Lawmakers unlikely to finish Friday
BOISE – Lawmakers are canceling plans to go home for good this weekend.
Leaders in the state House and Senate said Wednesday there was little chance they’ll be done Friday, their self-imposed deadline to adjourn the 2007 Legislature.
They said next Tuesday or Wednesday is more likely, as they wrangle over a still-unresolved grocery tax credit and late-session issues that have emerged surrounding the $1 billion “Connecting Idaho” highway-building program.
Senate President Pro Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs, had said he wanted to adjourn on March 23, to give crews plenty of time to work on expansion and remodeling of the state Capitol.
Jeff Malmen, Gov. Butch Otter’s chief of staff, also said Friday’s deadline was no longer realistic.
Connecting Idaho has been a thorn in the side of lawmakers since its introduction in 2005, when then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne vetoed a handful of bills to force lawmakers to pass legislation allowing the state to sell bonds to fund the biggest construction project in Idaho history.
Last year, the first installment of money took until late in the session to pass. This year is no different.
The problem: Senate lawmakers have grown increasingly concerned that the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, when it approved $246 million in bond sales for the fiscal year starting July 1, narrowed it to six projects and moved about $50 million worth of work from northern Idaho to Interstate 84 between Caldwell and Boise in the southwest part of the state.
In addition, they don’t like provisions directing the state to extend a $50 million contract with Washington Group International and CH2M Hill to oversee the work.
The Senate planned to return the bill to the budget writing panel today.
“We’re going to be into next week,” said Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert and JFAC’s co-chair.
The second unresolved issue is the bill that would have increased the credit Idaho residents can take on their state income taxes to offset some of the sales taxes they pay on food.
Otter vetoed it Tuesday, arguing the plan passed by the Legislature would cut $32 million a year from state revenue that is needed for vital public services, and wasn’t targeted to low-income residents.
Otter favors a proposal that would reduce state tax revenues by just $22 million.
His version would provide graduated tax relief of as much as $90 annually to low-income residents, while eliminating it for those who earn more than $50,000 a year.
House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, said some members of his party were adamant that something be done to boost the credit this year, rather than waiting until the 2008 Legislature. That could still mean an attempt to override Otter’s veto – or a compromise proposal.
“It’s very unlikely we’ll be out of here on Friday,” said Bedke.