Idaho in brief: Bill would require state to buy flags made in U.S.
Rep. Marge Chadderdon, R-Coeur d’Alene, persuaded the House State Affairs Committee to introduce legislation Tuesday to require that whenever an Idaho state agency, college or university, or local government agency in Idaho purchases a U.S. flag or an Idaho state flag, it must be one manufactured in the United States.
Chadderdon estimated that any cost to the state from the bill would be “negligible.” Her bill states that if a non-U.S. made flag is purchased with state or local government funds in Idaho, that purchase would be “null, void and of no force and effect.”
“They’d have to ship ’em back,” she said. “When you think about the places the flag is – like on the moon, or Mount Everest, don’t you hope it’s made in America? I think it’s America’s greatest symbol. It was a fun piece of legislation to work on – very patriotic legislation.”
Betsy Z. Russell
Legislation would create fetal death certificates
Legislation to require the state to issue an official “certificate of fetal death” at the request of a woman who has an early miscarriage or abortion cleared an Idaho House committee by one vote Tuesday, despite “grave concern” expressed by the head of the state’s bureau of vital statistics.
Such official documents are used as evidence in court and proof of identity, James Aydelotte told the House State Affairs Committee, and the bill’s requirements that the bureau accept unverified, unreported information and issue a nonpublic but official certificate would make official security paper more widely available for use in fraud.
“We should not be in the business of keepsake documents, no matter how heart-wrenching the event,” he told the panel.
Anti-abortion activists and a couple who had suffered an early miscarriage offered extensive and sometimes tearful testimony in favor of the bill, HB 214, sponsored by Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale.
“Bring recognition to our child so that we will no longer have to grieve alone,” Randy Jackson told the committee.
The committee passed the bill 9-8 and sent it to the full House. The only North Idaho member participating in the vote, Rep. Mary Lou Shepherd, D-Prichard, supported the bill.
Betsy Z. Russell
Pharmacist conscience law unnecessary, attorney says
Legislation to declare that Idaho pharmacists or “any person” can refuse to fill a prescription for a patient based on conscience drew a lot of testimony Tuesday, including word that Idaho pharmacists already have that right.
Samuel Hoagland, a pharmacist and attorney who has taught pharmacy law at Idaho State University for the past 10 years, told the House State Affairs Committee, “This law is unnecessary – it is unnecessary because pharmacists have always had the right to refuse to fill any prescription that they want.” Idaho has no law requiring pharmacists to dispense all prescriptions, he said. Several other pharmacists echoed his testimony.
Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, the bill’s sponsor and the committee chairman, said the measure would apply not only to pharmacists but also to cashiers and other workers. Testimony on the bill, HB 216, is scheduled to continue this morning.
Betsy Z. Russell
North Idaho
Counties, tribe, DEQ to meet quarterly on lake pollution
Commissioners from Kootenai, Benewah and Shoshone counties will meet quarterly with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to discuss a pollution management plan for Lake Coeur d’Alene.
The lake bottom contains millions of tons of sediment tainted with heavy metals. To help keep the metals from circulating into the water, the state and the tribe wrote a lake management plan, which was released last summer.
The county commissioners opposed the plan, which focused on reducing the amount of nutrients flowing into the lake. However, setting up regular quarterly meetings helped resolve commissioners’ concerns.
County commissioners don’t fully endorse the plan, but the meetings “provide a vehicle by which we can hopefully get there, said Rick Currie, Kootenai County commission chairman.
The plan was amended to include the quarterly meetings. Chief Allan, the tribe’s chairman, and Gov. Butch Otter will sign the plan.
From staff reports
Region
Winter of 2008-’09 ranks as third snowiest
The winter of 2008-’09 is now the third snowiest in Spokane history after 0.4 inches of hail-like snow fell over the city Monday, pushing the season total to 89.4 inches at the city’s official weather station at the Spokane International Airport.
This season still ranks behind 1949-’50 at 93.5 inches and last year at 92.6 inches and just ahead of the 89.0 inches that fell in 1974-’75. Record keeping began in 1881.
Monday’s thunderstorm dropped a heavy type of snow known as graupel, which is formed when super-cooled droplets of water condense onto snowflake crystals in cloud formations that are more common locally in late winter.
Temperatures are expected to warm through the rest of the week with highs in the upper 40s today, but moving to the 50s for the first time this year on Thursday through Saturday. Lows are expected in the upper 30s. A chance of precipitation is expected throughout the week.
From staff reports