Legislative Newsletter X--March 12-19, 2010

Constituents:

Well, we are down to the home stretch, and all predictions are that we will finish up on the 26th of March—unless the legislative Ides of March unveil a new plan. Here are some of the happenings of this past week.

1. Conscience Bill Passes House -- The "conscience" bill on abortion, emergency contraception and end of life care won final passage in the House on a 51-18 vote.  Rep. George Eskridge and I joined 16 Democrats in opposing the bill. The bill permits any licensed health care professional, from pharmacists to nurses, to refuse to provide any treatment or medication that violates that conscience if it relates to abortion, emergency contraception, end-of-life care or stem cells.   Rep. John Rusche, a medical doctor, said that in his opinion the bill conflicts with existing laws on medical treatment. He noted that the bigger issue is who is watching out for the patient. Rep. Grant Burgoyne said that Idahoans will see the bill as "an extraordinary intrusion by government into their private lives--trampling on their right to be left alone to make their own decisions about life and death."

 2.  Voter ID Bill  --  HB496 passed the house on a 64-6 vote.  The bill would require voters to show photo ID at the polls before they vote.  One of my concerns is that the Secretary of State reports that there do not appear to be any major problems with voter fraud in Idaho.  In one sense this is a solution in search of a problem.

 3.  Higher Education Funding -- The University of Idaho and other colleges are looking at a $32 million cut in funding for FY11.  All of the universities will be asking for increasing student fees by 10-12% from the State Board in April. The increasing short sightedness of the Legislature to not fund Higher Education will certainly not encourage high school graduates to attend college--and in this area, Idaho already ranks near the bottom nationally.  Everyone seems to realize that Higher Education is the economic driving force for our economy, but the Idaho Legislature seems to disregard this simple fact.   A recent study shows that the UI contributed almost a billion dollars to the state's economy. Indications of things to come are outlined in a recent report which indicates that Nevada's land-grant University in Reno is eliminating the College of Agriculture.

  4. Taxes -- Estimates are that the collectible tax gap in Idaho is about $67 million.  JFAC did include enough money in the budget so that an additional $16 million should be collected by the end of June.  Legislation toward the first step toward taxing internet sales died in the House Rev and Tax Committee on a 9-9 tie.  We need to get legislation in place to protect main street Idaho business from the advantages that internet sales now have.

     What is interesting is that everyone is talking about tax reform.  Governor Otter says that we need to look at tax exemptions.  Rep. Dennis Lake, Chair of the House Rev and Tax Committee told me that next legislative session we will be looking at major tax reform.  He came over to my office and asked for a copy of tax legislation that Bob Huntley (former Democratic candidate for governor) and I developed in 2006.  He said he liked many aspects of the proposal.  I think we need to talk about tax reform today and now and not wait until much of the damage has been done to K-12, Higher Education, and other essential state services and programs.  We've moved from a natural resources economy to a service economy. We've granted 75 tax exemptions which take about $1.7 billion a year off the table from the state's revenue stream and for the benefit of certain groups.  The tax proposal that Mr. Huntley and I developed would tax certain services and eliminate certain exemptions. The end result would allow us to lower the sales tax from 6% to 5% and still end up with about $200 million more for the state budget.  You'll be hearing more about this in the future.

5. HB630 provides for a temporary income tax credit increase for tax years 2011 through 2015. If the bill passes it will increase the income tax credit for education,  Idaho Public TV, library and museum related charitable contributions and a number of other state organizations. For individuals filing as singles the cap moves from $100 to $500 provided that this doesn't exceed 50% of the tax liability.

 6.  Constitutional Amendments -- Three amendments would allow Idaho cities and publicly owned hospitals to sign long term contracts without a vote, if no taxpayer money is pledged to repay debts.

  The major budget bills will be coming up this next week.   Again, I'd appreciate your comments and questions.  

My e-mail is ttrail@house.idaho.gov and tel #208-332-1184.

Rep. Tom Trail

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