Wayne Hammon, Gov. Butch Otter’s budget director, told the Senate Education Committee, “There is no cut to IDLA in the governor’s budget. … We continue to have the $5 million going forward.” That’s the budget that was set for IDLA for this year, before its enrollment surged from 11,100 to 14,000 students. Hammon said the administration views the current funding system for IDLA as “double funding,” because school districts receive state funding to educate students, and then the state also funds IDLA for some of those same students. “The problem isn’t that IDLA is doing a poor job, they’re doing a great job,” Hammon told the committee. “They’re a model for the nation. However, they’re double-funding this activity over and over again.”

Wayne Rusch, Glenns Ferry School District superintendent, said, “You can call it double funding, but this is how it will affect the program: We will reduce our graduation rate, we will eliminate the advanced math courses that we’re currently offering, and we will go back to offering a basic education.” The state now spends only $10,000 to provide 30 classes and 154 credits through IDLA for Glenns Ferry students, Rusch said. “I just can’t offer the courses for that.” Donna Hutchison, CEO of IDLA, said under the governor’s budget proposal, “Classes would be capped, students would be possibly turned away.” Fees might also be raised.

The Idaho Digital Learning Academy was established by the state in 2002 to offer online courses to Idaho school districts as a supplement to their district offerings, IDLA CEO Donna Hutchison told the Senate Education Committee this afternoon. Hutchison, who also presented to the House Education Committee this morning, said IDLA offers more than 160 courses to students in grades 7 through 12, and enrollments have been growing fast, from 700 students in 2003 to about 14,000 now, with more still signing up for this spring. Hutchison said IDLA anticipated only about 11,100 enrollments this year due to cutbacks, but has seen the opposite effect. “What we’re hearing from schools, based on the cutbacks that they’re experiencing at the local level, they’re needing to turn to online learning more,” Hutchison said. Last year, 98 percent of Idaho’s school districts participated in IDLA.

IDLA is one of the agencies for which Gov. Butch Otter has proposed phasing out all state funding over the next four years, but for next year, his budget proposes funding equal to this year’s budgeted level. However, that doesn’t account for the program’s growing enrollment. Wayne Rusch, superintendent of the Glenns Ferry School District, told lawmakers that his district has high poverty rates and has lost 30 percent of its enrollment in the last 10 years. Yet, students are being offered a full array of courses, including advanced math and science and foreign language. “If we didn’t have IDLA, we couldn’t offer what we’re offering. We would have to cut back on our math, our science and those courses, and our students wouldn’t have those opportunities,” Rusch said. Among the classes his district now offers to students only through IDLA: Trigonometry, calculus, Spanish, psychology and zoology. Benjamin Merrill, principal at Notus Junior-Senior High, said his students are using IDLA for remedial courses, for graduation requirements, and for advanced classes.

After Idaho hosted the Special Olympics World Winter Games last year, Sen. Les Bock, D-Boise, said he was startled when reading through an Idaho statute to see outmoded terminology like “mentally retarded,” “mentally deficient” and even “lunatic” and “idiot.” Bock said, “I think it made all of us a little more sensitive with respect to some of the language we use with regard to people with intellectual disabilities.” So he asked the Legislative Services Office to do a search of state law, and found lots of such wording. Then, a half-dozen meetings followed with state Health & Welfare officials, the Idaho Council on Developmental Disabilities, the courts, the state Department of Insurance and more. In the end, Bock came up with an 82-page bill to update the wording in an array of sections of Idaho state law, from the probate code (“a decedent, an infant, lunatic or insolvent, may have…”) to the death penalty (“imposition of death penalty upon mentally retarded person prohibited”).

A section about “Contracts of Idiots” became “Contracts of Persons Without Understanding.” A clause about vocational education programs that said “handicapped students” switched to “students with disabilities.” When Bock presented the bill today to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Shirley McKague, R-Meridian, asked if it would penalize people who use the outdated terms. Bock said no; “that’s not in the bill,” he said. “It’s not about requiring people to speak in a certain way. It’s about the language in the statute.”

Bock said the Special Olympics, which drew international attention to Idaho and drew hundreds of Idahoans as volunteers, opened his eyes about language referring to people with disabilities. “We shouldn’t be labeling them in a way that’s disrespectful,” he said. Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, noted that the long bill also, in one instance, changes the term “Afro-American” to “African-American.” Bock said that was simply a matter of updating a term that’s no longer in use. The bill also, in several instances, changes the word “handicapped” to “impaired,” and removes the term “the mentally retarded” in favor of “people with intellectual disabilities.” In all cases, Bock, a lawyer, said, “The goal was absolutely no change in the substance of the law.” The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to introduce the bill.

The Idaho Sheriff’s Association says it’s currently illegal for a boat operator to fail to report an accident, for a full county investigation, if the damage comes to $500 or more - and that’s too low. “We are proposing $1,500, to be the same as cars,” Sheriff’s Association lobbyist Mike Kane told the Senate Judiciary Committee this afternoon. “It’s a great imposition to the boating public to have to go through what is in the current law for very minor accidents, and also a waste of county resources,” when all that’s happened is “two Chris-Crafts kinda nudge each other.” The committee voted unanimously to introduce the bill, with Sen. Patti-Anne Lodge, R-Huston, noting that it could save counties some money.

The AP reports that Idaho is among several states watching to see if a California animal cruelty law drives big egg farms there to look at leaving the state - and possibly move here. As a result of a 2008 voter initiative, California law will ban cramped cages for laying hens by 2015; click below to read the full report from AP reporter John Miller. 

Continue reading Egg farms poised for exodus to Idaho? »

The Senate has voted unanimously to pass HB 379, the bill that’s already passed the House to eliminate a checkoff on state income tax returns that now lets voters donate $1 of their taxes to the political party of their choice. The bill now moves to the governor’s desk.

There was just one “no” vote - from Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby - as the House voted just now to pass HB 422, the bill from Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, to eliminate what he called an “archaic law” that now requires law enforcement officers and prosecutors who know about any type of gambling - including office pools and the like - to prosecute them or face misdemeanor charges themselves. “Fortunately, this archaic law is being ignored by our law enforcement officers,” Burgoyne told the House. “They are today using their discretion. What this would do today is make that discretion lawful.” No one spoke up against the move, and the bill passed the House on a 69-1 vote; it now moves to the Senate.

The House has voted unanimously, 70-0, in favor of HB 435, the measure from Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, to grant a temporary, two-year sales tax exemption to Idaho’s non-profit homeless shelters. “We’re here today because our economy has tanked, people are losing their jobs and they’re losing their homes. They need help,” Durst told the House. “It’s a sign that we’re being proactive in addressing the budget crisis that we have this year. … It will reduce the budget needs for the Department of Health & Welfare and Corrections.” Operators of homeless shelters told an earlier legislative committee hearing that the temporary exemption will save them hundreds of dollars in sales taxes on toilet paper, oatmeal and the like, allowing them to house more people for more nights.

There was no debate before the unanimous vote. After the vote, a victorious Durst shared fist-bumps with GOP Reps. Marv Hagedorn and Raul Labrador. The bill now moves to the Senate.

As Idaho mulls what to do with the Simplot house, the state’s official - but unoccupied - governor’s residence in Boise, Lewiston Tribune reporter Bill Spence had an interesting look today at the house and the issue. “There’s hardly a piece of real estate that showcases Idaho better,” Lt. Gov. Brad Little told Spence. “It overlooks Boise, the foothills, horse pastures, farmland. But we have to address the maintenance costs. It’s probably the highest (water) consumptive real estate in the state. If Jack were alive today, he’d say ‘Make ‘er pay, boys.’ He was never reluctant to adapt to change.” Click below to read Spence’s full report from today’s Tribune.

Continue reading Trib story: ‘Future uncertain for Simplot house’ »

JFAC members quizzed Idaho Department of Administration officials so long about the Idaho Education Network this morning that they ran over time, and almost had to skip the Capitol Commission’s budget hearing. Among the questions was this one from Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert: “What role did IEN or the agency, Mr. Gwartney or the Department of Administration, play in the recommendations to reduce the Idaho Digital Learning Academy and Idaho Public Television? That’s a rumor that’s out there that I’d like you to follow up on,” Cameron said, indicating that Admin officials could get back to him later. “The second half of that rumor is that the governor asked IEN to deliver his State of the State message to four schools, and IEN was unable to do so, but Public Television then did so. Can you get back to us with those answers?” At that, Co-Chair Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, said, “Thank you, and we would all appreciate that information. … We’re running way past, but this is a very troubling area of the budget.”

The Idaho Human Rights Commission has unanimously endorsed the plan to merge the commission into the state Department of Labor, a move that was proposed after Gov. Butch Otter proposed phasing out all the commission’s state funding over the next four years. Legislation still must pass to make the change. Labor gets no state general funds, operating instead mostly on federal funds and employment taxes. Pamela Parks, commission director, called the move “a win-win for the state, and the right thing to do. We recognize that both our agencies share a common mission to provide Idaho with a strong work force and a commitment to ensure that those workers are protected from discrimination in the workplace.” Click below to read the commission’s full announcement.

Continue reading Human Rights Commission unanimously endorses merger with Labor Dept. »

When JFAC heard the budget request for the state’s Permanent Building Fund this morning, a long-familiar participant was missing. Tim Mason of the state Division of Public Works told the joint committee that Larry Osgood passed away nine days ago. Osgood, a mechanical engineer, was state public works director under several governors, starting with Cecil Andrus, until his retirement in 2005. Since retiring, Osgood served in several capacities for the city of Caldwell, including public works director; he used a wheelchair due to injuries from a car accident before he started his state service. “He enjoyed very much working with JFAC,” Mason told the committee members. “When I go back this morning, I’ll be missing getting a phone call from him critiquing my presentation.”

JFAC Co-Chair Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, said, “I’m truly sorry to hear that. We loved having him with us. He’d roll in in his wheelchair, and did a fine job for the state those many years.” Osgood’s obituary in the Idaho Press-Tribune said, “Larry lived his life believing that life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath.”

Reps. Steven Thayn, R-Emmett, and Branden Durst, D-Boise, have introduced legislation that Durst touts as “innovation in education,” to set up a pilot project for 21 school districts and three charter schools to offer a special scholarship to students who graduate from high school at least a year early. Those who do would be eligible to receive 35 percent of their school district’s average daily attendance rate as a scholarship. The school district also would receive 35 percent, while the remaining 30 percent would be “remitted back to the general fund.” The two lawmakers estimated that at $4,593.51 in average state funding per student to school districts for a year, the state could save hundreds of thousands if the participating students graduate at least a year early.

The House Education Committee agreed unanimously, without discussion, this morning to introduce the bill.

The House Revenue & Taxation Committee this morning introduced two new tax break bills. The first, from Reps. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, and Mike Moyle, R-Star, expands an existing law created two years ago to let counties give property tax breaks to new businesses in certain cases. Bayer said it’s never been used; the bill expands it to the full state, rather than just rural zones; removes a requirement for annual approvals from the county; and lets personal property be counted along with real property to get up to the minimum $3 million investment to qualify for the break. Counties could decide how much of the new business’ property taxes to forgive and for how long, up to five years, as in the current law.

The second bill, from Moyle and Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, would allow out-of-state owners of large aircraft that have major repairs done in Idaho to seek a rebate of sales taxes paid on parts; if they did, they’d have to pay the sales tax in their home state. A Boise firm, Western Aircraft, sought the move, but Moyle and Rusche said it’d apply to others as well, including a firm in Coeur d’Alene. Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, questioned whether the bill was “special legislation for one organization,” but Moyle assured him it wasn’t. As with the first bill, Rev & Tax voted unanimously to introduce the measure. Rusche said it’s a potential growth business for Idaho.

Rev & Tax also introduced a bill from Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, to require a two-thirds vote of the affected people if a local improvement district is created by a City Council to bond for more than $250,000. Labrador said a similar bill passed the House three years ago but died in the Senate; it lacked the $250,000 minimum figure.

One of the money-saving consolidation proposals that state Administration chief Mike Gwartney outlined drew several questions from JFAC members. Gwartney said there’s no need to send a building inspector from the state Division of Building Safety to inspect a building, when his department has people on staff with the same skill sets. “For example, we’re building a building in Idaho Falls, there’s no use for Kelly to send an inspector out there when we have a competent person on site,” he said. Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, asked how anyone can be allowed to inspect their own construction work, regardless of their “skill set.” Gwartney said he wouldn’t make the move for state-constructed buildings, just those built by the private sector. Keough then asked what statutory authority the department has for conducting building inspections in place of the Building Safety inspectors; Gwartney said he’ll get back to her on that.

There also have been lots of questions from lawmakers about the bidding process for the Idaho Education Network, on which the state currently is facing a lawsuit; JFAC still is due for a full presentation this morning on the IEN. Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said, “I guess I have to give the agency kudos for imagination and for ideas, but candidly, have a lack of confidence in the ability to deliver services that have been promised based on past experience.” He said he’s particularly concerned about the effect of the IT consolidation move on functions at the state Department of Insurance and Department of Finance, which are regulating struggling financial institutions.

Greg Zickau, chief technology officer for the state Department of Administration, said the department is proposing to transfer nine information technology positions to Admin from other agencies as part of an IT consolidation that would save an estimated $229,000 a year. Overall, the move would cut four state employees, positions that either could be moved elsewhere or eliminated. The transfer would be the first step toward a consolidated approach to information technology, Zickau told JFAC, targeting seven agencies identified as “low-hanging fruit.” The seven agencies have 10 to 15 IT workers, Zickau said, and spend $2 million to $2.5 million a year on technology. “We looked at what it would take to assume that additional workload into our office,” he said.

Consolidation moves like this one won’t work unless they’re supported by both the legislative and executive branches, Zickau told lawmakers. “It would require unflinching leadership from you and from others,” he said. “It’s going to allow us to provide better service with less cost. … This is a small initial step, but the change to the agencies that are affected is certainly substantial.”

State Department of Administrator head Mike Gwartney told lawmakers this morning that he’s hoping to save the state millions through various consolidation efforts. “When I moved into this job we had 74 individual email plans,” Gwartney told JFAC. “We’ve now taken that down to where about half the agencies are under one plan. Over this next year, we’ll complete the rest.” Consolidation of telephone systems has gone through “baby steps” so far but already is saving $100,000 a year, Gwartney said, though still, “the governor has to dial 12 numbers to get to my office.” The Department of Administration is now providing bookkeeping and human resources for 25 state agencies that have requested it, he said.

He’s estimating that future information technology consolidation could save the state $20 million a year. By consolidating the BSU postal service with that of the department, the state is saving $300,000 a year, Gwartney said. And he’s looking “strongly” into centralizing fleet management, which he estimated could save the state $4.5 million a year. Various rule changes now pending in the Legislature could save the state $160,000 a year, he said. A consolidation of copy center functions has saved $127,000 a year, Gwartney said. “We’ve worked hard on elimination of duplication.”

Here’s a link to the third week of Idaho’s legislative session in pictures, as a slide show. Let your cursor hover over the bottom part of the picture frame, and the captions will appear as the slide show plays. Tonight, on Idaho Public Television’s “Idaho Reports,” we talk about the state budget, pricey highway groundbreaking ceremonies, the “tax gap,” and more as we review the week’s events. I’ll join host Thanh Tan, her guests Sen. Dean Cameron and Reps. Maxine Bell and Wendy Jaquet, and other commentators including Jim Weatherby, Cynthia Sewell and Bill Spence on the program. It airs tonight at 8, is rebroadcast Sunday at 11 a.m. Mountain time/10 a.m. Pacific time, and can be viewed online here. The show also is broadcast on the radio at 3 p.m. on Saturday on KISU-FM, and 10 a.m. Sunday on KBSX 91.5 FM.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred slammed GOP Gov. Butch Otter today for what he called his “irrational pessimism and recklessness,” saying that in two weeks of travel around the state, he’s heard concerns from people across the political spectrum over Otter’s proposed budget cuts to schools, Idaho Public Television and state parks. You can read Allred’s full release here; I’m awaiting a response from the Otter campaign, but as of 7:30 p.m. Boise time, still haven’t heard back.

Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on Idaho’s prison budget situation: Lawmakers were warned today that the only way to cut more deeply into the state prison budget than Gov. Butch Otter already has proposed is to begin releasing prisoners. Budget cuts have hit the state’s prison system hard enough that even guards in already-understaffed prisons are now taking 28 unpaid furlough hours a year.

Nancy Merrill, Idaho state parks director, told the House Resources Committee today, “We are in a transition period and we have much to do.” She noted that the new business plan the department has worked up - aimed at working toward weaning the department from state funding - is going through revisions. “We realize that there are some changes that need to be made,” she said. And she told lawmakers that work is under way in response to the state Parks Board’s decision this week to reverse its September decision to close Dworshak State Park and turn it over to non-state management. “The staff is reviewing that and trying to figure out where we’re going to find the funding,” Merrill told lawmakers. “We look forward to managing that park again, with our partners and whatever we can do. So we will have 30 parks again.”

When Merrill and Gov. Butch Otter recently announced the plan to wean parks off state funding, only 29 state parks were envisioned, because Dworshak was off the list. Merrill’s presentation to the House Resources Committee today is a long-scheduled overview of the department, but it reflects the recent dramatic changes in the outlook for the state’s parks department. At the start of the legislative session, Otter proposed eliminating the state parks department, selling its headquarters and merging park management duties into the state Department of Lands. He later abandoned that idea.

Merrill told the committee, “Our mission is to improve the quality of life in Idaho.” That includes a strong commitment to keeping parks open, she said. “We are looking for alternative ways and we are looking for ways to stretch the dollars as we try to do more with less,” she said. That will mean some changes. “We may not be able to open every unit that we have in every park,” Merrill said. “We may have a shortened season, we may have less people at our parks as far as our management, we may have more volunteers, we may have more people from the community helping.” Already, she said, the motorcycle club Brother Speed has volunteered to mow the lawn at one park near Twin Falls. “Our users love our parks,” Merrill said. “We can do this.”

Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, chairman of the Idaho Indian Affairs Council, has put out a guest opinion on the flap over proposed legislation from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe regarding cross-deputization, after a three-year dispute between the tribe and the Benewah County Sheriff. “The purpose of this guest opinion is not to discuss the merits of the proposed legislation,” Jorgenson writes. “It is to address the inflammatory and patently untrue claims of its opponents now circulating.  Statements by groups such as the Idaho Eagle Forum and the North Idaho Citizens Alliance,  generally considered a radical Anti-Indian activist group, do a substantial injustice to Idaho Indian Tribes and are stoking unwarranted fears in local citizens.”

Jorgenson said claims that the still-to-be-introduced legislation would remove sheriffs’ authority or subject non-tribal members to tribal courts are false, and he bemoaned anti-Indian rhetoric he’s seen about the issue on the Internet. “The individuals who are making these false claims do great damage to reputation of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, which has successfully integrated itself as a positive part of the fabric and well-being of our entire community,” Jorgenson writes; you can read his full commentary here.    

Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, is back at work in the Legislature, after missing two days for surgery for peripheral artery disease in her legs. The procedure was a follow-up to more major surgery she had in October for the disease, which if left untreated would have left her unable to walk more than a block without resting. “It wasn’t elective, because I actually asked the surgeons if I could wait until the session was over - they said no,” Ringo said. “It definitely wasn’t a choice.” While Ringo was gone, Moscow economist Judith Brown filled in as her substitute.

The condition is unrelated to the thyroid cancer that Ringo was diagnosed with a year ago; she had her thyroid removed in December of 2008, well before the start of that year’s legislative session, and has been fine since. “I haven’t had any recurrence,” she said. Ringo said she chose to have the major vascular procedure in October, and then required three follow-up procedures; this week’s was the final one. “I’m finished now and glad I did it,” she said, and she’s not suffering any pain. “I’m ready to go.”

Questions from JFAC members for state Corrections Director Brent Reinke included whether it’d be helpful if Idaho set up some kind of early-release mechanism for prisoners now. Reinke said the department has been evaluating “what good time might look like in Idaho,” referring to time off for good behavior - something Idaho hasn’t had in decades. “I think it would be a challenge getting it adopted,” he said. Reinke said the measures the state’s already taking - problem-solving courts, developing alternatives to incarceration, treatment programs, and a “violation matrix” - offer better hope of results. “We have really seen a significant reduction,” he said. “We’re a thousand inmates below where we thought we’d be in 2008.” This year, Idaho is spending $21 million less on its prisons than 2008 forecasts showed would be needed by now, Reinke noted.

Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, asked about the costs of Idaho’s death penalty, and the inmates now housed on Death Row. “That population doesn’t cost us any more than any other population,” Reinke responded; the department spends about $57.44 a day to house an inmate. “The problem for us is the appeals process.” An actual execution would carry some costs, he noted. “But is it costly for us on a day-to-day basis? It’s not. … The true expense is with the attorneys and the process outside of our prisons.”

The department has a privately-built, privately-run Correctional Alternative Placement Program facility scheduled to open in June, which will have 432 beds and offer a residential substance abuse treatment programs of 90, 120 and 270 days. Reinke estimates the treatment programs will save the state $8 million by 2013 in reduced regular prison stays. Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, asked if the state could save money by delaying the opening. Reinke said the department is counting on the new facility; a temporary facility housing 200 inmates in a former warehouse - in which there was a riot last January - closes in June and becomes a warehouse again. The department also has closed 150 of its costliest beds at existing state prisons this year because of the funding crunch. “The CAPP facility is about meeting those bed needs with our growth rate currently at 4 percent,” Reinke responded. Without it, he said, the state likely would have to start sending inmates out of state again before the end of fiscal year 2011.

He told reporters after the budget hearing, “The governor has made it very clear in his recommendation that he wants to support CAPP.” Private contracts, including the CAPP facility, are the only increases in the governor’s proposed prison budget for next year, Reinke said. “We’re continuing our furloughs into 2011,” he said. “The difference in CAPP is that it’s going to help bring our population down. It’s well worth the investment.”

Idaho has only one correctional officer for every 50 adult inmates, Reinke noted. Every corrections employee - including him - is taking unpaid furloughs due to budget cuts. Correctional officers are taking 28 unpaid furlough hours for the year.

If Idaho had to cut another $5 million from its state prisons budget, state Corrections Director Brent Reinke told JFAC this morning, it’d have to release about 250 inmates. Legally, the department can’t do that on its own, he noted; it’d take direction from the state Legislature. Already, due to budget cuts, the department has imposed 80,000 unpaid furlough hors on employees, is holding open 49 positions, has cut another 44, and has eliminated paid overtime. “I think it’s my duty to remind you, these kinds of cuts are not sustainable as we look into the future,” Reinke warned. “We walk a fine line between efficient and ineffective government. … We simply cannot continue to do more with less, we must do less if more budget cuts are required.”

However, he said the system can function with the governor’s proposed budget, which includes a $2 million transfer from the budget stabilization fund for critical personnel costs. “The governor understands very clearly the challenges we face,” Reinke said. “We can make cuts required in the fiscal year 2011 budget proposal as proposed. It’s not going to be easy, but we can do it without jeopardizing our staff, the public and our inmates.” Yet, he said, inmate population is beginning to grow again after a couple of years’ drop, and a recent performance evaluation of the department suggested the prisons are understaffed as is. “We walk a very fine line,” Reinke said. “Are we at risk? Every day. But we’ve been that way for quite a while.” The governor’s budget calls for a 4.4 percent increase in state funding for prisons next year, after an 8.8 percent cut last year. That still leaves the department trying to house and supervise more offenders with less money than in 2008.

Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com about the buzz at the Legislature today over whether criminals are going free in Benewah County because the local sheriff won’t work with the local tribal police. The problem: Without a cross-deputization agreement, tribal police officers can’t arrest non-tribal members, even if they catch them in the act of committing a crime. Instead, they must call on a county deputy or state trooper to make the arrest. Roughly 10,000 people live on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation, but only 1,400 are tribal members. In the Kootenai County portion of the reservation, a cross-deputization agreement is in place; there was a longstanding one in Benewah County until Benewah Sheriff Bob Kirts revoked it in 2007.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe is proposing legislation - which hasn’t yet been introduced - to give tribes a six-month window to give a county notice that they want to enter into a cooperative law enforcement agreement. If an agreement isn’t reached within six months, tribal police could begin enforcing state law against non-tribal members on the reservation, as long as they’re certified by Idaho’s state police academy, the tribe carries insurance, and the tribe waives sovereign immunity to permits lawsuits over officer wrongdoing. “The idea was if we can’t work out an agreement with Benewah County, perhaps the best solution is to change the law in order to give citizens a recourse if a sheriff just won’t agree to cooperate,” said Coeur d’Alene Tribe spokesman Marc Stewart.

Benewah County Sheriff Bob Kirts is dismissing an open letter to lawmakers from the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations about law-enforcement problems in Benewah County, signed by task force vice president Christie Wood, saying, “My only comment is she’s ill-informed or she’s just plain lying or stupid.” He said, “I’m not really concerned about it - I represent the people of Benewah County, this is what they want so that’s what we’re going to do.” Wood is a Coeur d’Alene police sergeant, department spokeswoman, a former Coeur d’Alene school trustee and current chair of the North Idaho College board of trustees.

Kirts, who’s been Benewah sheriff for five years, is a former state trooper and also served as Benewah sheriff from 1980 to 1988, at which time the county did have cross-deputization with the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Police. “That was canceled because they started to violate people’s rights by citing non-tribal members into tribal courts and that type of thing,” Kirts said. “I think it was terminated in ‘07; at that time I left them the rights to arrest DUIs or handle emergencies, and they chose not to do that at all, all they do is complain about not being able to do anything.” He added, “It’s a law thing, it’s not human relations. I don’t know what … Christie’s talking about.”

The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, the North Idaho human rights group, has sent an open letter to Idaho state legislators urging support for legislation backed by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe on cross-deputization for law enforcement in Benewah County. The legislation hasn’t yet been introduced, but has prompted lots of talk both in North Idaho and around the Statehouse. “This legislation is necessary to ensure the safety of the citizens living both on and off of the Reservation in Benewah County,” task force first vice-president Christie Wood writes in the letter. You can click below to read the full letter.

Continue reading Human rights group: Legislation needed to protect safety in Benewah County »

The Idaho Senate voted 24-10 today to confirm Fish & Game Commissioner Tony McDermott, who represents the North Idaho Panhandle, for another term, but only after an extended debate in which Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, tried to frame the vote as a referendum on wolves. Siddoway criticized the Fish & Game Commission for setting a harvest target of 220 wolves in the current wolf hunting season, rather than a figure double that number. “We have an opportunity here to send the whole Department of Fish & Game a real message,” Siddoway said. “This is not about personality, this is about responsibility. … My objection has nothing to do with me being a rancher. It has everything to do with the responsibility a Fish & Game commissioner has … for the benefit of the hunters and fishermen of this state.” Siddoway said he’s not swayed by any argument that a lower wolf kill will appease a federal judge in a pending court case over wolf management, as Idaho’s in court over the issue anyway. “That’s how these groups make their money, that’s how they keep this federal thumb on the state of Idaho,” Siddoway declared to the Senate.

Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, said McDermott “has worked tirelessly to support the sportsmen in Idaho,” and said, “He answers the phone no matter what time of day or night I or my constituents call to ask him a question. … He is a good man and he deserves our support.” Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, who sponsored the confirmation in the Senate, said, “I think those who know me well can count me pretty solidly in the senator’s camp in terms of the wolf being here in the first place. … But they’re here now, and we have to deal with them.” Keough noted that only 146 wolves have been shot even with the 220 limit, and said that’s the number that would have been killed even if the commission had set the limit at 500, because of the “nature of the critter.” Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, noted that when the Fish & Game Commission saw that it wasn’t going to hit its wolf harvest targets, it extended the wolf-hunting season. Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, said, “We have got to send a message that we’ve had enough, and this is one place we can do it.”

McDermott, a semi-retired real estate broker, Vietnam veteran with 28 years in the military, and former professor of military science at the University of Montana, lives in Sagle. He’s a life member of the NRA and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and has served on the commission for four years; he’s now has been confirmed to serve another four-year term.

A long and contentious dispute over how Idaho leases state endowment lands to ranchers for grazing - or to others for other uses - came to an end yesterday afternoon, when the House and Senate Resources committees approved new grazing lease rules, which take effect immediately. Click below to read a full report from AP reporter John Miller.

Continue reading New grazing rules end long dispute »