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for Mark R. Taylor |
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Taxation & Fee Issues 1. Franchise Taxes - Mr. Taylor successfully represented his clients in opposing a franchise tax legislation designed to unfairly tax large corporations who desire to do business in Montana. 2. Property Taxes - Successfully represented commercial and industrial clients on proposals to reduce unfair property tax burdens (see in particular work performed reducing the business equipment tax). 3. Beer Taxes - BKBH has represented Anheuser-Busch in the Montana Legislature since 1983, where Mr. Taylor and Mr. Browning have successfully opposed all legislative efforts to increase beer taxes. Mr. Taylor has been the principal lobbyist for Anheuser-Busch since 1999. 4. Bed Taxes - Successfully lobbied the enactment of a “hospital utilization fee” to be deposited in a special revenue account and use to boost payments to hospitals using federal matching dollars. Mr. Taylor also assisted in increasing the bed tax for nursing home facilities for the same purposes. 5. Driver License Fees - Successfully enacted an increase in driver’s license fees for renewals from $4 to $5 per year and for duplicates from $5 to $10 in order to fund the State’s obligation to the Highway Patrol Officers’ Retirement System. 6. Tax Credits - Successfully enacted legislation which allows health care professions working in certain areas of Montana to exempt up to $5,000 a year in student loan repayments made on their behalf by a health care facility from their taxable income. Successfully enacted legislation which allows contractors to claim a tax credit if they crush glass to be used for recycling purposes. Successfully restored the charitable endowment tax credit for planned gifts. Health Care 1. Critical Access Hospitals - Successfully enacted legislation which brought Montana’s hospital licensure laws into compliance with the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997. 2. Surgery Centers - Successfully enacted legislation which capped the length-of-recover time at ambulatory surgery centers at less than 24 hours. 3. Peer Review - Successfully revised state statutes to ensure that peer review activities are protected by confidentiality. 4. Nurse Licensure - Successfully enacted legislation authorizing the Board of Nursing to grant temporary licenses to Canadian RNs while applications for permanent licensure is being considered. 5. WWAMI Program - Successfully avoided attempts to eliminate state spending for the WWAMI program, which subsidizes education costs for medical students from Montana. 6. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) Supervision - Successfully opposed efforts to require supervision of CRNAs versus practicing independently and collaboratively. Tort Reform 1. Punitive Damages - Successfully enacted legislation placing a punitive damages cap of $10 million or 3% of a defendant’s net worth, whichever is lesser. 2. Sunshine in Litigation Act - On behalf of hospitals and other corporate clients, successfully opposed efforts to enact legislation which would have disclosed settlement agreements and other court documents. 3. Medical Malpractice - Successfully enacted a resolution to study the dramatic increases in medical liability insurance costs and to recommend legislative measures to address the problem. 4. Physician Liens - Successfully revised Montana law to prohibit attorneys from using the “common fund” theory to collect a portion of their attorney fees from the medical provider’s share of a settlement. State Employee & Retirement Issues 1. Retirement Age - Successfully enacted legislation which allowed highway patrol officers to retire after 20 years of service regardless of age. Mr. Taylor also successfully enacted legislation which reduced the retirement age for district court judges. 2. Guaranteed Annual Benefit Adjustment (GABA) - Mr. Taylor was involved in a coalition which (1) increased the GABA from 1.5 to 3.0 percent; (2) reduced the GABA waiting period from 3 years to 1 year; and (3) amended the GABA to allow a person who retired from one Title 19 system to receive their GABA benefit while they continue to work. 3. Voluntary Employee Benefit Accounts (VEBA) - Successfully enacted legislation which allows state employees to transfer unused sick leave to individual health care accounts without any tax ramifications. Insurance Lobbying 1. Exemption for High Risk Drivers - Successfully lobbied enactment of a law to allow low risk drivers to exclude from their policies high risk drivers from their families who would not be allowed to drive the insured's automobile. 2. Prompt Pay - Successfully amended state law to require insurance companies to pay health claims within 30 days. 3. Reciprocal Insurers - Successfully lobbied changes to allow eight or more employers with a total of more than 500 employees to organize a domestic reciprocal insurer to provide workers’ compensation insurance. Lobbying on Drug and Alcohol Issues 1. Driving Under the Influence (DUI) - Lobbied to preserve sensible DUI testing standards and procedures. In 1999, Mr. Taylor successfully lobbied the enactment of a law requiring the use of alcohol ignition interlock devices in Montana for second or subsequent DUI offenders. 2. Advertising Bans - Successfully lobbied against all efforts to restrict alcohol advertising in Montana by billboards or other signage. Lobbying on Environmental Issues 1. Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) - Successfully lobbied changes to MEPA by defining project costs for EIS determination purposes and by requiring that MEPA be viewed and implemented procedurally versus substantive in nature. 2. Recycling - Successfully opposed efforts to enact a “bottle bill” which would have required purchasers of bottles and cans to pay a deposit. |