[Vision2020] LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER 8—March 5-11, 2011

Rep. Tom Trail ttrail at moscow.com
Sun Mar 13 10:07:49 PDT 2011



LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER
8—March 5-11, 2011

 



 



 

Constituents:

 



 

This has been a rough week in
the trenches.   Monday I
was not feeling well and after a doctor's appointment on Tuesday I was
transferred to St. Al's Hospital.     I had come down with a case of
pneumonia.    I responded
well to the antibiotics and on Friday my doctor felt that I had
made enough progress that I could start back on Monday.    I did pair off on key
votes during the week, and plan to be back at the fray (watchfully) this
coming week.

 



 

 1.  
Public Education--SPI Luna's S1108 (teacher's collective bargaining
rights) and S1110 (teacher-pay-for-performance) passed the House this
week.  Nine Republicans joined
13 Democrats in opposing S1108 and 13 R's joined the D's in voting against
S1110.  The major problem with
S1110 is there is no source of funding at this time.    The third major piece
SB1113 (technology, increased classroom size, and some 770 teacher
layoffs) was killed in committee, but apparently will re-emerge in the
form of new bill this week.    It appears that under the new bill
districts will get less funding and more flexibility on how to spend it.

 



 

 2.  Funding
for Public Education--The general fund portion of public education is
estimated to be $1.2 billion down $6 million from last year's budget.   However, that's with an
expected 176 more classrooms in the state needing funding.   Many of the legislators who
won in last November's election signed pledges not to raise taxes and that
included any new taxes for education.  Traditional thought among legislators is that voters
will not support any new taxes, and this is what SPI Luna said
recently.   The voters
spoke again Tuesday with overwhelming results in most of the levy
elections across the State including Coeur d'Alene,  Twin Falls, Pocatello, and Idaho
Falls.    On Tuesday
the point is very clear--even in trying times--even when school districts'
sole recourse is to collect levies on the always unpopular property
tax--Idaho citizens are generally willing to dig into their pockets to
support public education.  
The truth is that our citizens at the grassroots level are the ones
who put Students First.

 



 

 3.  Recall
Luna--Statewide attention has focused on a move to recall SPI Luna.    Frankly, this is a
poor strategy.   
The odds of recalling a state elected official is more than
challenging.    Jim
Weatherby,   Retired
Political Scientist, from BSU, offered another route for those opposing
the LUNA plan.   This is
the referendum route.   
Once the Idaho Legislature concludes their session then initiatives
can be filed with the Secretary of State's Office.    Over 43,000 legitimate
signatures on petitions would then have to be submitted.    If enough signatures
were validated then the measures would go on the 2012 ballot requiring
only a simple majority to pass.    This strategy has been successful five
times in Idaho history with the last occasion with the voters rejecting
Term Limits in 2002.

 



 

 4.  Budget
Increases for Prisons and Cuts for Higher Education--JFAC announced 4
percent increase for Idaho Prisons and a 5 percent decrease for Idaho's
universities and colleges.     This has been a trend since the early
1980's.    While
Higher Education's share of the General Budget was as high as 17 percent
in the early 1980's it has fallen to less than 8 percent today.   The decreases have come
primarily because of "higher" priorities for corrections and
health and welfare.   As
expected, the impact makes education more expensive for students.   The UI will be requesting a
8.4 percent increase for student fees.

 



 

 5.  Highway
12 and Megaloads--Idaho Rivers United filed a lawsuit against the U.S.
Forest Service seeking to force the agency to challenge the megaload
shipments of oil refining equipment approved by the Idaho Transportation
Department.   Two Conoco
shipments have made it to Montana, but it is anticipated permit requests
for hundreds more are just a matter of time.    If this occurs then the "fear" of
Highway 12 becoming the international oil freeway to Alberta may become
true.

 



 

 6. 
HB221--This piece of legislation outlines cuts to the States
Medicaid services to the amount of $107 million which is down from the
$120 originally proposed. 
Given that Medicaid funding gets matched by the federal government,
for every dollar in services cut at the state level, we lose over $3 in
federal funds.   The bill
is being revised to move the two most controversial cuts for adults with
developmental disabilities: 
1) cutting off developmental therapy services to anyone 45 years or
older and 2) denying these services to hundreds of patients who fail to
qualify for the waiver program.

 



 

That's all for this week.    Please send me your
comments, recommendation, and ideas.    My e mail is ttrail at house.idaho.gov and
phone

 

(208) 332-1184.

 



 

Rep. Tom Trail

you
can also view my updates on www.infotrail.com/idaho
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