Rep. Batt: Should state even be looking at rules when lawsuit is pending?

Rep. Gayle Batt, R-Wilder, who is chairing the House State Affairs Committee’s hearing on Capitol grounds use this morning, asked whether the committee should even be having this conversation about proposed new rules, when there’s a pending lawsuit in federal court on the same topic. Julie Weaver, deputy attorney general for the state Department of Administration, said, “There are two parallel processes that occur at the same time. One doesn’t necessarily take precedence over the other, in my view.”

Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, asked ACLU Legal Director Richard Eppink if the ACLU would drop its lawsuit if the rules were rejected. He responded that a portion of the dispute would become moot, and likely be suspended or withdrawn, but that would depend on issues including what happened next and how the parties in the case wanted to proceed.