Archives West Finding Aid

The Bureau of Agriculture, Labor, and Industry was first established in 1893, acting under authority of the 1889 Montana Constitution. It was headed by a Commissioner appointed by the Governor. In 1913, after increased growth and industrial activity in the state, the Thirteenth Legislative Assembly abolished the Bureau and created two Departments to replace it: Agriculture and Publicity and Labor and Industry. In 1921, the Seventeenth Legislative Assembly established the Department of Agriculture, Labor and Industry for the purpose of promoting agricultural and labor interests in Montana. It included the Division of Farming and Dairying, Division of Grain Standards and Marketing, Division of Horticulture, and Division of Labor and Publicity. By 1951, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor were split into distinct Departments.

In 1937, amidst the Great Depression, the Unemployment Compensation Commission was established by an act of the Montana Legislature to assist the unemployed. The act provided the means for assessing, collecting, administering, distributing, and investing contributions derived from payrolls of employers, and also provided penalties for violations of the act. The Commission at that time was composed of the Montana State Employment Service Division and the Unemployment Compensation Division. In 1969, the name of the Unemployment Compensation Division was changed to the Unemployment Insurance Division of the Employment Security Commission.

Several structural and organizational changes took place in Montana state government following the Executive Reorganization Act of 1971. The Department of Professional and Occupational Licensing was established to provide administrative support and serve as an “umbrella” Department to various occupational licensing boards. Prior to the establishment of the DPOL, each state licensing board operated as a separate functioning entity. In order to reduce inefficiencies, lower administrative costs, and increase the quality of services to the public, the 1970 Commission on Executive Reorganization recommended the creation of a central authority. When the DPOL was created, it had three Divisions, Centralized Services, Licensing, and Enforcement, and oversaw 26 boards which prepared and submitted budgets through Centralized Services. Later, in 1980, the Legislative Audit Committee ordered an audit of the Department, which revealed inefficiencies in DPOL and listed areas where operations could be improved. Shortly after this, in 1981, DPOL dissolved, and its duties were transferred to the Department of Labor and Industry and the Department of Commerce.

The Montana Board of Private Security Patrolmen and Investigators originally operated within the Department of Commerce, up until at least the 1980s. As of 2024, the Board of Private Security Patrolmen and Investigators, now named Private Security Program, operates within the Professional and Occupational Licensing Bureau, which falls under the Employment Standards Division of DLI. This program is responsible for licensing private security firms, private security guards, private investigators, among others.