MISSOULA — Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill in Missoula on Monday afternoon that's aimed at expanding trades education across the state.
Surrounded by construction workers at the Scheels worksite in the Southgate Mall, the governor addressed Montana’s growing need for trade workers.
The Montana Trades Education Credit bill (M-TEC) will provide $1 million per year in 50% credits will be given to businesses for their employees to learn a trade. The funding will support as many as 1,000 scholarships annually, which Gov. Gianforte says will bolster both the employee and the employer.
"There’s a lot of work for trade folks," said Gov. GIoanforte. "We need more carpenters, plumbers, electricians...these are great paying jobs, but you need to acquire skills, and that’s why this M-TEC scholarship is so important to help Montana's small businesses invest in their employees to acquire skills so we can build stuff."
Signing this bill into action was one of the governor's goals outlined in his Roadmap to the Montana Comeback budget, an effort to get Montana back on its feet, and Montana residents back to work with good-paying jobs.
