[Vision2020] Legislative Overview
Pat Kraut
pkraut at moscow.com
Thu Nov 30 19:21:49 PST 2006
I would like to talk to you about some of these but most of them are things
that legislatures should be working on to really help with problems, thanks
for your leadership.
Pat
----- 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
=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet,
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
http://www.fsr.net
mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================
More information about the Vision2020
mailing list