Risch considers special session
Acting Gov. Jim Risch said Wednesday that he’d consider calling a special session of the Legislature this summer if lawmakers come up with an innovative way to provide substantial property tax relief that can win broad support.
“I’m seeing more innovative thinking and more open-mindedness on this issue than I’ve seen in some time,” Risch said in an interview.
He added, “The legislators themselves were very disappointed that they didn’t do more regarding property tax, and when they got home, I think they found their constituents were even more disappointed than they were.
“There is a looming surplus. … Things are different.”
Risch said he’s been contacted by lawmakers from both the House and Senate about the idea, but declined to say how many.
In this year’s legislative session, a package of property tax reforms passed, including the first increase in the homeowner’s exemption since its enactment in 1982.
But the House and Senate deadlocked over a House proposal to raise the sales tax while cutting property tax funding for schools, and various versions of that proposal failed.
Risch said he wasn’t bothered by the idea of restarting a debate that dominated this year’s 93-day legislative session in the middle of an election cycle, right between the primary and general elections.
Every seat in the Legislature is up for election this year, and Idaho also is electing a new governor.
Risch said, “I have a passion for property tax relief. If it looks like it’s going to happen and I can help make it happen, I’m going to make it happen.”
Coeur d’Alene
Dismissal sought in NIC drug death
Attorneys for a former North Idaho College student charged with involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of a classmate argued in court Wednesday that the case should be dismissed.
Cameron Jester’s public defender, Lynn Nelson, said it’s double jeopardy if the case isn’t dismissed because Jester was already sentenced on a related charge for allegedly delivering the drug that killed 18-year-old Gloria Discerni.
First District Judge Charles Hosack on Wednesday said he would take the issue under advisement before rendering a decision.
A grand jury indicted Jester, 20, on the charges in December.
He was charged in October 2004 for possession and delivery of the drug that allegedly killed Discerni and sentenced to three years’ probation.
Authorities initially thought Discerni had died of an LSD overdose, but the drug was later determined to be 5-MeO-AMT, a designer drug likely manufactured illegally.
Kootenai County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Lansing Haynes said Wednesday that he didn’t believe double jeopardy, prohibited by Idaho law, applied in the case.
Haynes said the previous case against Jester charged him with attempting to deliver the drugs to Discerni, but also named two other women.
According to court minutes, Haynes argued that double jeopardy could apply if the state had first charged Jester with manslaughter and then later came back and charged him with attempted delivery of the drugs.
Haynes said it’s not an issue since the involuntary manslaughter case wasn’t filed first.
Kootenai County
Suspicious requests for bail reported
If someone calls claiming to be your grandchild asking for bail money, think twice before wiring money to Canada, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.
The department recently received complaints from two citizens who received such phone calls, Capt. Ben Wolfinger said in a press release. Neither person wired the money to Canada, Wolfinger said.
Wolfinger said people should never send money to anyone unless they are positive they know who the recipient is.
“Unfortunately, people will try to scam money from innocent folks many different ways,” Wolfinger said.
Compiled from staff reports