Purple Hearts a Capitol highlight

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne capped his final State of the State speech by presenting Purple Hearts to four Idaho soldiers wounded in Iraq, drawing a sustained standing ovation and even tears from some lawmakers.

“We stand among heroes,” Kempthorne said after pinning the medals on the desert-camouflage uniforms of each of the four young men, who stood erect in front of a joint session of the Legislature. “After all that has been said tonight about the state of the state, I believe that these soldiers leave no doubt – Idaho is in good hands.”

That emotional climax to the speech came after Kempthorne laid out an array of initiatives he’ll push for this year: A 3 percent raise for state employees, effective by the end of this month; the first state school budget to exceed $1 billion, a 4.9 percent increase; lowering the supermajority to pass school bonds to 60 percent if the vote takes place at the primary or general election; cracking down on sex offenders and gangs and building a $16 million prison expansion; renovating Idaho’s state parks and building a new one in eastern Idaho; and taking the first step toward setting up a statewide community college system.

The governor also wants to send a check to every Idahoan for $50, to help make up for recent high energy costs – at a total cost of $63 million.

“We have seen some … historic times,” Kempthorne told lawmakers as he begins his eighth and final year as governor. “We still have history to write together.”

Meanwhile, lawmakers spent the first week of the 2006 legislative session moving quickly through committee hearings, where they considered – among other things – the problem of human trafficking.

“We don’t have the kind of problem they have in California and New York and the Miami area,” said state Sen. Denton Darrington, R-Delco. “But it does occur, and we have testimony to that effect.”

He co-chaired an interim committee charged with researching the issue and recommending legislation.

Concerns that human trafficking involving polygamists’ wives was moving into Idaho, and that child brides were being brought in from Mexico, led to formation of the committee.