[Vision2020] Fw: [Uv-Eye-Opener] The UV-Eye-Opener Legislative Review #11

Fri Mar 23 11:56:08 PDT 2007

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Roger Sherman 
To: uv-eye-opener at lists.onenw.org 
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 7:22 AM
Subject: [Uv-Eye-Opener] The UV-Eye-Opener Legislative Review #11

Pass it on... yes, that means you. 

UV-Eye-Opener
March 23, 2007
www.uvidaho.org

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The Legislature will end this weekpsyche. The veto of the grocery tax credit bill on Tuesday pretty well knocked the wheels off of plans to adjourn on Friday.  On Monday and Tuesday each House was dealing with 30 and 40 bills a day.  By Wednesday that had slowed to a crawl.  Lots of time was spent in caucusing, meeting with the Governor, taking field trips to the City Club, waiting.  Decisions may be being made all around us but no one seems to know what they are.  Talk is about a Tuesday or Wednesday adjournment.  Maybe it will be enough time for a rebirth of a grocery tax credit bill, passage of a bill to conform to the federal minimum wage, a solution to the GARVEE bonding impasse.  And hopefully not enough time to revive the big biz personal property tax break languishing on the Senate calendar.

He did it. It came as no surprise when the Governor vetoed the Legislature passed version of the grocery tax credit early Tuesday morning.  He had been intimating for some time that when it got to him he would put his red stamp on HB 81a. He made an eloquent defence of his veto in the transmittal message to the House.  "It remains my firm belief that the best way to begin addressing both the inequity of the sales tax on food and the legitimate obligations of state government is to target tax relief where it is needed most. It is indisputable that low-income Idahoans spend a disproportionate share of their incomes on food. It also is true that the inequity faced by moderate- to high-income Idahoans - while real - is far less stark and immediate. Fiscal policy that does not adequately take into account the broader real-world repercussions on ordinary Idahoans is unacceptable to me." This is just the first part of the story.  What's next?

To override or to deal, that is the question.  On Tuesday there was a lot of talk about overriding the Governor's vetountil it became clear that they didn't have the votes to do it.  The question now is "Can the Governor force the leadership back to the table?"  On Thursday Otter vetoed HB121 to ban smoking in bowling alleys, a bill important to Senator Brent Hill, the chair of the Senate's tax committee.  If there was any question about why he vetoed the bill, his veto message made it clear. "Given legislative concerns about 'social engineering', particularly in regard to my proposal for targeted expansion of the grocery tax credit, in the interest of consistency.such concern would extend to this legislation as well."  House leadership says they need to get something done on food tax--setting up all that is needed for a deal next week.  

Little Ironies.  There is a Guatemalan woman who has worked as a custodian around the statehouse for a number of years.  She is bilingual though more comfortable speaking Spanish.  Tuesday afternoon Senator John McGee, the author of the rabidly anti-immigration bill SB1157, held the door for her as she was pushing a wheeled trash can out of the Senate chamber.  She just said "Gracias."  And then there was the Governor's veto message, which he signed "As alwaysIdaho. Esto Perpetua."  Will he be able to use that next year once English is the official language?

When is God an exceptional word?  Last week, Senator Denton Darrington, a stickler for the rules who often uses his knowledge of parliamentary procedure as a weapon in debate, called out Senator Elliot Werk's use of the phrase "By God" and asked that it be considered "exceptional language".  He made sure it was so noted in the Senate Journal.  Werk is a Democrat.  On Wednesday, Senator Lee Heinrich used the phrase "God forbid" in his closing debate to gales of laughter.  When challenged on the floor by the Senate Minority leader, Clint Stennett, the Senate president ruled that his challenge was moot since Heinrich was finished speaking.  Heinrich is a Republican.  God forbid that the rule be applied evenly, by God.  

The Boise State College Republicans set off a firestorm this week in a flier advertising an appearance by former County Commissioner and congressional candidate, Robert Vasquez, who is infamous for his strident anti-immigrant positions. In the flier the College R's entice participation in their event by offering "Dinner for two at Chapala's Mexican Restaurant! Climb through the hole in the fence and enter your false ID documents into the Food Stamp drawing."  Whew!!  Was that supposed to be funny?  Is this what gets set in motion when their role models, the real Republicans, demonize immigrants?  The tone set by the English Only debates in the House and Senate, and the debates on public benefits, gave way too much license for bigotry.  

The opponents of SB1157 won the debate but the bill passed anyway. Senator John McGee's bill to require all recipients of public benefits to verify citizenship, passed the House Thursday morning 47 to 21 after powerful debate.  After suggesting that underlying this bill was both "sub-stance and symbols", Representative Raul Labrador, a Republican immigration attorney who grew up in Puerto Rico, proceeded to slice the bill to ribbons.  He said that in committee no one could answer the most basic questions like "How much money will this bill save?" and "How much fraud is there in the system?"  He suggested to his colleagues that they would not pass any other bill that failed those tests.  He then reminded his colleagues that a companion bill that would have sanctioned employers for hiring undocumented workers failed in the Senate.  As for symbols, "We are talking here about punishing the criminal without punishing the people who benefit from the crime," Labrador said.  In the "I couldn't make this stuff up" department, Phil Hart, who faces charges with the IRS for not paying his taxes, commented that "this is a bill about stewardship of the taxpayers' money."  Yeah, right.

Whose money is it?  When I used to look at those books with pictures of Native Americans from the 1800's, like Chief Joseph, said Senator Edgar Malepeai "I saw a lot of pride.I did not see that in the eyes of the people I worked with when I worked on the reservation for 10 years".  With gaming and more economic development on the reservations ".now I see pride again."  He was debating on HB249 that sets a deadline for negotiations between the tribes and the state about who will benefit from the fuel taxes on gas sold on the reservations.  While proponents argued that they "just want to come to a fair resolution," opponents see the bill as a breach of faith by the state.  The bill was sent to the Governor on a vote of 19-16. Malepeai warned that with the passage of this bill "our relationship will go back to the dark ages."  

The K Street project comes to Idaho?  Remember when Tom Delay tried to purge the DC lobby corps of all Democrats and decide who they'd like to lobby them?  Some Delay wannabes in the Idaho Statehouse think they should get to choose who lobbies them.  An AP story came out this week that recounted how Lawerence Denney, the Speaker of the House, successfully encouraged a development company seeking favors at the statehouse, to dump its lobbyistold hand, Jerry Deckard, who supported Denney's opponent for Speakerand use former representative Julie Ellsworth, who was just unseated in November.  It's legal in Idaho.  Senator Kate Kelly had tried to get revolving door legislation introduced in Idaho this year but was thwarted by a legislature offended by any mention of ethics.  Her legislation would require that former legislators not lobby their former colleagues for 2 years after leaving office.  

When is a closed primary not a closed primary?  Keith Allred of the Common Interest may just pull off a miracle.  He has been trying to convince legislative leaders to adopt what's called a modified closed primary that requires party registration but allows independents to choose where they want to vote.  This contrasts with the proposal by House leadership that would have allowed county party chairs to decide if independents voted in their primaries.  This move is mostly defensive since the Idaho Republican Party is threatening to sue the state unless they require some form of closed primary.  It is likely to come up next week.  For more info, check out www.thecommoninterest.org.  

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