<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New
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size="3"> Legislative
Newsletter VI—February 15-21, 2010</font></p>
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<p class="MsoPlainText" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span
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mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><font size="3">A number of key issues faced
the Idaho Legislature this week.
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif";
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yes"> </span>1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>House votes to stop PERSI COLA---The PERSI Board recommended in
December that retirees should receive a 1% COLA on March 1st.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>It is a dedicated fund, and the Directors and PERSI
management have one of the top retirement funds in the U.S.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Rep. Bob Schaefer and I were
the only two Republicans to vote against the resolution.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There is some concern
that conservatives might be looking at a way to tap into the fund in these
hard times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This would
be a disaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The
State of Illinois has borrowed more than $80 billion for their retirement
fund.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif";
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yes"> </span>2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Idaho Public TV -- I've probably received more mail on this issue
than any other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>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.
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<p class="MsoPlainText" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span
style="FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif";
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yes"> </span>3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Office of the State Board of Education Votes to Give University
Presidents absolute authority over faculty contracts, furloughs, tenure,
etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Rep. Ringo,
Rep. Chavez, and I joined university faculty in speaking out against this
poorly conceived move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>At no
time were faculty involved in the decision making process.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Even the ISU President
stated that he felt that the furlough policy was "illegal" and
that he would not abide by the decision.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>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),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>due process, and
including the exclusionary process without faculty input used to reach the
final decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>These
legislators have also developed legislation that would establish a
Legislative Financial Crisis Review Committee giving the Legislature
oversight over the Board.
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif";
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yes"> </span>4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Education Funding<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>--<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>However, with FY11 coming up
there is a predicted shortfall of $135 million for public education.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If the economy does not
improve this will represent a 9% cut in the public education budget.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We've also heard that the
cuts may go as high 12%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Over 50 school districts reserve funds are almost down to
zero.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This move would allow
districts to make the decision based on local circumstances more financial
flexibility--an estimated $5 million/year.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Some 57 districts reported they would take
advantage of the proposal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>JFAC Co-Chair Rep. Maxine Bell told me to "Go For It."
when I talked to her about the proposal.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>It may be that JFAC will incorporate this into
intent language with the public school budgets.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>The House Education Committee supports granting
districts financial flexibility and lump sum funding to maximize local
school budgets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Higher
Education is also looking at a potential 10% cut this coming year.
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif";
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yes"> </span>5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Potential Tax Hike -- 2011 could bring Idaho a tax hike<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>--<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>this was the headline in the Idaho Statesman this
week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>We've been talking about the need of doing this for a
number of years.
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yes"> </span>6.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Funding State Parks and Recreation Agency<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>--<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Sen. Schroeder and I are working with Director Nancy
Merrill on an idea to help fund Idaho Parks and Recreation.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We are proposing that an
advisory question be put on the November ballot for voter input.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The return could be up to
$3.5 million/year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We
hope to discuss this idea with the Governor next week.
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<p class="MsoPlainText" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span
style="FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif";
mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><font size="3">Well those are some of the
highlights of the week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Please send me your comments and suggestions.
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<p class="MsoPlainText" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span
style="FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif";
mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><font size="3">My e mail is </font><a
href="mailto:ttrail@house.idaho.gov"><font
size="3">ttrail@house.idaho.gov</font></a><font size="3"> and phone (208)
332.1184.
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<p class="MsoPlainText" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span
style="FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif";
mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><font size="3">Rep. Tom Trail
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