[Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter IX, March 2-7, 2009
ttrail at moscow.com
ttrail at moscow.com
Sat Mar 7 06:45:00 PST 2009
LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER IX--MARCH 2-7/2009
Constituents:
A sense of humor does keep one stable during these stressful economic
times. It is ironic that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has now
signed a multi-million dollar contract to write a book on "The Dark Side
of Politics." I wonder what message that conveys to the general public.
It reminds me of a friend describing trout swimming in gin clear fishing
waters with hundreds of anglers trying to catch them. He said that the
trout were as nervous as a felon at a Sheriffs Convention. I doubt that
Ex-Governor Blagojevich is very nervous at this date. By the way the
Idaho House passed a bill today ending death by the firing squad.
l. Positive News--I thought it would be appropriate with all of the
travail and bad news out in the world to focus on at least one good piece
of news. Micron just announced laying off 2,000 employees, and then the
Idaho Statesmen front page featured an article on "Are Small Treasure
Valley Businesses the Answer?" The article featured a half page picture
of Moscow's own Tony Dupont who is the owner of small company that makes
Power Cordz, a synthetic cable stronger and lighter than steel for bikes
and possibly cars and planes. The Lance Armstrong cycling team and many
of the European professional bike riders used Tony's Power Cordz.
Tony is the son of Dr. Ron and Fran Dupont of Moscow. He graduated
from Moscow High School and Civil Engineering at the University of
Idaho. My wife, Jo Ann, and I had lunch with Tony several years ago and
his goal was to develop a small business to make useful and futuristic
products. The cables are just the beginning. DuPont plans to use revenue
from Power Cordz sales to pay for a prototype of the continually variable
transmission that he developed in college. The transmission can change
through an infinite number of gear ratios between maximum and minimum
values. Tony thinks his innovative design will make bikes and cars 15-20
percent more efficient. A consulting engineer says that it has the
potential to revolutionize energy transmission. A large Asian car
company indicates that if they can be shown a prototype that works in the
bike field that they will fund development for the auto industry
Three years ago Tony developed his business alone in his Boise
garage. Today he has five employees. Sales have doubled this past
quarter. We wish Tony all the success in the world, and what he is
doing in developing his small but innovative business may be a wave of
the future.
2. Teaching More Kids On Less Money--Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Tom Luna has announced that the public education budget will
probably be cut for FY10 by at least $60 million. At the same time
public school enrollment is estimated to expand. Part of the expansion
is because some parents are moving their children from private to public
schools because they cannot afford tuition. In the case of both parents
having to work then home schooling is no longer an option. It appears
that Idaho Parents are voting with their feet.
SPI Luna indicates that he wants to restrict the amount of money
moving from rainy day accounts to beef up the budget shortfall, and in
essence the budget cutbacks will simply mean fewer teachers teaching more
students. The impact on local schools such as Genesee and Kendrick
indicates that they may go to a four day school week starting next fall.
Bruce Bradberry, the Superintendent at Troy indicates that his experience
shows you only save about 2% by going to a four day school week. It is
interesting that many of our competitors in the world economy in Europe
and Asia are actually increasing the number of school weeks. Are we
headed down to road to becoming a Third Class Nation?
3. Transportation Issues--The Governor is still trying to move ahead
with his $200 million plus transportation package. He is calling each
individual member of the House Transportation Committee over to try and
convince them to vote for his package. Two of his proposals to increase
the tax on rental cars were defeated in committee. Frankly, there is
little enthusiasm among legislators to increase taxes of any kind on
their constituents in hard economic times. We have heard that money from
the stimulus package may be used to put in an additional passing lane on
Steakhouse Hill on Highway 95 north of Moscow.
Well, constituents, JFAC will start to set some budgets this next week as
we more clearly see the way that the stimulus funds fit into the Idaho
Budget. In any case, it appears that the Idaho Legislature will be
extending the session into early April. Again, I'd like to hear from you
concerning your observations, recommendation, and suggestions. My e mail
is ttrail at house.idaho.gov and phone 332-1184.
Representative Tom Trail
---------------------------------------------
This message was sent by First Step Internet.
http://www.fsr.com/
More information about the Vision2020
mailing list