Noise standard loud and clear

Legislation prompted by an outcry over plans to upgrade a shooting range at Farragut State Park has passed both houses of the Legislature unanimously.

“I don’t know if any of you heard about the little problem we had up north with Farragut shooting range,” Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, told the Senate. “They about shut it down, and that has been a rifle or shooting range for over 50 years.”

The range has been closed since last March, after a successful lawsuit by neighbors brought a court order to improve safety at the range and to limit its use to 500 user days per year until noise issues are addressed. The state Department of Fish and Game closed the range at that point but is hoping to have some limited use there this year, such as a youth shotgun clinic.

The bill, HB 515, sets noise standards for state-operated shooting ranges like the one at Farragut, and bans nuisance lawsuits based on noise if the ranges meet those standards. It had 28 legislative co-sponsors, including 11 from North Idaho.

The Farragut range still has to comply with the judge’s order, which calls for improvements to ensure that no bullets can fly outside the range, along with addressing noise. Chip Corsi, regional supervisor for Fish and Game, said now that legislation sets a noise standard, design can begin on the safety improvements with an eye to meeting those standards. Corsi said he hopes the improved range will come in below the noise limit set by the standard, 64 decibels.

“It was a historic range that was there since the days of the Navy base in World War II,” Corsi said. The court order, he said, was “really what we were planning to do all along, rebuild this range to make it safer and quieter.”

Broadsword, one of the numerous co-sponsors of the bill, which at press time awaited Gov. Butch Otter’s signature, said, “I’m a firm believer in knowing what you’re moving next to – if you don’t want to live next door to a shooting range, don’t move next door to a shooting range.”

She added, “I hope that the folks in Bayview will come to realize it’s not aimed at taking away anything from them – it was more aimed at preserving our rights as Idaho citizens. I do believe in our ability to own and operate firearms.”

House changes stance, backs film incentive

The House has voted 51-17 in favor of an incentive for the film industry in Idaho backed by Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, after rejecting a similar measure by one vote last year. “Idaho’s film industry is currently a fledgling industry,” Anderson told the House.

Under the measure, HB 592, film productions that meet certain eligibility standards, including spending $200,000 in the state and hiring at least 20 percent of their film crews in-state, could get a 20 percent rebate on purchases in Idaho, up to $500,000 per production. Over five years, the required percentage of Idaho employees would rise to 35 percent. The Associated Press dubbed the bill’s House passage “a sign that sequels sometimes fare better than originals.”

How states could become top workplaces

The State Perspectives Institute at Boston College is partnering with the Boise-based Twiga Foundation, headed by former Idaho First Lady Patricia Kempthorne, on a project to assess the readiness of states to become “employers-of-choice” by recognizing the aging of the public-sector workforce and developing workplace flexibility practices to make states suitable employers “at all life stages.” Not mentioned: Raising pay and cutting benefits, as proposed by the current Otter Administration to make Idaho a more desirable employer for younger workers.

Eerie similarities …

Here’s something to ponder: Last week, just as Idaho Gov. Butch Otter withdrew his $150-per-car vehicle registration fee proposal, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter abandoned his unpopular bid to raise car-registration fees there an average of $100. His spokesman, Evan Dreyer, told the Denver Post that the governor had “challenged lawmakers to pick up the ball and move it down the field,” but, “At this time, there doesn’t appear to be any movement.” A state panel there had concluded that Colorado needed to raise another $500 million a year to adequately maintain roads and bridges. Here in Idaho, the figure is somewhere around $240 million …

Let me just ‘walk you through’ that …

This year’s legislative catch phrase seems to be “walk you through,” as in, “Let me walk you through the bill.” It suggests that the person being addressed is perhaps elderly or disabled, and needs a helpful hand on their arm to gently steer them through as they walk the treacherous path toward understanding a given proposal. Past years have seen rising and falling popularity for other legislative catch phrases, including “sausage making,” “sideboards,” “not rocket science,” “step up to the plate” and the ever-popular “slippery slope.” Also making frequent appearances this year is the old “camel’s nose under the tent,” though this year the phrase often has variations, such as a recent assertion in Senate debate that the “camel has bad breath.”