The House Education Committee has voted to send SB 1133a, Sen. Marv Hagedorn’s school safety and security bill, to the House’s amending order, after hearing a series of concerns about various aspects of the bill. Several committee members said they’ve been hearing from police chiefs all over the state concerned about how the bill is written; Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, said as written it overlooks charter schools; and the committee heard testimony from representatives of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, the Idaho ACLU and the Idaho Press Club that the bill’s public records exemption is too broad.
“The whole discussion is being driven underground by this bill,” Wayne Hoffman, head of the Freedom Foundation, told the committee. “There should be a little more accountability.” Rep. Steven Harris, R-Meridian, said, “This bill really isn’t ready for prime time.” Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, moved to hold the bill in committee, but Horman’s substitute motion carried, to send it to the amending order.
Disclosure: I’m the longtime president of the Idaho Press Club, whose volunteer lobbyist, Julie Hart, was among those testifying to the committee today.
Betsy Z. Russell covers Idaho news from The Spokesman-Review's bureau in Boise.
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