For the week of April 16 - 22, 2003

The Legislature that won't leave Capitol

Guest opinion by MARTY TRILLHAASE

Marty Trillhaase is the editorial page editor for the
Post Register in Idaho Falls.

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The 2003 Idaho Legislature has set a record. In 113 years of statehood, there has never been a longer session. Friday was the 96th legislative day … and we’re still counting.

But here are some other new legislative records:

·  Secrecy—These crypto-crats have started kicking people out of committee meetings—blatantly violating the spirit, if not the letter, of Idaho's Open Meeting Law. Even the panel that guesses how much tax money Idaho will take in cast its vote by secret ballot.

·  Vindictiveness—Lawmakers made it more difficult for the Idaho Education Association and the Professional Fire Fighters of Idaho to raise campaign cash. Marilyn Howard, Idaho's Democratic school superintendent, was stripped of her authority over about $160 million in federal education funds. The state's American Indian tribes had the audacity to run a successful initiative campaign to legalize gaming on their reservations. So lawmakers targeted their sales-tax breaks.

·  Kowtowing to special interests—Here we have a $200 million budget deficit, and lawmakers want to hand out more tax breaks.

Lawmakers have weakened the public's voice over the control of their water. They've authorized heavier trucks, which means motorists will have to pay more to repair damaged highways.

Lawmakers did the bidding of the insurance, medical and big-business lobbyists by severely restricting the rights of ordinary Idahoans to fight back in court.

Lobbyists have blocked attempts to raise the beer tax for the first time since 1961 and raise the wine tax for the first time since 1971. And forget about repealing at least a few of the state's 72 sales-tax exemptions. The lobbyists won't hear of it.

·  Arrogance—The attitude is, if the law gets in the way, change it. Boise's former Mayor Brent Coles got in trouble for taking a corporation-paid trip to the Olympics last year. Legislators like those trips, too, so some have tried to weaken the state's ethics law. Their bill would allow lawmakers—and any other state official—to go on a lobbyist-paid junket as long as they could claim it was for "educational or cultural" reasons.

A Boise judge ruled the state has a constitutional duty to maintain safe and adequate school buildings. Rather than fix the schools, lawmakers want to fix the game, forcing the school districts to drop out of the lawsuit.

Not one Republican lawmaker has seriously suggested repealing the 2001 income-tax cuts that have contributed to the state's budget woes. Doing that, of course, would require enough humility to admit they were wrong.

·  Irresponsibility—Lawmakers have waited so long to address Idaho's financial problems that it is nearly impossible for them to fix the current budget. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne wanted to launch a sales-tax increase May 1 to erase a $7 million to $15 million shortfall. Even if lawmakers suddenly agreed, there's too little time to implement the tax to rescue the current budget.

They're also fighting over a one-year increase in the sales tax. If they get their way, lawmakers will be back in Boise a year from now fighting the same battle. A one-year tax increase also undermines Idaho's favorable bond rating.

·  Negligence—Before this session even began, lawmakers knew they had two problems. Idaho's prisons were overcrowded because the state is locking up too many nonviolent offenders. And its capital punishment system, so far, has exonerated more death-row inmates than it has executed.

Prison reform didn't even get a look. A reasonable request to study what's gone wrong with Idaho's death penalty got shot down in committee.

·  Procrastination—This bunch came to Boise in early January. Six weeks later, it got around to deciding how much money the state would receive next year, something the Legislature usually does the first week.

And how did the Idaho House observe setting a new record for longevity Friday?

By taking the day off.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.