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LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER 8--FEBRUARY 11-15/2008
Constituents:
We are at the halfway mark of the 2008 Legislative
session. The House Pages finished their six weeks of work and held a graduation ceremony today.
We will be getting in another group next week. Blaise McPhereson from Deary served as a House Page. His future goal in life is to become a country fiddler and a lawyer for the ACLU -- quite a combination.
Discouraging economic news continued to cloud major decision. It still seems a long way to facing up to some of the major legislative decisions that we need to make. Some highlights of the week:
1.
SB12306 -- Dog fighting/felony penalty -- A major victory was finally achieved after four years of working for the passage of this law. The bill passed the House on a 67-0 margin. I can remember how I first became involved in this issue. Becky Phillips, a retired Vet, who worked in Genesee called me up one morning. I talked with her and she showed me pictures of dogs that had been ravaged including family pets who were kidnapped and used for training bait. Four years has passed by since then, and we now await the signature of the bill by Governor Otter who has already said that he will sign the bill.
Over the years I have received more calls, e mails, and letters of support on this one issue than on any other. The Michael Vick case greatly increased the awareness of the issue, and the successful prosecution of a dog fighting case in Oneida County proved that we had dog fighting in Idaho. This now leaves Wyoming as the only state without a felony penalty.
2.
HJM 36 --Rep. Ringo, Sen. Schroeder, and I worked on a resolution calling on the Legislature to congratulate the University of Idaho for the success of the International Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and the National Medal of Performing Art Award presented to the University in Washington, D.C. The University was the only public institution in the past several years to receive this award.
3.
State Employee Salaries and Benefits -Governor Otter originally requested a 5% salary increase for state employees with some reduction in medical benefits. The economic situation has probably scaled back the figure to 3%. A recommendation will probably be coming out this next week.
4.
Grocery Credit -- I talked with Rep. Dennis Lake today about any progress on this front. One proposal has already been voted down by the Rev and Tax Committee. Rep. Lake said they were awaiting a proposal by the Governor and that he understood there were two other proposals coming to the committee.
5.
ISTARs -- Superintendent Luna has come out with a remodeled merit teacher pay proposal. None of us have seen the legislation yet; however, one major change has been to drop the Category 4 Contract which was an issue that the majority of teachers were against. There were also constitutional issues with the Category 4 Contract according to an Attorney General's opinion. Apparently, the Idaho Education Association was excluded from this round of negotiations. The Superintendent has always stated that all stakeholders should be involved in the negotiation process and that the process should be transparent and accountable. We'll look with interest at the Round II proposal.
6. Gun Billed Pulled by Senate Sponsor -- a bill which sought to legalize the carrying of concealed weapons on college campuses was pulled by its sponsor, Sen. McKenzie.
7.
HB428 -- This bill passed the House. The bill would authorize in depth scientific studies and comprehensive management plans for aquifers throughout Idaho. The bill creates a statewide comprehensive aquifer planning and management effort to be coordinated by the Idaho Water Resources Board and the Idaho Department of Water Resources. The program would be funded by a $20 million appropriation from the General Fund. The money will be used for modeling, technical studies, hydrologic monitoring measurement and the development of comprehensive management plans. If funding is obtained then the Coeur d'Alene and Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer would be the first to be studied in North Idaho and then the Moscow area. About $2.5 million would be allocated to the Moscow area.
Those are some of the weeks highlights. Please send your comments and recommendations to me by e mail at ttrail@house.idaho.gov. My phone is 208-332-1184.
Rep. Tom Trail
I'd appreciate
your comments and recommendations. My e mail is ttrail@house.idaho.gov and telephone 208-332-1184.
Representative Trail
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