[Vision2020] sine die legislative update

ttrail at moscow.com ttrail at moscow.com
Thu Mar 29 09:48:23 PDT 2007


SINE DIE LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER  --  MARCH 29, 2007
 
Constituents:
 
It looks like we will wind up the Idaho Legislative session today.   The
biggest issue remaining is the GARVEE Bond funding for Idaho roads.   I
suspect that we will vote today for the $200 million plus for road
construction.
 
This week the major issues were the actions regarding the Governor's Vetos
of HB81   --  Grocery Tax Credit and the smoking ban in bowling alleys
Bill.  Most of us think that the Governor made a bad mistake in vetoing the
bowling alley bill.   I received over 200 e mails, calls, and letters all
against the Governor's decision.  The House over rode the veto on a 57-13
vote and the Senate by a 28-7 margin.   This was somewhat historical since
it was only the 3rd successful override of a veto since 1919 (of a
Republican Governor).   The House over rode the Governor's veto of HB 81
the Grocery Tax Credit on a 48-22 vote, but the Senate simply referred it
to the Senate Local Government and Tax Committee.  So the effort essential
died.  The basic result is that there will be no grocery tax credit (except
for those on the books already) this year.
 
It was interesting since everyone regardless of party came in committed to
provide some relief to citizens regarding a break in reducing the tax on
groceries.   Many Republicans felt that since passing HB 1  --  the
Property Tax bill in special session last August  --  that low income
citizens should get some type of break, and that the Grocery Tax Credit was
the place to go.   The feeling was that increasing the sales tax by one
percent to help with the property tax relief hit lower income citizens more
(since the sales tax is a regressive tax and low income citizens spend more
on groceries).   So everyone came to the table talking about reducing the
sales tax on groceries; however, the problem was in method of doing it.  
It basically came down to a battle between the Governor's plan  --  a means
based approach, and the more general approach that would have treated all
citizens the same regardless of income.  Frankly, I felt the means based
approach was the fairest approach but in the end voted for HB81 since it
seemed to have the most support.   The issue will receive top priority in
the 2008 session.
 
The Senate Local Government and Tax Committee took a firm stand this
session and tabled every bill that provided an exemption that came from the
House.   The committee members wanted the Legislature to take a good hard
look at the entire Idaho tax policy and structure with special emphasis
placed on the issue off the current 75 exemptions which total over $1.6
billion per year.  As a result, an interim committee will study the
exemption issue.   I introduced a bill to the House Rev and Tax Committee
calling for the formation of a Citizen's Committee to work with the
Legislature and the Governor on the exemption issue. The bill called for
the committee to come up with recommendations and a system to review all of
the exemption on a timely basis, and then the State could decide to
continue the exemption or not.  It placed the organizations receiving the
exemption in proving whether or not the exemption provided a benefit to the
state.   I took my bill over to the Senate Committee and they will be
looking at it over the summer.
 
This session a number of good ideas were stopped  --  simply with Chairman
putting the bill in desk drawers. Some of these ideas were:
 
 1.  Local-option taxing to aid the Treasure Valley transit needs
 2.  Licensing for day care centers
 3.  Licensing for elk farms
 4.  Early childhood education standards
 5.  Vote by mail
 6.  Help for community college formation
 7.  Increased fines for not wearing seat belts
 
Today the Governor signs HB217  --  Idaho Opportunity Scholarship Bill.  
This is a needs based scholarship bill aimed at assisting students from low
income families to go to college.   In the past Idaho had only provided an
average of $17/student for needs based assistance and ranked 49th
nationally.  Studies indicated that only about 6% of students from low
income families attended Idaho universities.  The appropriations bill was
passed yesterday and provides $2 million for ongoing scholarships and an
additional $10 million for an endowment fund.  There is also the commitment
to provide $10 million/year more until the corpus reaches $40 million.  
This is a bill that I worked on for three years and as the bill's Co-Sponsor.
 
I'd probably give a C- as an overall grade to the performance of this
session.  The good news was that Higher Education received an almost 9%
increase and 5% for faculty and staff salaries.  The K-12 education was
adequate but only provided a 3% increase for teachers.  With inflation at a
3.8% increase many teachers will lose ground.
 
I'll continue to send out periodic legislative letters between session and
they will probably be more focused on specific issues.   I will be leaving
with the Governor's trade mission to Cuba on April 9th.   All participants
pay all of their own expenses.   This is an agricultural trade mission and
one of the few opportunities that we have to open relations with Cuba.
 
Rep. Tom Trail


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