The big three
Education
The state Board of Education wants to require more math and science for high school students to graduate, along with other requirements. Community college expansion is a hot issue this year, with the Boise area pushing for its own campus.
Education funding is the largest piece of the state budget, and lawmakers have more say over funding levels now that they’ve shifted basic school operational funding from the property tax to the state budget.
Where things stand: Lawmakers set a budget for public schools for next year totaling $1.37 billion in general funds, a 5.9 percent increase over this year’s budget, including 3 percent more for teacher pay. For community colleges, legislative budget writers approved a 6.9 percent increase in state funding, and for the state’s four-year colleges and universities, 8.4 percent.
The House defeated a proposal to set standards for early childhood learning programs and passed another measure saying the state shouldn’t impinge on the role of parents in educating preschoolers. Tougher math and science requirements for high school graduation won approval. Efforts to ease election rules to form a new community college district failed.
Taxes
With the sales tax at 6 percent – lawmakers raised it from 5 percent in August – attention has turned to the fact that Idaho is one of only nine states that fully taxes groceries. Many want to either repeal that tax or offset it with an enhanced grocery tax credit.
Business interests are pushing for a big tax break on the personal property tax and hope to trim back property tax relief granted to homeowners last year.
Where things stand: Gov. Butch Otter proposed a targeted grocery tax credit to give a big credit to low-income Idahoans, but lawmakers on the House’s tax committee rejected it in favor of a pricier proposal from Rep. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, to raise the credit for everyone. That measure passed the House 62-7, but ran into trouble in the Senate, which decided to put the bill up for amendment. The measure would raise the current $20 annual credit to $50, and for seniors the credit would rise from $35 to $70; the total price tag would be $47.5 million a year. Senators proposed four major amendments last week, but none garnered majority support. They’ll try again this week.
Meanwhile, the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry is pushing hard for House Bill 245, which would phase out a large property tax on business equipment, eventually granting businesses an annual tax break of nearly $100 million. HB 245 passed the House on Friday and heads to the Senate.
Growth
Idaho’s growing population and changing economy have created pressure on everything from roads to prisons to water use.
Where things stand: After two days of hearings, the House tax committee voted down local-option tax legislation that would have allowed communities to pass local sales taxes to pay for public transit. Two other local-option tax measures also were killed in committee. Lawmakers heard that Idaho’s transportation needs and costs have been skyrocketing, but the revenue source for transportation – the 25-cents-a-gallon state gas tax – has been relatively flat for more than a decade. The House passed legislation to allow large retail projects, such as Cabela’s in Post Falls, to finance major road improvements such as freeway interchanges, then get paid back from the sales taxes they collect.
The bill now moves to the Senate. Highway bonding plans remain in limbo; the governor has proposed an additional $264 million round of bonding for major improvements including upgrades to Highway 95 in North Idaho.