Tax break timing ‘questionable’

BOISE – Top legislative leaders say the time may not be right for a $100 million-plus tax break being pushed by Idaho’s biggest businesses this year.

The Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry is pushing to eliminate the personal property tax that businesses pay on equipment, possibly by phasing it out over several years.

“This may not be the year that we have the funds to do that,” said House Speaker Lawerence Denney.

Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Geddes said the state can’t just repeal the personal property tax. In the Senate, he said, the debate is about offsetting any such change with other revenue. Cities and counties rely on those local tax revenues, and if they aren’t replaced, everyone else would have to pay more on their property taxes to make up the difference.

“The question I think really does come back to the economy – can we replace those revenues for the counties and the cities with state funding?” Geddes asked. “Right now that’s looking very questionable at best.” He added, “A lot of pressure is being brought to bear on legislators to support that, but ultimately we have to balance the budget. … Sometimes you can’t always do what you want to do, because you have to do more what makes economic sense and is practical to do.”

‘Makes milfoil look like a dinner salad’

Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, took on the nickname “Morty Milfoil” the last couple of years as he pushed to address the invasive Eurasian water milfoil that’s infesting Idaho’s lakes and waterways. Now, Anderson is concerned about a new menace: Quagga mussels.

The thumbnail-sized mussels are “all over the east coast,” Anderson said, but he’s a member of the 100th Meridian Initiative, a group that’s pushed to prevent the spread of the troublesome mussel past the 100th meridian into the western half of the country. However, in January 2007, one tiny quagga mussel was found at a marina at Lake Mead.

“Four months later, they were in the hundreds of millions,” Anderson said.

The mussels attach themselves to surfaces, like boat hulls, rocks and ropes. They reproduce so quickly that they can clog irrigation pipes and water intakes, and they compete for food with other critters like salmon fry, upsetting the whole food chain.

“This makes milfoil look like a dinner salad,” Anderson said. “This is critical. I honestly believe this is the biggest ecological and environmental threat we’ve ever faced. It’s a death sentence to so many of our ecosystems – they will dominate.”

Anderson’s pushing for Idaho to do what Washington did last year – impose strict controls to prevent the spread of the mussel, including stiff fines for knowingly transporting it. Anderson said Idaho may need wash stations so people can wash their boats with hot water, which kills the mussels, before and after boating.

Anti-dogfighting bill wins unanimous support

The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted unanimously in favor of SB 1260, the bill to make dog fighting a felony in Idaho and make attending a dog fight a misdemeanor. Idaho is currently one of only two states without felony penalties for dog fighting.

During the committee’s hearing on the bill this week, Idaho Sheriff’s Association lobbyist Mike Kane said the operator of a dog fighting ring in eastern Idaho admitted that the dogs were being brought in from Utah specifically because Idaho had such light penalties. That operator was prosecuted only for a misdemeanor, Kane said, because it was all there was.

Unlike the last three years, when felony dog fighting legislation was shot down repeatedly in a House committee amid objections from ag interests, all the testimony this time was in favor of the bill; no one spoke against it.

The bill must pass both houses and receive the governor’s signature to become law.

Chambers back registration fee hike

The Idaho Chamber Alliance has come out in favor of increased vehicle registration fees to pay for transportation improvements. The group, which includes 20 chambers of commerce from all around the state, also has endorsed continued GARVEE bonding and local-option sales taxes to allow communities to fund transit or road needs.

Chambers around the state have surveyed their members, said outgoing alliance Chairman Jonathan Coe, and there’s strong support for the registration fee hike to address Idaho’s transportation funding shortfall.

The alliance presented its legislative agenda to lawmakers at a well-attended legislative luncheon. In addition to the transportation issues, it included support for urban renewal agencies, a constitutional amendment allowing “ordinary and necessary” projects to be funded without a vote, and increased funding for professional-technical education. “These are the kinds of things that will help our individual communities continue to thrive and grow,” Coe told lawmakers.