Box Store Mayhem
by: Rep. Dave McAlpin
The advance of big-box stores in Montana has been an ongoing process watched with great interest by elected officials, community groups and citizens across the state. Numerous studies have outlined the overwhelming costs of this development to our communities in tax subsidies, infrastructure improvements, protective services, diminishing property values and the loss of a stable tax base.
Most disturbingly, we are witnessing the closing of scores of locally
owned small businesses as a result of the monopolistic tendencies of corporations like Wal-Mart. These stores come in to our communities, sell us imported products–70% of which are made in China–and then export their profits out of Montana. This process serves to choke the life out of family-owned Main Street businesses which do not operate on a level playing field with large corporations that receive millions of dollars in subsidies, avoid paying the state taxes you and I are subject to and then fail to pay for health care and decent wages.
I strongly believe that it is time for a serious discussion about how big-box development can best benefit Montana. I had hoped to have this exact discussion recently in the House Business and Labor Committee. For these reasons, I introduced HB 652, legislation encouraging Community Benefits Agreements between “Big Box” retail employers and the communities in which they propose to develop. Unfortunately, due largely to the opposition of special interests committed to developing big-box stores all over Montana without respect to the concerns of our communities, the bill was tabled in the Business and Labor Committee.
There are certainly good partners in commerce. In Missoula, I feel that employers like Costco and Direct TV pay a living wage and provide good benefits for their employees. These businesses should be rewarded for their efforts and welcomed to Montana. The intent of my bill was to allow our communities to be able to compare various development proposals and decide for themselves what is right for Montana.
Unfortunately, I do not think Wal-Mart and some other retailers can tolerate that debate. Wal-Mart employs about 4 percent of Montana’s workforce and has more employees enrolled in the Children’s Healthcare Insurance Program than any other employer in Montana. I do not believe that when the state legislature enacted CHIP they intended for its’ primary user to be a multi-national corporation with billions of dollars in profits every year.
The Community Benefits Bill intended to create a process for communities and large retail employers with profits exceeding $2 billion annually tosit down and agree on the best ways for the businesses to balance building their stores while allowing Montana communities to prosper.
We must act to ensure the economic stability of our local Montana
economies. Although HB 652 was tabled, I urge Montanans to
consider the issues at stake and continue to look for innovative ways to promote our local economies.
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One Response to “Box Store Mayhem”
March 7th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Great piece and thanks for standing up for Montanans on this issue.
It is worth noting that Wal Mart alone accounts for 13% of Chinese exports. They have the means to exert pressure for better working conditions and human rights conditions choose not too. on the same token, they also do not seem very concerned about the rights and conditions of their own workers here.