Legislature Still Has Some Issues To Resolve Lawmakers Plan To End 1997 Session On Tuesday, But Much Work Remains For Both Houses

Leaders of the Idaho Legislature have made it clear they intend to adjourn the 1997 session on Tuesday. That means today will be a long day as lawmakers wrap up a handful of key issues.

The Senate still plans to consider imposing state income tax on significant Idaho Lottery winnings and reforming the initiative process.

The House, meanwhile, is expected to take final action on telephone deregulation, a tax break for married couples, raising the state minimum wage, campaign finance reform and designating “outstanding resource waters.”

The House Ways and Means Committee also will consider a resolution encouraging Gov. Phil Batt to create a committee to study gambling. It is the session’s only remnant of efforts to rein in the electronic pull-tab games at reservation casinos that have been making Indian tribes so much money.

Here is a look at the major bills facing final action today and Tuesday:

Lottery tax: The House-passed bill would impose a state income tax on lottery winnings except those under $600. Jackpots won through the end of this year would be exempt. Sponsors hope to raise about $1 million a year for anti-drug programs targeted at teenagers. But critics - including Lottery Director Dennis Jackson - contend it would generate only about $300,000 and could cost the state more than that in lost ticket sales.

Initiative reform: Approved by the House, the measure would change the number of signatures from registered voters required to put an initiative on the general election ballot to 6 percent of the number who voted in the prior election. Initiative sponsors now must submit a number of signatures equal to 10 percent of the vote in the last election for governor.

In addition, the change would require signatures to be from at least 22 of Idaho’s 44 counties, limit the petition drive to 18 months and allow the legality of propositions to be determined before the election by the Idaho Supreme Court.

Telephone deregulation: The House must sign off on a Senate-approved change to a bill setting the framework for implementing federally mandated deregulation. The amendment clarifies just when local telephone exchange companies will become deregulated.

The bill would make state law conform to the requirements of federal telecommunications deregulation passed by Congress a year ago in an attempt to make the industry more competitive. Wary lawmakers have been assured by state utility regulators that customers will be better off with Idaho’s own deregulation scheme than one federal officials would propose.

Marriage penalty: The House will consider ratifying the Senate’s decision to delay for a year the phased-in implementation of a maximum $2-a-week tax break for married couples.

The Senate-passed bill would eliminate the so-called marriage penalty in the state income tax over four years beginning with the 1999 tax year. More than 150,000 married couples would get the break.

But Batt has expressed concerns about estimates that it would cost the state $4.5 million in tax revenue during the 1999-2000 state budget year and $12 million a year overall.

Minimum wage: A bill supported by the Idaho Hospitality Association and the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry would raise the state minimum wage to $4.75 per hour on April 1 and to $5.15 on Sept. 1, bringing the state in line with the current federal minimum wage. However, employers would be allowed to pay a training wage of $4.25 per hour to employees under age 20 for their first 90 days on the job.

The minimum hourly wage for tipped employees under state law now is $3.19. It would remain about the same after April 1 under the Senate-passed bill and would increase to $3.35 per hour after August. The federal minimum wage for such employees as waiters and waitresses is only $2.13 per hour.

Campaign finance reform: Batt supports the Senate-passed bill that would, for the first time, limit contributions to state political races. The bill also would require more reporting from independent groups.

The measure’s most controversial section would require groups such as the Idaho Education Association and unions to obtain written permission from each of their members annually before using dues or checkoffs for political purposes.

Stream protection: The House will consider proposed amendments to a bill that would designate some streams as “outstanding resource waters.”

The designation would establish the state’s highest water quality standards on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, and the Selway River and three of its tributaries in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

Proposed amendments to the bill that was rejected and then resurrected by the House Resources and Conservation Committee include delaying the designation’s effective date until July 1, 1998.