From The Capitol

Make time for kids, first lady asks

First lady Patricia Kempthorne is encouraging parents to slow the fast pace of their lives and schedule time for children and family activities.

During a speech to the Twin Falls Republican Women about family life and children, she encouraged mothers to become better parents by making their children the top priority.

Vets say they are being snubbed

Legislative budget writers reaffirmed their earlier decision to qualify the state’s three veterans homes for federal Medicaid reimbursement on Tuesday over continuing objections from veterans groups.

“There is a perception that Medicaid assistance is bad, that you are on the welfare rolls and a veteran should not have to stoop to that,” Senate Finance Vice Chairman Dean Cameron of Rupert said. “But it does not mean that by making these homes Medicaid eligible, we are somehow lessening our respect for them,” he said.

But the veterans’ spokesmen, who a day earlier saw Gov. Dirk Kempthorne sign legislation making the Division of Veterans Services independent of the Health and Welfare Department, were having none of it.

Independence for the division was intended to free veterans from the welfare stigma, they said, and sticking with the decision to put the veterans homes in Boise, Pocatello and Lewiston under the state-federal health care program simply undermines that independence.

House takes endangered species from Fish and Game

The House gave final legislative approval on Tuesday to a plan consolidating comprehensive state endangered species policy in the governor’s office, shifting it from the Fish and Game Commission’s biological focus.

Opposition in the 61-8 vote came from Democrats concerned that sweeping authority for the new five-person Office of Species Conservation would usurp Fish and Game’s legal mandate to perpetuate wildlife populations .

The bill is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.

Environmental and conservation interests have argued that the proposal could silence biological and other experts during debate on how to save or restore animal and plant species proposed for federal protection or already listed. But supporters contend the change only recognizes the need for state policies to include not just biology but economic, political and social implications.

The new office also would be a clearinghouse for ranchers, loggers and other people coping with the impact of decisions imposed on the state for the protection or restoration of such species as wolves, salmon and grizzly bear.

In addition, the office would oversee a process for creating state management plans for species eventually removed from the endangered list.