[Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter VI—February 15-21, 2010

[Rep. Tom Trail]

                           Legislative
Newsletter VI—February 15-21, 2010


 

Constituents:

 



 

A number of key issues faced
the Idaho Legislature this week.

 



 

   1. 
House votes to stop PERSI COLA---The PERSI Board recommended in
December that retirees should receive a 1% COLA on March 1st.   I had an hour meeting two
weeks ago with Don Drum who is the PERSI Director, and he clearly showed
me that the fund can easily pay out the 1% COLA.  It is a dedicated fund, and the Directors and PERSI
management have one of the top retirement funds in the U.S.  So what happens is that the
conservatives in the Legislature decided that everyone must share in the
misery of the recession and voted to cancel the COLA.   Rep. Bob Schaefer and I were
the only two Republicans to vote against the resolution.    There is some concern
that conservatives might be looking at a way to tap into the fund in these
hard times.   This would
be a disaster.   The
State of Illinois has borrowed more than $80 billion for their retirement
fund.   Everyone looks at
our Social Security fund and predicts disaster, but the problem is that
Congress is at fault for borrowing and not repaying back to the fund.

 



 

  2.  
Idaho Public TV -- I've probably received more mail on this issue
than any other.   My
understanding from JFAC is that IPTV will take a cut in the budget but not
more than other agencies, and that any long term plan by the Governor to
eliminate state funding entirely is on hold.   The Governor apparently didn't consider that if
all state funding was eliminated that the State would have to pay back the
Federal Government for federal funds that were used for equipment to
modernize the IPTV system.

 



 

  3.  
Office of the State Board of Education Votes to Give University
Presidents absolute authority over faculty contracts, furloughs, tenure,
etc.  In a move that will no
doubt bring censure and black listing of all Idaho Institutions of Higher
Education by the American Assocation of University Professors and the
American Federation of Teachers, the OSBE approved this policy on
Thursday.   Rep. Ringo,
Rep. Chavez, and I joined university faculty in speaking out against this
poorly conceived move.  At no
time were faculty involved in the decision making process.   Even the ISU President
stated that he felt that the furlough policy was "illegal" and
that he would not abide by the decision.   A group of legislators will ask the Idaho State
Attorney General to investigate the process by the OSBE to establish the
policy with specific regard to violation of contract law (10
Amendment),  due process, and
including the exclusionary process without faculty input used to reach the
final decision.   These
legislators have also developed legislation that would establish a
Legislative Financial Crisis Review Committee giving the Legislature
oversight over the Board.

 



 

   4. 
Education Funding 
--  Public education
will be held harmless through June 2010 with an input of $88 million from
reserves and stimulus funds to make up lost revenue.   However, with FY11 coming up
there is a predicted shortfall of $135 million for public education.   If the economy does not
improve this will represent a 9% cut in the public education budget.   We've also heard that the
cuts may go as high 12%.  
Over 50 school districts reserve funds are almost down to
zero.   I developed a
legislative proposal that would allow districts on a voluntary basis to
opt out for two years of meeting math and science standards.   This move would allow
districts to make the decision based on local circumstances more financial
flexibility--an estimated $5 million/year.   Some 57 districts reported they would take
advantage of the proposal.  
JFAC Co-Chair Rep. Maxine Bell told me to "Go For It."
when I talked to her about the proposal.   It may be that JFAC will incorporate this into
intent language with the public school budgets.   The House Education Committee supports granting
districts financial flexibility and lump sum funding to maximize local
school budgets.  Higher
Education is also looking at a potential 10% cut this coming year.

 



 

    5. 
Potential Tax Hike -- 2011 could bring Idaho a tax hike  --  this was the headline in the Idaho Statesman this
week.  No one is predicting a
tax hike this session with an election year coming up, but with FY2011
looking like another economic train wreck, several key political figures
including Gov. Otter have said it might be a time for reviewing the 75 tax
exemptions which take away about $1.7 billion from state revenues each
year.   If the tax
exemptions are found not to be beneficial to the state then the money from
those exemptions could go into the state revenue stream target for
education.   Sen.
Schroeder and I as well as other legislators have legislation in the House
Rev and Tax that would set up the process of reviewing exemptions to see
if they are beneficial to the state or not.  We've been talking about the need of doing this for a
number of years.

 



 

    6.   Funding State Parks and Recreation Agency  --  Sen. Schroeder and I are working with Director Nancy
Merrill on an idea to help fund Idaho Parks and Recreation.   We are proposing that an
advisory question be put on the November ballot for voter input.   The basic idea would be that
when each tax return is filed with the Idaho State Tax Commission then $5
from that return would go into the State Parks and Recreation Fund.   The return could be up to
$3.5 million/year.   We
hope to discuss this idea with the Governor next week.

 



 

Well those are some of the
highlights of the week.  
Please send me your comments and suggestions.

 



 

My e mail is ttrail at house.idaho.gov and phone (208)
332.1184.

 



 

Rep. Tom Trail

 

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