Speed limit bill dies in committee
Legislation to slow down cars on Idaho freeways while letting trucks go faster came screeching to a halt in the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday.
The committee voted unanimously to kill the bill, though the senators said they want to learn more about the issue from the state Transportation Department and the Idaho State Police.
Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home, proposed SB 1075 to set 70 mph as the top speed for trucks and cars. Cars now can go 75 mph, and trucks 65. Corder, who owns a trucking company, argued it would be safer if all went the same speed.
“This is really not an issue of truck against car. … I drive cars too,” Corder told the committee. After the hearing, he said, “If having this discussion helps us get better data, then I won.”
Lawmakers work on agency budgets
Legislators began setting agency budgets for next year Tuesday, and at least initially, they stuck close to Gov. Butch Otter’s bare-bones recommendations.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee set a budget that increases state funding for the Department of Environmental Quality by 6.8 percent, slightly above Otter’s recommendation of 5.9 percent. Much of the difference came from an item lawmakers are including in every state agency budget to restore health care premium funding to its normal level after surpluses last year allowed the state to give workers a one-month “premium holiday.”
Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, made a last-minute addition to the DEQ budget, adding $60,000 to increase mercury monitoring.
The lawmakers agreed with the governor to fund a spill-prevention program for underground storage tanks, but not provide any new staffers.
The DEQ budget includes $1.5 million for a pilot program lawmakers approved last year offering incentives to owners who clean up contaminated properties.
Senate approves $9.75 wolf tags
The state Senate voted 35-0 Tuesday to charge Idaho residents $9.75 to legally hunt a wolf once the predators are removed from federal protection, a development expected this year or early in 2008.
For out-of-state hunters, a wolf tag would run $150, according to the bill that now goes to the House.
Those are the same prices as tags to hunt black bears and cougars, two species Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, says will provide the model for wolf management in Idaho once delisting occurs.
Schroeder, sponsor of the legislation, told colleagues in the Senate that the state Fish and Game Commission will manage wolves so their numbers don’t dwindle to endangered levels. If that happened, federal wildlife managers would again step in and assume control.
His bill also allows for 10 wolf tags to be available for special auctions or lotteries by nonprofit conservation groups, to be selected by the commission. Auction sponsors could keep as much as 5 percent of the proceeds.
Wolves were reintroduced to the northern Rocky Mountains, including Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, a decade ago after being hunted to near-extinction. More than 1,200 now live in the region, including about 650 in Idaho.
Bill would aid immigrants’ kids
A bill introduced in the Idaho Legislature on Tuesday would let undocumented students attend college for the same price as state residents, saving them thousands annually in education costs.
The Idaho Student Investment Act, which would benefit the children of illegal immigrants, was cleared by the House Education Committee. The panel will now formally debate the bill.
The bill would allow Idaho students, regardless of immigration status, to pay in-state tuition if they’ve earned a high school diploma and lived in the state for three years. They would have to say they’ve applied for legal residency – the green card – or promise to do so as soon as possible.
Randy Johnson, a lobbyist for the Idaho Community Action Network, said the bill is meant to encourage all Idaho kids to go to college. Many children of immigrants are now barred because of the prohibitive costs, Johnson said.
State residents at Boise State University pay $4,154 per year for tuition. Out-of-state students pay nearly $12,000.
“We want people who have grown up in Idaho to still be able to obtain a degree and have the incentive to finish high school,” Johnson said.
Some lawmakers are skeptical, however, saying they won’t support anything that could be seen as encouraging illegal immigration.
Compiled from staff
and wire reports