The House is taking up a slew of anti-urban renewal bills today, and the first up is HB 99, sponsored by Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, to require a two-thirds countywide vote before any urban renewal agency could issue bonds. Hart said it'd treat urban renewal agencies like all other local governments by requiring a two-thirds vote for bonding. "There's a perception that urban renewal somehow deals with free money," Hart told the House.

But Rep. Leon Smith, R-Twin Falls, noted that the bill requires a countywide vote for a city urban renewal agency. "It'd take two-thirds of Boise to agree to Kuna's urban renewal," Smith told the House. "This is an onerous requirement that will do great damage and probably just flat shut down those kinds of projects that your cities are telling you are so wonderful. It's just not a good idea."

Rep. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, responded, "All these bills are trying to do is to protect the taxpayer and make him a part of the component. As far as putting an end to urban renewal, if the taxpayer thinks it's a good idea he will support it. And if he doesn't think it's a good idea then maybe it isn't a good idea."