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Two Otter proposals shot down

The Spokesman-Review

Gov. Butch Otter saw two of his top proposals rejected by the Republican-led Legislature last week.

First, the new governor’s targeted grocery tax relief bill was defeated in a House committee Tuesday. The committee passed a different measure to raise the grocery tax credit for all Idahoans. The full House voted 62-7 to approve the bill Thursday, then sent it to the Senate.

Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, called Otter’s proposal “a Robin Hood scenario – take from the rich and give to the poor.” The middle class needs some help, too, Harwood said.

Otter’s bill sought to give a big tax break on groceries to low-income Idahoans – up to $90 a year. But the break would phase out as incomes rise, with higher-income families getting no credit.

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee instead voted 14-4 to pass HB 81, sponsored in part by 10 North Idaho lawmakers. It would raise the grocery tax credit for everyone to $50 a year, up from $20. For seniors, the tax credit would double to $70. The bill would cost the state an additional $47.5 million a year in lost sales tax revenue, more than twice as much as the governor’s $22 million plan.

The next day, a House committee rejected Otter’s plan to make it easier to form a community college district. Only three Republicans on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted for the GOP governor’s proposal to allow a 60 percent, rather than two-thirds, vote to form a district if the vote occurs at a general election.

Minimum wage bill advances

Faced with rival plans for boosting the state’s minimum wage, legislators picked a Republican-backed bill Tuesday to tie the state’s wage to the national minimum wage but rejected a Democratic proposal to require annual increases based on the rate of inflation.

The House State Affairs Committee voted unanimously to introduce a bill presented by Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, to conform the state’s current $5.15 minimum wage to future changes in the federal rate. Congress is considering an increase to $7.25 an hour.