Seniors’ protest turns to ‘thanks’
A group of senior citizens was planning a demonstration on the Statehouse steps last week to protest budget cuts at the state’s Commission on Aging – but then they found out legislative budget writers had granted the agency twice the budget increase the governor had recommended. The protest turned into a “thank you” rally, with dozens of seniors on the Capitol steps carrying signs saying things like “Thank you, JFAC” and “Caldwell seniors say Thanks.”
Members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee happily greeted the seniors and shook hands.
The agency, which provides such services as Meals on Wheels, adult protection, respite care and homemaker help, had been hit hard by budget holdbacks and stagnant federal funding in recent years, and Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was recommending a 6.8 percent increase in funding next year. But with growing numbers of seniors, some worried they’d lose needed services. Then, when JFAC set the budget, the lawmakers granted a 12.8 percent increase in general funds.
“We are in a growth industry,” said Administrator Lois Bauer. “Everybody keeps getting older. … They’re outliving their resources.” With the services the agency provides, she said, seniors can stay in their homes longer and live independently. “It really does offer them a lot of dignity.”
Lobbying the executive branch
House Bill 707, bipartisan legislation to require those who lobby the executive branch of state government to register with the state and disclose spending just like those who lobby the Legislature, has passed the House on a unanimous, 68-0 vote.
Floor sponsors Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, and Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, noted that Idaho is now one of only 14 states that doesn’t have such a requirement. “It’s about time,” Jaquet said. Clark said, “It will shine a light, and a very bright light, on the executive branch. … HB 707 will make government more transparent.”
House Speaker Bruce Newcomb is the lead sponsor of the bill, which goes further than an earlier measure developed in the Senate.
Lawmakers also have agreed to tighten up restrictions on campaign contributions, prohibiting donations from various subsidiaries to get around contribution limits.
Grinning and bearing it
The elevator on the Senate side of the state Capitol rotunda – the historic, brass-trimmed one with the awful pink interior – has been out of service for several days, and Sen. Denton Darrington, R-Declo, announced today that it’ll be out for a few more. The problem? The main bearing went out, and attempts to find one like it both nationwide and internationally turned up nothing. Now, special materials are being shipped in to a Boise machine shop to manufacture a new bearing, so it’ll be a few more days. All of which serves to highlight the need for renovation of the state Capitol, which has been on hold for several years but for which legislation is now moving through.
Valuable experience
House and Senate pages are kept busy during formal floor sessions, delivering messages, carrying documents back and forth and so on, but they try to do so without interfering with the debates in any way.
So when Rep. Janice McGeachin, R-Idaho Falls, rose to open debate on HB 583 in the House, on expungement of criminal records of innocent parties, an innocent page was passing right in front of her, and sank to his knees, hiding behind the desk in front of her, for her lengthy opening debate.
At its end, House Majority Leader Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, commented, “Good job, Ian. Ian got caught right in front of her, so he was on his knees the whole time – but he knew better than to get up.”
Mandatory reading
When the House was debating (at length) the (lengthy) public infrastructure improvement district bill Tuesday, House Assistant Majority Leader Mike Moyle, who opposed it, noted, “This is all new language – how many of you have read the 17 pages of new language that’s in the bill?”
He said he only saw six hands. The bill, HB 485, was defeated.