[Vision2020] Legislative News

Shirley Ringo ringoshirl at moscow.com
Tue Feb 13 17:03:30 PST 2007


Legislative News

February 12, 2007

 

After a series of meetings with University of Idaho law professor Elizabeth Brandt, representatives of law enforcement, Representatives Shirley Ringo and Tom Trail, and interested citizens, Professor Brandt crafted proposed legislation designed to add protection for victims of domestic violence.  This legislation was successfully introduced in the House Judiciary and Rules committee last Friday.

 

A full hearing in House Bill 172 is scheduled for Monday, February 19, at 1:30 PM.  (Judiciary and Rules Committee)  Representatives Ringo and Trail are sponsors of the bill, and Professor Brandt has agreed to be in attendance at the hearing to answer questions on the technicalities. 

 

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Representatives Shirley Ringo and Anne Pasley-Stuart crafted legislation to modify Idaho's minimum wage law.  Representative Tom Trail and Senator Gary Schroeder were co-sponsors of the proposed bill.  Three main aspects of this legislation were:  set the minimum wage at $7.25 per hour, to be adjusted annually for inflation; eliminate the "tip credit" over a seven year period of time; decrease the age for receiving a "training wage" to under 18 years, and decrease the length of time for using the "training wage" from 90 days to 30 days.  Our proposal was defeated in favor of a Republican leadership bill to simply conform to federal minimum wage law.

 

 

Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter has plans to devolve (eliminate) two state agencies:  Human Resources and the Department of Administration.  Currently, many legislators have reservations concerning these plans and think the Governor may be moving too fast.  There are many unanswered questions.  For example, with respect to devolving the Department of Administration, 69.6 FTP would be eliminated and 108.5 farmed out to other agencies.  Among the many positions eliminated would be building maintenance and ground crews.  Governor Otter believes we should contract with private employers for these services.  It is questionable whether this would save money.  In general, salaries of public employees do not compare favorably with the private sector. Many of these people have been loyal state workers for a number of years. They know the building and have a good institutional memory.  Some are just a few years away from retirement.  Lawmakers will be asked to vote on these plans before the end of this session.  It will be interesting to see whether legislators will have questions resolved and be ready to give their approval. 

 

 

After listening to hours of testimony, JFAC will soon begin the process of setting budgets.  I am currently working with others on a proposal for the public school budget.  It is a delicate balancing act to put together the best motion possible, and one that the committee will seriously consider.

 

I'll keep you posted as we move through the process.

 

 

Shirley

 

 
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