforce development, regulatory and legal reform, and infrastructure investment.
The Board set a decade-long timeline because it realized that advancing Montana’s economy measurably in terms of gross state product, per capita income, and job growth would require time. As a result of the feedback received from the business community, the Board identified four main areas of concern that needed to be proactively addressed. Those four areas became the “pillars” upon which all Envision 2026 initiatives are built: 1. Workforce Development, 2. Business Climate, 3. Entrepreneurship, and 4. Infrastructure.
As our President and CEO, Todd O’Hair, said, “Envision 2026 is driving Montana forward!” All of these successes are directly linked to the clear focus Envision 2026 provides, and they would not be possible without the support of the Montana Chamber’s dedicated Board, staff and members, and the Montana Chamber Foundation. When you invest in membership with the Montana Chamber and help support our foundation, you can rest assured that we will continue to work hard for you, to create a bright future for Montana’s business community. stop
TODD O’HAIR, MONTANA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, PRESIDENT & CEO
PILLAR #3 ENTREPRENEURSHIP MAINTAIN STATUS AS NATIONAL LEADER IN NEW BUSINESS ATTRACTION
PROMOTE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT TO SUPPORT COMMERCE
Despite Montana’s status as a national leader in start-up businesses, it lacked a plan for fostering entrepreneurial development and for maintaining its top ranking in this area. The Montana Chamber Foundation’s success with bringing the Youth Entrepreneurs program to Montana has recognized the value of fostering entrepreneurship among Montana’s youth. The MCF also launched The Prospects, a virtual statewide entrepreneurship competition for high school students with new ideas and existing small businesses. On the legislative front, during the 2021 state session we are actively lobbying in support of the governor’s Montana Entrepreneur Magnet Act, which gives a tax incentive to businesses to bring their business to Montana.
Promoting infrastructure development is key in our efforts to support business. In 2016, our Democratic governor and Republican legislature were at a four-year impasse on bonding for infrastructure investment, and the state gas tax had remained unchanged since 1994, leaving millions of matching federal dollars untapped. In 2017, we successfully led the effort to pass a graduated .06 increase in gas tax to leverage $59 million in new federal matching dollars in 2019 alone. This increase provided funding for 740 local bridge and road projects. In 2019, our efforts paid off again as the Montana legislature passed a $79.9 million infrastructure package, utilizing historically low bond interest rates. As a result, nearly 100 construction projects across the state, including water, wastewater and bridge repairs, began that spring. For the 2021 legislative session, we’re supporting a bill that incentivizes investment in broadband by providing a moratorium on property taxes.
PILLAR #4 INFRASTRUCTURE
Courtney Oppel is freelance writer and editor whose clients include Bangtail Press, Pearson Education, and Rowman & Littlefield. She earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Montana-Missoula longer ago than she’d like to admit, and lives with her husband, son, daughter, and four-footed hiking partner, Lucy, in beautiful Helena, Montana.
