[Vision2020] Legislative Overview
Bill London
london at moscow.com
Thu Nov 30 16:56:26 PST 2006
T-
many thanks for posting your agenda to the V2020 list.
I support your agenda, and thank you for your leadership on these issues.
I have a question regarding your "Citizens Commission To Review All of the
75 Tax Exemptions Granted by the Legislature"....could you please provide a
list of those 75 exempted groups?
Please send that list to V2020 so we can all see who has been granted these
exemptions.
thanks BL
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Trail" <ttrail at moscow.com>
To: <vision2020 at mail-gw.fsr.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 4:28 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Legislative Overview
> Visionaires: Next week is the date of the legislative organizational
meetings
> in Boise. The leadership races in the Senate on the Republican side
> have already been decided. It remains the same as last session. The
> most important
> race is that for the Speaker of the House. Rep. Bill Deal and Rep.
Lawrence
> Denney are the two candidates running for the post. The election will be
held
> next Wednesday evening. Committee Chairmanship positions will be
assigned
> on Thursday the 7th as well as committee assignments.
>
> A number of constituents have asked me to report on some of the
legislative
> issues that I will advocating this coming session.
>
> 1. Eliminating the Grocery Tax--Gov. Risch and Gov. Elect Otter have
both
> stated they want to eliminate the tax on groceries. Gov. Risch
would
> phase out the tax over a period of six years. The total cost runs
about
> $186 million/year. Gov. Risch plan would be to phase out about
> $30 million
> per year. This will still leave a $30 million hole in the General
> Budget each year. Gov. Elect Otter wants to expand the grocery tax
> credit.
>
> My proposal would eliminate the grocery tax. The $186 million
needed
> to replace the grocery tax would be generated from a 4.2% sales tax
> on services except health and medical. The recent passage relief by
i
> increasing the sales tax by one cent. Studies clearly demonstrate
that
> this shift negatively impacted lower income citizens. I've talked
to
> several economists and they indicate that taxing services will on a
> prorated basis impact more heavily on middle and higher income
brackets
> thus providing some relief for lower income citizens.
>
> This is another approach, and it will be the first time (if we get a
> hearing) that discussion will be held on the taxing of services. At
> least we are headed in the right direction, and I hope that some
action
> is taken to eliminate the tax on groceries.
>
> 2. Citizens Commission To Review All of the 75 Tax Exemptions Granted
by
> the Legislature--Approximately 75 organizations and groups of
> organizations
> receive tax exemptions (which is a privilege granted by the state
and
> not a right). The total of these exemptions is about $1.6
billion/year.
> This is money that if not granted an exemption would flow into the
Idaho
> General Fund. Basically Idaho Taxpayers are subsidizing these
groups
> for the perceived "good" of the State.
>
> The first exemption was granted in 1965. To date no organized and
> systematic approach has been developed to review whether or not the
> exemptions are or are not benefiting the State. My proposal will
> charge the Legislature to organize a citizens committee to evaluate
and
> review all tax exemptions in cooperation with the Legislature,
Governor's
> Office, DFM, Office of Performance Evaluation,and the Idaho State
Tax
> Commission. Each exemption would be reviewed every three or five
years,
> and a report would be submitted to the Legislature.
>
> 3. Minimum Wage--the minimum wage in Idaho is now $5.15. I will be
> supporting
> legislation to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. This will
be
> similar to other surrounding states. The Federal Government last
raised
> the minimum wage 10 years ago. Over 24 states have raised the
minimum
> wage since 1997 via legislative initiative or referendum. Polls
indicate
> that 77% of Idaho's citizens support increasing the minimum wage.
>
> 4. Scholarships--I've been working this past summer and fall with the
State
> Board of Education in developing several scholarship proposals.
>
> a. Needs Based Scholarships--Idaho ranks about 50th in the country
> in terms of needs based financial aid granted to students--about
> $17/student as compared to over $500/student in Washington
State.
> There are serious concerns about providing access to students
from
> low income families with the escalating cost of higher
education.
> Students from the lowest income quartile are almost six times
less
> likely to go on to higher education than students from middle
and
> upper income families.
>
> The basic proposal which will be brought to the legislature
calls
> for a partnership approach. To qualify for need based aid a
student
> would have to apply for a Pell Grant. This automatically
identifies
> the student at the federal level as one who qualifies for need
based
> financial assistance. The student would then apply for all
> scholarships that they would be eligible for. Then the family
would
> identify the financial resources they have available that could
> help the student--loans, grants, workstudy, etc. Then the State
> would come in with assistance needed to enable the student to
attend
> college.
>
> A total of $10 million will be asked for the State Board's
budget.
> The first year of operation a pilot project would be set up, and
then
> the program would be in full operation the second year. The
second
> year program would probably reach over 5,000 students.
>
> Excess funds would be placed in an endowment program managed by
the
> Idaho Secretary of the Treasury. We are also proposing that tax
> deductions or credits could be made available to encourage
business,
> foundations, and individuals to contribute to the endowment
fund.
>
> In reviewing the success of similar programs in Indiana, Oregon
and
> Oklahoma, it is apparent that these types of scholarship
programs
> have enabled thousands of students from low income families to
gain
> access to college education. In general, these students have a
higher
> graduation rate than the general student population. It is,
indeed,
> an important investment in our human capital improving our
workforce
> development.
>
> b. Math, Science, and Special Education Scholarships and
Loans--These
> are the areas of critical shortages of teachers in the K-12
public
> school system. We will be proposing several types of
scholarship
> programs which would be available to Idaho students willing to
major
> in one of these areas and then teach in Idaho. Loans would also
> be made available. A teacher who takes out a loan would get a
25%
> loan forgiveness for every year taught in Idaho. Practicing
teachers
> who want to get certified in one of these areas would also be
> eligible.
>
>
> 5. Increasing the number of School Days to 200--Frankly, this will
be
> legislation for discussion purposes. Currently most of our
> competitors
> in the world provide K-12 students 200 or more days of school
each
> year. These include Canada, Ireland, China, Japan, Singapore,
and
> many other countries. One of the problems that we face is that
with
> ] a long summer vacation many students have to relearn fact,
concept,
> etc. in reading, math, science, etc. when they return in the
fall.
> Research clearly shows that by providing more days of school
that
> students not only retain and perform at a higher level when
returning
> to school in the fall, but perform at a higher level in taking
> required tests. Again, to be realistic, Idaho probably could
not
> afford to fund 200 days of school, but I think it is important
to
> discuss the topic.
>
> 6. Dog Fighting Felony--This is a bill that several of us have
carried
> for two years. The legislation would make anyone organized in
> dog fighting activities eligible for a felony conviction. Idaho
> is only one of two states which does not call for a felony on
the
> first conviction. I've received over 10,000 letters in support
> of this legislation. I'll be working with Rep. Donna Pence and
Rep.
> Marge Chadderdon on this legislation.
>
> 7. Milk--Idaho's Official Drink--we have a 5th grade class who is
> interested in this legislation. Idaho does not have an official
> drink, and the class would like to propose Milk as Idaho's
official
> drink. This has the support of the Idaho Dairyman's
Association.
>
> 8. Credit Freeze--This is a Victim ID Theft Bill--17 states have
> laws requiring that once a financial institutional suspects that
> a customer's personal data has violated then they contact the
> customer. The individual can then put a freeze on his/her
credit.
> This sounds logical; however, financial institutions are
generally
> opposed.
>
> I have several other bills in the wings, but this gives one an
idea
> of some of the major and minor issues that I will be working on
with
> other legislators. Constituent input has been very valuable in
> the development of these legislative proposals.
>
> I'd appreciate your comments and suggestions. My e mail is
> ttrail at moscow.com
>
> Rep. Tom Trail
>
>
>
>
> --
> Dr. Tom Trail
> International Trails
> 1375 Mt. View Rd.
> Moscow, Id. 83843
> Tel: (208) 882-6077
> Fax: (208) 882-0896
> e mail ttrail at moscow.com
>
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