Legislature preps for cramped ‘08

BOISE – Concerns about the public being unable to watch elected officials at work during the 2008 legislative session has led officials to create new ways for Idaho voters to keep an eye on lawmakers.

The session, being held in the more cramped Ada County Courthouse in downtown Boise for the next two years while the Statehouse is renovated, will be carried live on the Internet, Idaho Public Television and an FM radio station.

“We’re just frankly going to have to limp along the best we can for the next year or two,” said Sen. Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls.

Officials broke ground in April for the 2 1/2-year, $120 million remodeling and expansion of the 100-year-old Capitol, which includes construction of two underground wings.

Meanwhile, lawmakers will be meeting in the courthouse, which itself has been undergoing a $3.2 million restoration that officials said will be done in time for lawmakers to move in January.

“This is a bare-bones annex,” Sen. John McGee, R-Caldwell, told the Idaho Statesman. “There are no frills or fancy items.”

Some lawmakers predict a shorter session because of the more cramped quarters, which include fewer bathrooms. The seat count has gone from about 40 at the Capitol to about 20 at the courthouse.

The Advisory Committee on Relocation nixed a request for additional portable toilets for the session.

“That’s not managing for a rainy day,” said House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum.

But McGee said spending taxpayer dollars on extra toilets shouldn’t be done until it’s proven they’re needed.

“There’s going to be some discomfort, but we need to do our job and go home,” he said.

Davis favored having extra toilets to have a better working environment.

“We’re all competing for the same small terra firma,” he said, “and as a result of that, as the session goes along, people are going to have to work hard to keep their wits about themselves as normal legislative tension mounts.”

All that could add up to a shorter session, some predict.

“I’m guessing that because of the shortcomings of the space that there’s going to be interest in making the session as short as possible,” said Jeff Youtz, director of the nonpartisan Legislative Services Office.

Davis isn’t so sure.

“I think we can save days, but I don’t think we can save weeks,” he said. “I want to be wrong.”