Early Fall Update
Primary elections and Quagga mussels
To bring everyone up to date, there will not be a special session of the Idaho Legislature this year.
As hard as the Senate worked to secure a presidential primary in the month of May, our across the rotunda colleagues were set on holding a primary in March, and neither side could come to agreement.
If you remember, last session there was a big push to eradicate school district bond/levy elections. Low voter turnout was cited as one of the driving factors for this. The removal of this language also resulted in removing the March presidential primary election.
What is the big deal?
A March presidential primary election will have a very low voter turn-out (as evidenced by removing school elections points out). A March election would cost Idaho taxpayers close to 3 million dollars.
A May presidential primary will save Idaho taxpayers close to 3 million dollars. It will provide a better voter turnout, not just for the presidential primary, but for state and local issues as well.
2024 will see caucuses across the state. I know that the legislature will be working hard to bring a May presidential primary back to Idaho in 2026.
Quagga mussels:
If you have never heard of these mussels, you are fortunate. Idaho has done an incredible job of keeping this highly invasive species from infesting our waterways. Unfortunately, this mussel has been detected in the Snake River. This mussel reproduces at an incredible rate and has the potential to destroy Idaho’s agricultural and tourism industries. The Idaho Department of Agriculture and numerous other state and Federal agencies are working together to address this situation.
Treatment to remove this species from the water way will begin on October 3rd and should be completed by October 14th.
This is a very serious situation, and it requires all of us to be vigilant, adhere to closure postings and follow decontamination procedures. I urge you to go to Idaho.gov/quagga for daily updates.
Up Coming Events in the next two weeks:
Idaho Sportsman Policy Meeting
Trailing of the Sheep
CSI legislative tour
Pacific Northwest Economic Region Leadership forum
Idaho Cattle Association meeting and tour
South Central Public Health meeting
IACI legislative meet and greet
IDHW ride-along
Please feel free to reach out with any questions, comments or concerns.
SB 1161 Empowering Parents Grant Program.
This bill underwent extensive debate. In the end, it passed the Senate floor 19-15-1. This bill takes $30 million from the above mentioned $330 million to fund the Empowering Parents Grant program. This bill also creates a pilot program for five years for up to 2,000 students per year to provide a tuition grant of $6,000 per student. This money will be used for private schooling. As a colleague said, “this is a winner for 2000 students, the rest of the students lose.”
HB 292 is a property tax relief bill.
It would provide $355 million in tax relief immediate and ongoing. It also provides $100 million to public schools to pay off bonds and levies, with the ability to use any leftover money on their facilities. One issue with this is that the bill removes the March school district election date for bonds and levies. This election date was a negotiated date and is important to our school boards. We have worked hard to get this amended but with no luck.
HB 205 is a voting restriction bill.
This would have repealed no-excuse, absentee voting; a method of voting we have had in place since 1970. Fortunately, the bill was killed in the House.
The Best News of the Week
SB 1127 State Dinosaur 35-0
Thanks to the fourth-grade class at South Fork Elementary School, Idaho now has a state dinosaur!!! Oryctodromeus. This is the best known and most common dinosaur found in Idaho. This dinosaur has only been discovered in Idaho. This dinosaur is believed to have been an herbivore that cared for its young in family groups underground. Pretty cool to have state dinosaur! (I stood and thanked the fourth graders for not choosing me as the state dinosaur).
I reached my goal of 10,000 steps a day for the month of February. Blue Cross of Idaho challenged all legislators to achieve this. As a result, Blue Cross of Idaho will donate $1000.00 dollars to the Valley School District. This year the program generated $47,000.00 dollars for public Idaho elementary schools.
