On Monday, I caught up with Evelyn Pyburn from the Big Sky Business Journal. She mentioned a bill that would jeopardize independent contractors, which is big business here in Montana, of course.

After she mentioned that bill on the radio, we got a bunch of phone calls from small businessmen and women who work as independent contractors, especially in the construction industry.

"What bill was that?" They asked. So I followed up with Evelyn.

The bill is known as the PRO Act and has been introduced by Congressional Democrats in the past. According to the US Chamber of Commerce:

The legislation, which claims to be pro-worker, would force employees to pay union dues regardless of whether they support a union, threaten private ballots in union elections, and strip workers of their independent contractor classification.

Glenn Spencer, a Senior Vice President with the US Chamber, added:

It's disappointing to see members of Congress reintroduce this harmful piece of legislation. This legislation strips workers of their privacy, threatens private ballots, imposes California's disastrous independent contractor test, jeopardizes employers' right to free speech, and threatens the loss of a job should workers choose not to pay union dues. This bill is a threat to America's workers, employers, and our economy.

 

 

Speaking of unions, a liberal blogger is reporting that Montana Congressman Matt Rosendale told a group of partisan Democrat union members in Butte, Montana to "go cry to Tester" in reference to Democrat Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT).

That would have been a great line, but I checked in with the Congressman's spokesman who tells me that Rep. Rosendale didn't use that line. What he did say was that "you're protesting the wrong guy. You should talk to Jon Tester" who helped kill union jobs by voting against the Keystone Pipeline.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

 

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