House OKs sales tax exemption

Boise A special sales tax exemption for Lignetics Inc. in Sandpoint and three similar wood-pellet manufacturing businesses around the state passed the House on Tuesday, despite protests that Idaho has too many sales tax exemptions already.

Reps. George Eskridge, R-Dover, and Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, told the House that Idaho wood-pellet and firelog businesses are at a competitive disadvantage because surrounding states give such businesses a production exemption from the sales tax on materials they use. Idaho doesn’t extend its production exemption to energy-related businesses because it doesn’t charge sales tax on utilities.

“These companies are not even threatening to leave Idaho – they are merely struggling to stay in business,” Eskridge told the House.

HB 369 passed the House on a 58-11 vote. All Panhandle representatives except Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, voted in favor. Clark said, “I’m tired of exemptions. … We have to do something about exemptions. Just passing these one or two a year, it’s killing us.”

Rep. Mike Mitchell, R-Lewiston, said sales tax exemptions now cost the state well over $1 billion a year, and there’s no process for re-examining whether they’re still needed once they’re on the books.

The bill now moves to the Senate, where it may not have time to reach final passage, as the Legislature is pushing to adjourn its session this week.

Boundary County school levy rejected

An $800,000 school levy was rejected by Boundary County voters on Tuesday, four days after the county’s largest private employer announced it is going out of business.

Unofficial returns posted on the school district’s Web page showed the issue failing, with 1,220 yes votes and 1,302 no votes.

The public school levy may have suffered from unfortunate timing. About 300 private-school teachers, counselors, administrators and others lost their jobs Friday when CEDU Educational Services announced it was going out of business.

But the school district has had trouble passing levies in the past. Last year’s request was barely approved.

The one-year levy on Tuesday’s ballot was smaller than the levy expiring this spring, and even if it had passed, the district would have had to cut $185,000 from its budget.

Tuesday’s failure could mean drastic cuts throughout the district. Among the possibilities recommended by a grass-roots committee: closure of Naples Elementary School, and limiting kindergarten to two days a week.

District officials have said they will pursue the possibility of a local-option sales tax to help fund schools and ease the burden on property owners.

Victims’ advocate, two others, are arraigned

Boise Three people including a woman who once led a statewide campaign for victims’ rights were charged with kidnapping in a case police allege – but won’t detail – that is connected to the killing of a 22-year-old Boise man earlier this month.

Barbara Dehl, 49, Ronald Huntsman, 46, and Larry Hanslovan, 43, appeared in separate video arraignments Monday in a Boise courtroom. They are accused of kidnapping and threatening to torture a 17-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man.

Prosecutors allege the kidnappings led to the killing of another man, John Schmeichel, 22, at about the same time, but only Huntsman also has been charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in Schmeichel’s shooting death.

Dehl, who is scheduled to return to court April 7 for a preliminary hearing, drew national recognition in 2000 with her successful fight for a law to protect teenagers in violent dating relationships. The Nampa woman was the driving force behind a bill called Cassie’s Law in honor of her late daughter.

Dehl’s daughter died after a vehicle driven by her boyfriend plunged off a U.S. Forest Service road in eastern Idaho in 1999. Her mother said the boyfriend was abusive, and said the state should have done more to protect her daughter.

INL to host Canadian companies

Idaho Falls Idaho National Laboratory extends a hand across the border this week in a move that officials say could strengthen energy security and encourage economic growth in both Canada and the United States.

Representatives from 31 Canadian companies will be visiting the lab to form partnerships and create business ventures.

The meeting is a first-of-its-kind technology exchange with Canada and the INL, according to Jack Lance, director of technology partnerships at the lab.

The discussions will center on five technologies: advanced energy and transportation, advanced nuclear energy, critical infrastructure, environmental solutions and unmanned vehicles and robotics.