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Montana Department of Labor outlines plan to eliminate general fund reliance, expand workforce programs
Summary
Commissioner Sarah Swanson told the Senate Business and Labor Committee the Department of Labor and Industry plans to remove general fund support, expand apprenticeships and youth programs, modernize technology and increase tribal engagement to address worker shortages.
Sarah Swanson, Montana’s commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry, presented a broad overview of the agency’s work and policy priorities to the Senate Business and Labor and Economic Affairs Committee at the panel’s organizational meeting.
Swanson told senators the department is “mission focused on empowering Montanans through work and opportunity” and described a multi-pronged plan that includes technology modernizations, occupational licensing reforms and expanded workforce training. “We deploy approximately $160,000,000 per year of the biennium,” she said, and the agency is “authorized at the Department of Labor for 747 total FTE” while reporting 656 staff on board.
Swanson said the agency’s 2025 budget proposal reduces base spending and would “completely eliminate the agency's use of general fund dollars,” meaning the department would operate without income-tax dollars by using existing state special revenue…
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