Area Lawmakers Best Of Poor Lot

Ultimately, the 1997 Idaho Legislature might be remembered best for its inability to designate the potato as its state vegetable.

In fact, it was symbolic that a bill to elevate the celebrated tuber above other agricultural products died in a Senate committee. A handful of bills promoting property tax relief and a statewide vote on U.S. Highway 95 reconstruction died in committees, too.

Meanwhile, solons shoveled money at prisons while giving schools a meager funding increase and continuing to ignore the state’s crumbling schoolhouses.

After the 1997 Legislature adjourned last week, Gov. Phil Batt said the session “will be remembered for fiscal stringency.” Others called it “workmanlike.” But House Speaker Mike Simpson, R-Blackfoot, probably had it right when he said the session probably was “an argument for biennial sessions.”

At best, the 1997 Legislature didn’t take advantage of its Republican supermajority to cause much mischief.

There was no social legislation to give Idaho Democrats issues for the 1998 elections. After a lot of talk and threats, legislators decided not to crack down on Indian gambling. And, for the first time in a decade, the Idaho Conservation League gave the Legislature a passing grade on environmental issues.

The Legislature’s worst action - and it was significant - was to dramatically revise Idaho’s 64-year-old citizen initiative law. The new law requires signature gatherers to collect John Hancocks from 6 percent of the registered voters in half of Idaho’s counties, which means that only those who pay for signatures will succeed.

Only three North Idaho legislators endorsed this power grab: state Reps. Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls, Larry Watson, D-Wallace, and June Judd, D-St. Maries.

In most instances, North Idaho delegates represented constituents well.

Kellogg, for example, sponsored a bill to upgrade Highway 95 that was approved by the House and came within one vote of making it out of a Senate committee. It now has southern Idaho support and stands a good chance of passing next year.

A bill sponsored by state Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Coeur d’Alene, will create a committee to oversee cleanup of heavy metals in the Coeur d’Alene Basin. State Sen. Jack Riggs, R-Coeur d’Alene, helped push through a bill that protects patients from ruthless managed care providers. State Rep. Don Pischner, R-Coeur d’Alene, secured $500,000 in property tax relief for North Idaho College.

In a session that failed to give the Idaho potato its due, those accomplishments shine brightly.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria/For the editorial board