Leadership: $8M for broadband settlement not likely

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Top legislative leaders are no longer optimistic that the $8 million they squirrelled away last year will be used as a settlement in the state’s ongoing school broadband legal disputes. However, House Speaker Scott Bedke and Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill both said Tuesday that they are still waiting on key rulings before making any final decisions. Last year, Bedke and Hill had been negotiating with the two main vendors involved in the now defunct broadband program for public schools. The $60 million statewide contract was deemed illegal, but legislative leaders wanted to compensate the companies for work provided but not yet paid for under the contract. Those settlement talks have since dissolved after the companies and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s office disagreed over who deserves compensation. Yet the taxpayer money tucked away for that settlement has not been returned to the state’s general fund.

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter did not ask lawmakers to return the funds in his annual State of the State address on Monday. State budget writers haven’t been asking for those state dollars either.

“We don’t normally have little pots of money sitting around, but that’s because these past few years we didn’t have the money to do so,” said Rep. Maxine Bell, a Republican from Jerome, who co-chairs the powerful Joint Finance Appropriations budget committee. “We finally have some extra money, so we can set some of it aside.”

The designated settlement funds were placed in a little-known account called the Legislative Legal Defense Fund, which was first created in 2012. Only the House speaker and Senate president pro tem can approve spending from the fund. So far, it has been used to pay for outside legal advice instead of relying on the attorney general’s office. It has never been used for settlements or court fees.

Bedke said that he has not been asked to return the money to the general fund or funnel the dollars to a separate project.