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| published Monday, April 10, 2006 |
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"Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Let us be dissatisfied until that day when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid. Let us be dissatisfied." MLK, 1967
. House Speaker Bruce Newcomb talks about legislation that needs to "ripen." (He did admit that some of that legislation may be getting rotten.) Some things like property tax have been discussed nearly from the opening bell of the session. Others like the water recharge/Idaho Power bill and abortion legislation didn’t pop out until the last couple of weeks–though there has been an undercurrent about them. Some bills that seemed resolved like the Governor’s big roads bill and the coal plant moratorium were taken hostage at least for a time to force passage of some other bill important to the captors. Public involvement is very limited since there are only a few issues left and when committees meet it is without much notice. Lobbyists and reporters mill about trading rumors and tips before running off to a hastily called hearing or floor session. Legislators caucus all over the place including outside during an evacuation for a possible fire on Monday this week. And the overlay remains: When will it end?
. Towards the end of a debate on a bill to require that all women receiving abortions in Idaho get counseling and certain information before receiving services, the Democrats walked out of the chambers and the Speaker of the House banged the gavel down. The center could not hold. In his closing, Bill Sali, the Kuna Republican running for Congress and a notorious bomb thrower, kicked sand in opponents’ faces by bringing in brand new arguments in favor of his position. He cited studies, such as one refuted by the American Cancer Society, that young women receiving abortions were as likely to develop breast cancer as a woman smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day. He wrapped them in “Everyone knows…” language. When House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet objected to this line of argument with no chance for rebuttal, the Speaker concluded it was too hot to continue and told the House to reconvene at 10 a.m. on Monday. So off we go, slouching towards Bethlehem.
In one of the strangest procedural moves I have seen in the 20 years or so that I have been around the legislature, the Speaker of the House threatened to resign if that same Bill Sali guy I talked about above was supported in his move to appeal a ruling from the chair. Sali attempted to divide the so-called omnibus property tax bill into component parts on the House floor. When the Speaker ruled that the bill was “one subject” as required by the Idaho Constitution, Sali appealed. Newcomb told House members that if they backed Sali, he would resign and they could elect a new speaker. They say if you try to take down the king, you better kill him. Sali missed. Only Tom Loertscher from Bone, Idaho (there really is such a place) joined him in the appeal. Soon, Newcomb stripped both of their committee assignments but relented later in the week.
as the House and Senate wrestled to come up with property tax legislation that will satisfy enough legislators to call it quits. When the week started it seemed like the fight would be about getting the Homeowner’s Exemption and Circuitbreaker, through the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, where they had been sent after the House refused to concur with the amendments made by the Senate. On Tuesday a Rev and Tax Committee meeting was held and the committee unanimously recommended concurrence on both bills. Kind of eery. Then the game changed. Rep Ken Roberts from Donnelly brought forth the “Mother of all property tax bills”, HB876, which was not on the committee’s agenda. This bill had it all: elimination of the school maintenance and operations levy from the property tax, a 1 1/4 cent increase in the sales tax, and–for good measure–the inclusion of a $75,000 Homeowner’s Exemption with all the Senate amendments. Something for everyone to hate. In fact by the end of the week it seemed like just about everyone–us, the Realtors and retailers, the Common Interest, the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce, all of the education groups and even IACI–opposed this latest attempt. But still it passed the House and made it through the Senate Committee before being stopped on Thursday on a vote of 20 to 15.
Although there will be some attempt to resurrect a stripped down version of the “Mother of all property tax bills”, it seems like the steam is going out of this fight. Only one member of the Senate leadership supported it and it was soundly defeated on the Senate floor. In this bi-cameral legislature it’s time to give it up. That leaves the expansion of the homeowner’s exemption, HB421aaS left to pass. It is on the 3rd reading calendar in the House. Remember that the homeowners Exemption was passed by initiative in 1982. It was a response to a property tax revolt then. It is good response now. There is talk of some new strategies. There is still the possibility of an advisory vote on removing the maintenance and operations levy from the property tax. That passed the Senate. Other people are talking about placing a 3% cap on the school M&O. That would cost schools about $25 million in property tax receipts that most probably would be made up from the general fund. This is the lesser of many evils. Stay tuned.
Earlier this year the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the Legislature may close committee meetings despite language in Idaho’s Constitution and the Open Meetings law that seem contrary to that finding. The Idaho Open Meeting Law says, "The legislature finds and declares that it is the policy of this state that the formation of public policy is public business and shall not be conducted in secret." Except if you’re the Legislature, I guess. So the Senate passed its own rule this week that only allows for closure of meetings in “extraordinary circumstances.” This is a good thing. The House is poised to pass a similar measure. It just seems like the Open Meetings law should apply to the Legislature not just the rest of us.
said Representative Dennis Lake in response to HB 863, a last-minute bill from Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, to require students in Idaho public schools to get parental permission before joining school clubs. It narrowly passed the House this week on a 35-32 vote. This bill was specifically aimed at the Gay Straight Alliance set up at Coeur d’Alene High. The Senate has refused to hear it.
This week the Senate passed a bill funding an expansion of Terry Reilly Health Services. This is the first money that the Legislature has approved to fund low income clinic services anywhere in the state. Getting state funding has been on the table for at least 15 years. Some Senators questioned why it was being done for only one clinic. Good thought. I am sure the clinic network would accept support for more clinic expansions.
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