90-8-102. Declaration of policy. (1) The legislature finds and declares that:
     (a) economic insecurity due to unemployment is a serious menace to the health, safety, and general welfare of not only the affected people but of the people of the entire state;
     (b) involuntary unemployment, with its resulting burden of indigency, falls with crushing force upon unemployed workers and ultimately on the state itself in the form of public assistance and unemployment compensation payments; and
     (c) unemployment causes a migration of Montana workers and families seeking jobs and establishing homes elsewhere, which deprives the state of its most valuable resource, its people, and reduces the tax base of local governments, impairing their ability to provide basic services.
     (2) (a) The legislature further finds that the best method of combating unemployment and protecting Montana against the loss of its people is by promoting, stimulating, developing, rehabilitating, and revitalizing the business prosperity and economic welfare of the state and its citizens.
     (b) To accomplish this goal, the legislature seeks to encourage the formation of venture and equity capital in Montana for use in diversifying, strengthening, and stabilizing the Montana economy by increasing Montana employment and business opportunities while protecting the people's constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.
     (3) The legislature further finds that:
     (a) private investment of venture and equity capital in the Montana economy will be encouraged and promoted by making tax credits available to taxpayers investing in a Montana capital company or in a Montana small business investment capital company;
     (b) demands on state revenues restrict the financial ability of the state to make unlimited tax credits available for investment purposes and require that the state place reasonable limits on the total amount of tax credits to be made available for investment incentive;
     (c) establishment of a rational tax credit program that gives priority to investments in capital companies in the order in which they are qualified or in a Montana small business investment capital company will encourage prompt private investment in Montana businesses.
     (4) The legislature further finds that use of money from the Montana permanent coal tax trust fund to purchase debentures issued by a capital company or a Montana small business investment capital company will promote the business prosperity and economic welfare of the state and its citizens.

     History: En. Sec. 2, Ch. 554, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 124, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 82, Ch. 83, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 263, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 15, Ch. 589, L. 1991.