The Senate has voted 5-29 on SB 1195a, the tax bill that was amended in the House, failing to concur with the changes the House made to the bill and killing it instead. SB 1195 was a bill to cut the unemployment insurance tax rate, but the House tacked on an income tax cut as well.

Sen. Todd Lakey, R-Nampa, told the Senate, “This bill is interesting. As the floor sponsor I’m the proponent of this bill that’s being presented today. I have amendments that I wasn’t involved in. And what I would ask is that you take an objective look at the bill and the amendments.”

“Let me share a little perspective,” Lakey said. “We pass bills, we send them to the body across the rotunda, they pass bills and send them to us. ... And we often agree. But sometimes we think their bill needs a little more polishing, and we do amendments to that bill.” In a “little more rare” move, he said, sometimes, “we take off the radiator cap and put a good solid Ford underneath it and send the Chevy to the scrap heap and send the Ford back across the aisle. We’ve done that once this session. This bill hasn’t been radiator capped. But using that same analogy, I think they noticed the trailer hitch on the back of this bill and attached a travel-trailer to it. So I think this bill has been travel-trailered.”

Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, said, “This is unfortunate. Our employers are going to end up paying more unemployment tax than they should because of the games that were played with this bill. This senator votes no.”

Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, said, “I agree with the comments the senator from 2 just made. It is unfortunate that we’re here. We run the risk of not having any tax relief this year. We’re hopeful that the bill that is in the governor’s office gets full consideration, but this would have at least given us a second alternative, and I’m going to, because of the conflicts and the whole issue here, I’m going to vote no.”

The only "yes" votes were from Sens. Anthon, Davis, Hill, Lakey and Martin.

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