Senate Approves Potato Measure

The state Senate has voted to validate the Idaho Potato Commission’s longstanding secrecy policy in dealing with trademark violations.

The Senate sent the bill to the House on a 31-4 vote Tuesday.

Critics, led by the news media, argued that the exemption from the open meetings and open records laws included in the bill was excessively broad and precluded the public - including potato growers - from finding out on what the commission bases its decisions. One claimed the bill authorized star-chamber proceedings.

Republican Sen. Stan Hawkins of Ucon, one of the four dissenters, maintained there was a growing feeling that “the potato commission operates without full view of the people it protects and that’s the potato growers.”

But that claim was flatly rejected by GOP President Pro Tem Jerry Twiggs of Blackfoot, a potato grower himself. And advocates claimed the bill is critical to protecting Idaho’s trademark because out-of-state purchasers will cooperate with commission investigations only on the assurance that their business records will remain confidential.