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Eye on Boise: Leadership changes coming to Legislature

When the Idaho Legislature convenes its organizational session on Dec. 4, six committee chairmanships and two leadership posts will be up for grabs.

In the Senate, Education Committee Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, lost in the GOP primary to Mary Souza; and Resources Committee Chairman Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, lost in the primary to Abby Lee, creating two chairman vacancies.

In the House, Business Committee Chairman Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, retired; Local Government Committee Chairwoman Lenore Hardy Barrett, R-Challis, was defeated in the primary; Resources Committee Chairman Lawerence Denney left the House to run successfully for Idaho secretary of state; and Ways & Means Committee Chairman Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, retired after five terms in the House.

The two leadership positions that are vacant: Senate Majority Caucus Chair Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, left the Legislature to run unsuccessfully against Gov. Butch Otter in the GOP primary; and House Assistant Minority Leader Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, was elected to the Senate.

The organizational session will follow two days of orientation for new and returning lawmakers, including a half-day “Law School for Legislators” on Dec. 3 covering ethics laws, campaign finance and lobbying disclosure and public records.

Marriage arguments

The plaintiffs in Idaho’s same-sex marriage case – four Idaho couples – have filed their response to Gov. Butch Otter’s petition for a hearing before a larger panel of judges at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Otter is asking the court to reconsider the ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in Idaho as of Oct. 15, a decision that upheld a May U.S. District Court decision.

“Idaho’s marriage ban previously denied same-sex couples the vast array of protections that enable married couples to join their lives together, to care for one another in times of illness and crisis, to provide for one another financially, to make important joint decisions, to plan for retirement, to be recognized as a surviving spouse in the event of the other partner’s death, and to have their relationship recognized and respected by the government and third parties,” the plaintiffs’ response said. “It also stigmatized their relationships and families, inviting and sanctioning both public and private discrimination and subjecting children being raised by same-sex parents to needless humiliation and harm.”

Granting Otter’s petition “would create uncertainty regarding the security of the hundreds of marriages that have already taken place and the ability of same-sex couples to continue to be treated as equal citizens and to marry on an equal basis with other couples going forward,” attorney Deborah Ferguson wrote in the response.

Otter had argued for an en banc review, which at the 9th Circuit means an 11-judge panel would rehear the case previously decided by a three-judge panel. In his petition, he argued that legal same-sex marriage presents “enormous risks to Idaho’s present and future children – including serious risks of increased fatherlessness, reduced parental financial and emotional support, increased crime, and greater psychological problems – with their attendant costs to Idaho and its citizens.”

The 9th Circuit is expected to reject the petition, but Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden plans to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Budget outlook

When the Legislative Council, the bipartisan leadership panel that handles matters between legislative sessions, held its November meeting, members welcomed some positive news about the state budget outlook.

The state general fund is on track toward an $85 million ending balance, or surplus, when fiscal year 2015 ends July 1, up from the estimate at the end of the legislative session of $79.4 million. “We’re glad to see the economy going the direction it is and at a little faster rate, as we recover from the recession,” said Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, who co-chairs the Legislative Council.

He was particularly pleased to hear estimates from legislative budget analyst Paul Headlee that while this year’s public school budget is $44 million below the fiscal year 2009 level in state general funds, if current requests are funded, next year’s would finally exceed the 2009 level, by roughly $43 million.

That’s based on state schools Superintendent Tom Luna’s proposed 6.4 percent budget increase for next year, which could be amended by his newly elected successor, Sherri Ybarra.

“If we were to follow the recommendations so far, we will have restored all of those cuts plus shown some increases,” Hill said.

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