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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Idaho House committee to launch remote testimony pilot project on Monday

House Education Chair Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree, left, and Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy, R-Genesee, right, talk with reporters in the Capitol press room on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, about the upcoming debut of a remote testimony pilot project that will allow Idahoans to testify on legislative bills from six locations across the state. (Betsy Z. Russell)
House Education Chair Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree, left, and Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy, R-Genesee, right, talk with reporters in the Capitol press room on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, about the upcoming debut of a remote testimony pilot project that will allow Idahoans to testify on legislative bills from six locations across the state. (Betsy Z. Russell)

In a first-time pilot project, the Idaho Legislature will take remote testimony on three bills that are up for hearings Monday in the House Education Committee. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. MT; those who’d like to testify must sign up at least 24 hours in advance, then come out to one of six sites around the state, located in Post Falls, Moscow, Twin Falls, ,Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Salmon.

“Sometimes you just really want to hear from the people whose lives these bills impact,” said Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy, R-Genesee. “If you live too far away, it’s complicated to come to Boise, especially in the winter.”

Troy approached House Speaker Scott Bedke about the idea, and he said if she could talk one committee chair into the idea, it could be run as a pilot project this year. “Julie was not a hard sell,” Troy said, referring to House Education Chair Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree. VanOrden agreed. “I would hope that citizens across the state are interested in education,” she said.

The three bills up on Monday are HB 443, Rep. Ron Nate’s bill on gun-safety classes in public schools; HB 503, a state Department of Education bill adding occupational and physical therapists to the career ladder; and HB 580, a bill from the Idaho School Boards Association removing an expiration date from a law that passed earlier to allow spouses of school board members to hired in small school districts. VanOrden said only about 10 people have been hired under the law, but it’s been a big help to small districts.

VanOrden and Troy have prepared a video that’s posted on the Legislature’s website here with instructions on how to testify remotely to a legislative committee. There’s more information here, and the committee’s agenda for Monday is online here; it has links to all three bills.

Troy and VanOrden said they both hope that eventually, all legislative committees can take testimony from Idahoans in remote locations around the state. “My dream is that not only all the committees, but also a lot of the agencies when they do their rule-making would open up their rule-making to this as well,” Troy said. “We’re very excited about this project. … I talked to some folks up in Alaska, and they’ve been doing this since 1971. It’s just a matter of course for them. I can’t wait ‘til it gets to be a matter of course for Idaho.”



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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