Liquor funds could help battle drug use

BOISE – A North Idaho legislator on Monday proposed using more money from state liquor sales to expand drug and mental health courts in Idaho.

The legislation by Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, would divert $2 million from the state’s general fund to a new substance abuse-treatment account. It would also mandate hundreds of thousands of dollars of liquor money be spent on coordinating courts, drug testing and offender supervision.

The change would allow drug and mental health courts to deal with an estimated 275 more offenders in 2008, according to the bill’s statement of purpose.

The proposal increases the amount transferred annually to the drug abuse-treatment fund, formerly an alcoholism-treatment fund, from $1.2 million to roughly $2.1 million.

With a deadline for most legislative committees to introduce legislation falling on Monday, lawmakers have initiated a flurry of other bills in recent days. Here are a few:

“ The House Health and Welfare Committee introduced a bill by Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, to revise and expand Idaho’s licensing requirements for child-care providers. The law would apply to providers who care for two or more children and would mandate health and safety inspections, fire inspections, criminal history checks and first-aid training. It would also create staff-child ratios. Lawmakers rejected a similar proposal in 2005 over concerns that it would harm rural providers.

“ Members of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee launched legislation Monday to provide an investment tax credit to Idaho fuel retailers or distributors who invest in providing biofuels to customers. With a cost of $50,000 in 2008, the bill would cost an estimated $450,000 over five years if every Idaho fuel retailer and wholesaler participated. The legislation would allow investors to receive a refund of 6 percent of the amount they invested. Sponsored by Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, it would expire at the end of 2011. The state’s recently released energy plan calls for more incentives to promote alternative fuels.

“ Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, introduced a bill in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Monday to decrease the cap on local tax levies for community colleges. His legislation, a recommendation by an interim committee that studied how to expand community colleges in the state, would reduce the maximum levy from 0.16 percent to 0.125 percent of market value of property in hopes of encouraging voters to approve more colleges. That’s still below the level currently charged by either of the state’s existing community colleges.