Law signed just in time for March Madness
BOISE – Idaho officials can soon stop being “shocked, shocked!” that gambling is going on – in the form of office pools or penny-ante poker games.
Gov. Butch Otter has signed into law HB 422, which allows prosecutors and law enforcement officers to exercise discretion over whether they go after any act of gambling; current law makes it a misdemeanor crime for prosecutors or officers to fail to prosecute if they know about any gambling, no matter how small scale. The law’s been cited in reports about a recent bust of a $20 poker game at a senior center in Twin Falls.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, passed both houses of the Legislature with just a single no vote in each house, and Otter signed it into law without comment. It takes effect July 1.
‘Drinking out of a fire hose’
Former Bonners Ferry Mayor Darrell Kerby was thrown right into the thick of things in the Legislature when he showed up to substitute for Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, who was with her husband, Mike, as he faced open-heart surgery.
Kerby’s first hours on the job: The tumultuous budget-setting session for the state transportation budget, including a split among North Idaho’s delegation that led to multiple deadlocked votes in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.
“I’m kind of drinking out of a fire hose, coming down here in the middle of a session that’s already heated,” he said. Kerby said he was in constant contact with Keough via e-mail during the debate, and voted as she directed. “She was engaged during that,” Kerby said.
Kerby said he understood the concerns of both sides in the North Idaho lawmakers’ split over funding for the next installment of the Garwood-to-Sagle project on U.S. Highway 95. “The need is so great,” he said. “It’s going to get done – it’s just I want it sooner rather than later, and I don’t want any barriers.”
Going after raccoons
Legislation is scampering through to classify raccoons as “predatory wildlife” to ease control of the pesky critters. “We have a year-round season on raccoons,” said Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, sponsor of SB 1286. “If you have a hunting and trapping license, you can take as many as you want, any time of the year. … The season’s open all year long and you can have as many as you want, and they’re common nuisance animals in both urban and rural areas.”
Reclassifying raccoons as predators will allow both citizens and control agents to dispose of raccoons without worrying about possession laws or limits. Here’s how enthusiastic House Resources Committee members were about the bill: Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg, said, “I know it’s not the correct protocol for the committee, but if I could I’d like to vote twice, once for me and once for my wife – the raccoons are terrible with her corn in her garden.”
Incentive to give
Legislation co-sponsored by Gov. Butch Otter, Senate Tax Chairman Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, and House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, would temporarily boost an existing tax credit for donations to Idaho schools, libraries, and Idaho Public Television, and also expand it to cover the state Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Developmental Disabilities Council, the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Commission on Hispanic Affairs and the State Independent Living Council. Otter said he’s trying to drum up “voluntary” support of those agencies, as they face cuts in state funding.
The measure, HB 630, would increase the credit to $500 for a single filer, from $100 now, and $1,000 for a couple, from $200 now. For corporate taxpayers, the maximum annual credit is increased to $5,000, from $1,000. This could bring in $10 million a year to agencies, while only cutting revenue $5 million, supporters said; the bill would expire in five years.
Protecting kids online
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and Secretary of State Ben Ysursa have unveiled a new, updated version of their “ProtecTeens” DVD, which informs parents about how to protect children and teens from sexual predators on the Internet.
State Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna and an array of other partners in the project joined Wasden and Ysursa for the unveiling; it updates a program first developed by Wasden’s office in 2005 that’s seen more than 100,000 copies distributed and hundreds of presentations made to schools and organizations around the state. “We know that it has prevented children from being victimized,” Wasden said.
The new video includes sections on Internet risks and safe practices; social networking; online chat and instant messaging; cell phones and “sexting;” online gaming and virtual worlds; and cyberbullying. Said Wasden, “This new video … includes subjects that were not even on the radar screen five years ago.”
The entire video, which can be viewed in full or in sections, is available online at the attorney general’s Web site, www2.state.id.us/ag/; it’s also available in Spanish. The ProtecTeens Web site also includes related tools for parents, including an Internet lingo dictionary, a family Internet contract and more.