Idaho legislative session priorities include education, roads

BOISE – This could be the year the Idaho Legislature finally moves toward long-sought goals, from restoring school funding to allowing floor debate on whether to ban discrimination against gays.

Boosting funding for maintaining the state’s deteriorating road system is high on the Legislature’s agenda. It’s something Gov. Butch Otter has sought unsuccessfully since his first term in office; he’s now starting his third. There’s another push for business tax cuts; reforms are in the works for oversight of state contracts; and Idaho finally could end its distinction as one of just three states with no personal financial disclosure requirements for lawmakers and state officials.

But some of those aims may collide – specifically restoring education funding and granting tax breaks to businesses.

“Education funding is a high priority for me,” said Brent Hill, a Rexburg Republican who is Senate president pro-tem.

And the Senate’s tax chairman, Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, already has drawn a line in the sand: His panel won’t consider any tax cuts until education is taken care of.

“If there’s a way we can get our education funded properly and there’s still enough revenue there, then we could look at some tax reductions,” Siddoway told his local newspaper, the Idaho Falls Post Register. “But from what I can see, there aren’t enough revenues available to do a tax reduction this year and still meet that requirement.”

He added, “Don’t underestimate the power of the chairman. I’ll darn sure use it.”

House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, said the state House of Representatives – where tax legislation starts – favors cuts. A “competitive and attractive tax structure” is key to attracting and keeping businesses in Idaho, he said. The state House will continue working on that issue.

But, he added, “Everyone agrees that it’d be nicer if teachers were paid more.”

School funding

Otter has committed to reverse deep cuts Idaho’s schools have suffered through the years of economic downturn, vowing to propose a budget that brings the schools at least back to their 2009 funding level. His task force for improving schools has proposals for big additions to that, including a new teacher career ladder that would boost pay for high-performing teachers and carries a hefty price tag.

“Financially speaking, the state is in great shape,” Otter said late last week. “So my budget is going to reflect that.”

But he warned that he still doesn’t want to grow state government, and he still favors beefing up state savings and considering tax cuts. “Now, whether or not we’re going to do it this year is another question, and that’s subject to debate once the Legislature gets started,” Otter said.

‘Add the Words’

After more than 100 people were arrested during last year’s legislative session at protests calling for a hearing on the “Add the Words” bill – to add the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights Act, banning discrimination on those bases – Otter, Hill and Bedke all are saying the bill will get a hearing this year. It’s been proposed the past nine legislative sessions without ever being granted a full hearing; twice, it received a preliminary hearing, at which only the sponsors are allowed to speak, but lawmakers refused to introduce the measure.

“It’s our desire to address this issue,” Bedke said. “At least, I would like to have a hearing.”

Hill said he remains concerned about religious rights but favors a hearing. As to why the bill would get a hearing this year and not in the previous nine, he said, “The answer is always: The time has come. … Let’s have a discussion.”

A poll released last week showed 67 percent of Idahoans now favor banning discrimination against gays.

Roads and bridges

Another long-sought measure is high on lawmakers’ agendas this year: finding a way to boost funding for Idaho’s roads and bridges, which studies show have a big-ticket maintenance backlog. “The citizens of Idaho have invested billions of dollars into this transportation system,” Bedke said. “I think we will take steps this year. There is this growing acknowledgment that we’ve got to do something, and from all quarters.”

Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, said, “It’s a matter not only of public safety but also of commerce and economics.”

School broadband network

Idaho lawmakers also may have to dig deep to fund continuing operation of a troubled state high school broadband network; the state’s $60 million contract for the Idaho Education Network was declared illegal by a judge last fall.

Medicaid expansion

A move that could save the state general fund and local property taxpayers tens of millions of dollars every year still is undecided. Idaho has not accepted federal funds to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which would cover residents who now turn to the state’s catastrophic care program when they can’t pay their medical bills. Though backers say it would save hundreds of lives each year along with taxpayer money, political objections in Idaho’s heavily Republican Legislature remain high.

Disclosure of personal finances

Another long-debated measure, to require Idaho lawmakers and other state elected officials to disclose their personal finances, finally may move this year. The Senate passed the bill unanimously in 2009, but then-House Speaker Lawerence Denney refused to allow it to be taken up in the House.

Denney was replaced as speaker by Bedke in 2012; he has left the Legislature and was elected Idaho’s new secretary of state.

“Citizens in general expect a certain amount of disclosure by their elected officials,” Hill said. “It provided some information that would help people know if there were a conflict of interest, and I just thought it was good legislation. I’d like to pursue it again.”