“It removes the sales tax off of groceries in the state of Idaho,” House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, told the House, opening debate on HB 311. “That’s a big step. ... To help pay for that it removes the grocery tax credit.” He then ran through the other provisions of the bill, and said lawmakers have talked since the beginning of this year’s session about “how we needed to make Idaho competitive. We needed more money for education – we’ve done that this year,” he said. The other ways, he said, are “more money for infrastructure,” and “removing sales tax on groceries and adjusting the tax brackets to make us more competitive with surrounding states.”

First to debate on the bill was Rep. Mark Nye, D-Pocatello, an attorney, who told the House, “This bill, 311, does not meet constitutional muster, is unconstitutional, and should be and must be voted down.” He said it violates the single-subject rule. “Every act passed by the Legislature must embrace but one subject,” Nye said. The bill, he said, “in this case has six, seven or eight.”

Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, also debating against the bill, “This bill unfortunately does not take into consideration what’s happening to our middle-class families with kids throughout this state. By enacting this bill and reducing general-fund revenue, we are guaranteeing that homeowners and property owners throughout the state will continue to have to pay more property taxes to support education, and in fact we will not be supporting the world-class education system that we need in this state.”