Who’s Making The Laws?

As Idaho’s Legislature gears up for its 1996 session, there’ll be more educators than lawyers in its lofty chambers.

There will also be more insurance agents than stockbrokers, and more farmers and ranchers than anyone else.

Information given to the state by lawmakers shows that 33 of the 105 legislators identify themselves as farmers or ranchers.

There are just six lawyers.

The figures are in keeping with an Idaho tradition. The Legislature, which meets for just three months a year, is more attractive to those whose businesses allow them time off in mid-winter.

Idaho’s legislative session, which starts in January and is out by spring planting time, is timed well for farmers.

Twenty-one of this year’s lawmakers are self-employed or own businesses. They’re the second-biggest occupation category, at 20 percent.

There are five engineers, seven educators (three of them retired), four insurance agents and three accountants.

The Legislature includes one married couple and one father-son duo. Reps. Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley, and Celia Gould, R-Buhl, married in 1990 while both were serving in the Statehouse. They represent adjacent districts.

Rep. Bob Geddes, R-Preston, will be joined this year by his son, Sen. Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs. The elder Geddes, a farmer, is in his 10th term. The younger Geddes, a geologist, was appointed in February to replace former Sen. Dennis Hansen.

The younger Geddes “goes by Bob,” his father said. But so does the elder Geddes, at least part of the time.

“It’s a little bit confusing,” he admitted.

Family ties aren’t the only things state lawmakers have in common. A full 80 percent share the same party: Republican.

It’s a well-educated group, with nearly 90 percent having attended some college. Two-thirds have a bachelor’s degree, and a quarter hold advanced degrees.

There are 29 women and 76 men. The percentage of women legislators has risen slightly in recent years.

In 1987, there were 27 women among 126 lawmakers, or 21 percent. Now that the overall size of the Legislature has been reduced to 105, today’s figure is 28 percent.

The Legislature also is a rather old group. Nearly two-thirds are over age 50. At least eight are over 70 (nine more decline to give their ages). Only seven are less than 40 years old.

But that doesn’t mean these lawmakers have been in office forever. Many are newcomers. Twenty percent are serving their first term. Half have served three or fewer two-year terms.

The longest-serving member of the Legislature, Rep. Steve Antone, R-Rupert, is in his 14th term. Antone, 74, is the powerful chairman of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, where all tax legislation must start.

Rep. Jim Stoicheff, D-Sandpoint, is the second longest-serving legislator, now in his 12th term. He said many of the older people in the Legislature are people who are active and involved in lots of things.

“I don’t think they’re people who retired and went there to die,” said Stoicheff, 68

, DataTimes