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Eye On Boise

Otter on education, roads, health care, more…

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter speaks to reporters at the AP Legislative Preview in Boise on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017 (AP / Otto Kitsinger)
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter speaks to reporters at the AP Legislative Preview in Boise on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017 (AP / Otto Kitsinger)

Gov. Butch Otter said today, “I think the legislative session should be short. … My focus again is going to be on education.”

He said, “We’re starting to realize the promise the career ladder,” the teacher-pay improvement plan that’s now entering its third and biggest year. “It may be a heavy lift to get the $58 million this year for the career ladder, but that’s a promise that I made and I’m going to do everything I can to keep that promise.”

On other issues:

ROADS: “We still have a transportation problem,” Otter said. “I’m not going into that in my State of the State, but I will tell you the maintenance, we’re falling further and further behind.” He noted that $92 million infusion lawmaker made into transportation improvements two years ago ended up being more like $58 million for state roads and bridges, once shares went to local highway jurisdictions. “We only ended up with $58 million for probably a $250 million requirement that we should have for maintenance,” he said. “And it’s been my long-held position, and I think a lot of the members of the Legislature agree with me, that deferred maintenance is deficit spending.” He also repeated his stance that he opposes tapping the general fund for transportation, and favors sticking with a "user-pay" type funding system.

HEALTH CARE: Otter didn’t bring up Idaho’s health coverage gap, which now leaves 78,000 Idahoans without options because they make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to be eligible for subsidized health insurance through Idaho’s state exchange. Asked about it, he advised caution, saying “Be careful. There’s a great expectation, and I think there’s good reason for that expectation that the Trump Administration is going to do something relative to Medicaid expansion, relative to Obamacare, as we know it, and you know, if we get too far out ahead we may be in a territory that’s not prepared to do what the Trump Administration is going to do.”

He said his state-funded Primary Care Access Program proposal from last year was one possibility to do something for the gap population, and said was “pleased” that a legislative interim committee this year was re-examining that concept. “But it all comes down to funding,” he said. “How are you going to fund it on a continuing basis? Because once that benefit becomes a reality, then you’re going to have to maintain that benefit. And I don’t want to see the same thing happen to that that’s happening to our highways.”

CBD OIL: Otter said there’s been no change in his position since he vetoed legislation that would have allowed use of the non-psychoactive marijuana extract to treat patients with intractable epilepsy. He said he still believes a state-sanctioned study involving a limited number of seriously ill children is a better route. “We are finding in that experiment that there is sufficient relief in many cases, and so in an abundance of caution I simply didn’t want to open that whole area of potential disaster,” he said. “I’ve talked to many other governors about medical marijuana, and the use of medical marijuana within their state. … Almost anybody that goes into a doctor with a hangnail in some of those states can get a medical marijuana card. So we want to avoid some of those problems.”

SECRETARY OF AG: Asked if there’s anything new on whether he’s still in the running to be President-elect Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture, Otter said, “All I know is I watch the news early every morning to see if he’s announced somebody else. … There’s a lot of talent seeking that opportunity. I would love that opportunity.” Asked if he’s still committed to being governor as he seeks a national position, Otter said, “I still want to be governor. But this is an opportunity.” He said he thinks the new Trump Administration is looking for “a whole lot more involvement from the states,” and said, “If I got the opportunity, I wouldn’t pass it up.”



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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