Flag bill passes as-is

Rep. Marge Chadderdon, R-Coeur d’Alene, who said yesterday she was introducing a new version of her flag manufacturing bill, instead today urged the House to pass it as-is, and they did, 67-0. “I know you’re waiting for this bill,” Chadderdon told the House. She said she determined that the bill, as earlier amended, complies with an Idaho Attorney General’s opinion that she received. Before the amendment, the bill banned the purchase of Idaho or U.S. flags not manufactured in the United States by Idaho state agencies or local governments, but also included a clause saying if such flags were purchased, the agencies wouldn’t have to pay for them. An amendment sponsored by Reps. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, and Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, removed that clause. “As the bill reads today, it’s not in conflict with interstate commerce. … So I want you to feel good about this vote today,” Chadderdon said.

She told the House, “We’ve come to regard the flag as the embodied symbolism of our country and its unity. … It’s as old as our country and is often regarded as the living history on fabric.” The bill now moves to the Senate.