Otter outlines three top goals

BOISE – Gov. Butch Otter said Tuesday he’s holding out for three things to wrap up this year’s legislative session: a college scholarship plan, a targeted grocery tax credit increase and a highway bonding bill.

“In my meetings with leadership, I’ve made pretty clear several things that I want and several things that are important to me,” Otter told the Idaho Press Club. “And they know that, on both sides of the rotunda, so I think they’re going to try to do their best to satisfy some of those things.”

Otter weighed in on an array of hot legislative issues in a question-and-answer session with the Idaho Press Club on Tuesday. It was Otter’s first give-and-take with the news media since taking office this year.

“This is kinda fun,” he said an hour into the session, adding, “I said kind of!”

The governor acknowledged that his initiatives haven’t fared well with the Legislature, heavily dominated by his own party.

“There’s a lot of things that I pointed out in my State of the State (address) that haven’t passed. Unfortunately, I can’t think of one that has,” he said to laughter. But he noted that lawmakers’ state budget for next year came in close to his blueprint, at least on the bottom line. “I’d give myself an A on that,” he said.

Otter’s proposal for a $38 million endowment for college scholarships is bottled up in the House Education Committee, but he said he’s been talking with lawmakers about a compromise.

Otter indicated he won’t stand in the way of the legislative session wrapping up by the end of next week, as lawmakers are planning. “I’m not going to second-guess their enthusiasm for going home,” he said.

He made it clear he’s standing firm against a legislative proposal for an across-the-board increase in the grocery tax credit. The governor proposes the targeted credit designed to help the most needy.

On highway bonding, Otter said he “probably could live with” a new round of bonding in the range of “around 240-some million dollars.” Earlier, he’d called for $264 million in bonds for major highway improvements. This year, the state started the bonding plan, which includes major upgrades to U.S. Highway 95 in North Idaho, with an initial bond issue of $200 million.

“I’m hoping that before the Legislature leaves town, that we will … go forward with those projects that we’ve got the most invested (in) right now,” Otter said.

Here are some of the other issues Otter weighed in on Tuesday:

“He took issue with GOP legislation that passed the House to set a Dec. 1 cutoff date on his negotiations with the state’s Indian tribes over fuel taxes. “What I agreed to, what we negotiated, was that … if we were in negotiations that appeared to be going well, then I wanted a little more time to be able to do that instead of letting all that work go down the drain,” Otter said. But the waiver provision wasn’t in the bill that passed the House. Asked if he’d sign the bill without his favored amendment, Otter said, “I’m not prepared to answer that now. I’ve got to find out why.”

“The governor said he’s not holding out for his proposal to disband the state Department of Administration this year, a plan that’s drawn strong reservations from lawmakers. Two other agency changes he proposed are likely to be accomplished, he said, including splitting the Department of Commerce and Labor into two separate agencies.

“Otter said he supported legislation that the House Revenue and Taxation Committee killed to allow local-option sales taxes to fund public transit. “God bless these people that want to handle this on a local level in rapid transit. There’s a bill that I think is local determination, and if it had come down, I would’ve signed it,” he said.

“Otter came out against a proposal from his own party to require Idahoans to register with a political party in order to vote in primary elections. “I don’t like taking anybody’s choices away from them,” he said.

“He said he’ll call a press conference in his office – his first since his inauguration. Otter said he frequently talks with people who happen by at the YMCA or out on the street, but Tuesday was the first time in his nearly three months in office that he took questions on the record from all the media, which most governors do regularly.

“He touted his plans for a trade mission to Cuba, which will be his first trade mission as governor. “I don’t think it sends the wrong message,” he said, despite strained relations and a U.S. trade embargo against the nation. “The thing that irritates me I guess the most about the (U.S.) State Department’s policy toward Cuba is that it’s not a policy toward Cuba. You all sitting right here in this room, it’s a policy against you. You’re a free American, you oughta be able to travel anywhere you want, whenever you want.”

Otter said Cuba is developing its gas and oil resources and its value as a trade partner will increase.

He said that on previous trips to Cuba, he formed a “respectful friendship” with Cuban president Fidel Castro despite their political differences.