Legislative Newsletter X, March 13-20, 2009

Constituents:

     We know that the end may finally be in sight. JFAC is starting to set budgets, and leadership tells us that we will finally close up shop somewhere between the 10-17th April.  Spring-like weather also helps us to speed up our work.  Here are some issues covered this week.

1. Governor's Transportation Bill -- The Governor's bill to increase the gas tax was defeated on a 42-28 vote.   The basic issue of improving Idaho's transportation infrastructure was supported by everyone; however, increasing the gas tax in tough economic times just didn't fit well with those who voted against the bill.  I asked constituents for their input and received almost 150 responses. Basically about 55 percent were opposed to increasing taxes and 45 percent in favor of the bill.

  This was an extremely difficult vote for me, and I finally decided to support the bill. The last time that the gas tax was raised was back in 1996 when Governor Batt came to the rescue of North Idaho after devastating floods had wiped out many roads and bridges.   The tax went up 4 cents a gallon and a majority of the funding went in to repairs North Idaho bridges and highways.

There was also the argument that we need to improve our roads because of safety concerns.  School buses cover thousands of miles each day taking our kids to school.  The safety of our children and citizens is of paramount importance.  In tough economic times we are also trying to encourage new     businesses to come to Idaho and provide adequate roads for those already here.  A strong economic base provides jobs.  In any event, it looks like and new transportation revenues are out for this session.

  2.  SB1002  -- This was the bill to assist the City of Moscow in selling water to the Hawkins Development (if it decided to go ahead and built across the state line).  The House Resources and Conservation Committee without debate voted to hold the bill in committee which means that the bill is dead for this session.  Several committee members said the fact that no one can out in support for the bill spoke volumes.  Several committee members including Chairman Bert Stephenson and Representative. Maxine Bell, Co-Chair of JFAC, said this was not a water issue but a planning and zoning issue and should be settled at the local level.  Committee members reported that there was only one letter of support for the bill and that there was great opposition from some Moscow and Latah elected officials as well as well as local citizens.

3. Public Education -- Last Friday, JFAC set a revenue projection that could enable lawmakers to set a budget for next year that cuts public school employee salaries by 3.5%.  However, in order to make that happen, JFAC will need to use some of the stimulus money the governor recommended using for other projects to help balance the state budgets and to offset education and personnel cuts.  The Governor had recommended a 5 percent salary cut. There is more than enough money in the Public Education Stabilization Fund, the federal stimulus money, and the various state rainy day accounts to more than cover any funding gaps for next year. The State could further generate more funds through reforming our tax laws as proposed by Senator. Schroeder and myself in HB20.  The approach calls for sun-setting all of the 75 exemptions that we have granted in the state, and setting up a review of whether each exemption actually benefits the state.  Those organizations whose exemption was viewed as not benefitting the state would be eliminated and the exemption money would flow into the state general fund.  This could be used to support education.

In a time when education is being cut back I get the feeling that our educational system is rapidly heading toward Third World Country status.  We currently require 180 days of school but about 10 days is used for testing. Educational systems in Asia and Europe require from 215-240 days of school/year. The proposal of going to a four day school week just doesn't compete in the global arena.   There are some important facts to remember about supporting education:

  a. Investing in our children and their education is the best way of guaranteeing a stable economy for our state. The 275,000 students in our public school classrooms will show up for an education tomorrow and next year, regardless of Idaho's economic conditions.  We owe them a quality education.

  b. Idaho already has the 6th largest class sizes in the national and the per pupil expenditures rank 47th lowest in the country.

  c. In many districts the loss of even one teaching position could result in the elimination of an entire program such as art or music.

  d. Anything that affects teachers affects students: a teacher's working conditions are a student's learning conditions.

  e. Research has clearly shown that the most important factor influencing student achievement is the teacher.  Reducing the number of teachers means larger class size and this has a negative impact on learning.

  f.   Idaho needs all the tools it can get to recruit and retain teachers.  Idaho ranks 41st in the nation for the average salary paid to teachers.

     The next three weeks will see how well we support education in the Idaho and for the future.

      Please send me your comments, recommendations, and concerns.  My e mail is ttrail@house.idaho.gov and                 phone is (208) 332-1184.

 Representative Tom Trail

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