Sen. Mary Souza, R-Coeur d’Alene, says her now-pulled school elections bill, SB 1003a, wasn’t related to the 2013 fight for control of the Coeur d’Alene school board, and was a “good bill for good reasons.” Here is her full statement:

“I just want to clear up a point about S1103. This bill has absolutely nothing to do with any member of the CdA school board from the 2013 era. The impetus to change the election date came from Senator Jim Rice’s constituents. My idea was to open the zone-only voting to district wide, like in the county commissioner races. Sen. Rice and I worked together on complimentary bills last year, as you remember, and brought the effort back again this time in one combined bill. This is a good bill for good reasons. Political pressures have sidelined it for now but we will continue to work to improve voter involvement in these important school elections.”