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Legislative Newsletter VIII, 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@house.idaho.gov and phone 332-1184.
Representative Tom Trail
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