Scorecard: Fire suppression bill vote

In her weekly Scorecard report on legislative votes, Sandy Patano of North Idaho Political Action Committee points out that the usual suspects — Scott, Dixon, Vick, Barbieri, Mendive, Cheatham and Sims — voted against a 2015 bill that allocated $27 million for fire suppression prior to the devastating 2015 fire season that had been predicted:

Last year, during the 2015 Legislature, all indicators pointed toward an intense fire season for the summer. Routine fires to remove noxious weeds or slash piles were getting out of hand. Area snow-pack stood at 22 percent of normal in April, and warm temperatures arrived early, prompting a warning from the U.S. Forest Service that the 2015 fire season was going to be extraordinary. That much seemed obvious. In spite of this, when S1190, a bill that allocated $27 million to the Fire Suppression Deficiency Fund, came up for a vote, most North Idaho legislators voted against it. Their reasoning behind this lapse in judgment: Idaho should encourage more logging to prevent forest fires, not pay an agency to fight them. Does this idea have merit? Yes and no. More here.

Thoughts?