[Vision2020] Vote-By-Mail Measure Dies in Committee
Sue Hovey
suehovey at moscow.com
Tue Mar 27 13:01:51 PDT 2007
Remember the term limits initiative. It passed and the legislature rejected
it anyway. A pretty arrogant bunch at times. You propose an interesting
initiative. Pretty sure I wouldn't want all bills to go to the floor for a
full vote. The committee structure is important when used appropriately for
hearings, testimony, amendments, and as a barrier to poorly drawn
legislation.
Sue
----- Original Message -----
From: "lfalen" <lfalen at turbonet.com>
To: "Sue Hovey" <suehovey at moscow.com>; "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>;
"Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Vote-By-Mail Measure Dies in Committee
> The confidentiality bill also died in committee. Some of the bills that
> were deck drawered I like and some I didn't. In any case I think all bills
> should go to the floor for a full vote. I think we need to explore the
> possibly of an initiative to require such. It may not be doable, but we
> should at least look at it.
>
> Roger
> -----Original message-----
> From: "Sue Hovey" suehovey at moscow.com
> Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:30:06 -0700
> To: "Tom Hansen" thansen at moscow.com, "Vision 2020" vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Vote-By-Mail Measure Dies in Committee
>
>> We get rid of Sali, already recognized as one of the more zany members
>> of
>> Congress, and Loertscher moves in to take his place among our own
>> incumbent
>> zanies JoAn Wood and Lenore Barrett. I think there's a rule--you must
>> have
>> three to form a quorum, but they may be from either the House or Senate.
>>
>> Sue
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
>> To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 3:29 AM
>> Subject: [Vision2020] Vote-By-Mail Measure Dies in Committee
>>
>>
>> > >From today's (March 27, 2007) Spokesman Review -
>> >
>> > "Chairman pulls bill back for new hearing, then doesn't hold one"
>> >
>> > As Charlie Rich said, "No-one knows what goes on behind closed doors."
>> >
>> > ---------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > Vote-by-mail measure dies in committee
>> > Chairman pulls bill back for new hearing, then doesn't hold one
>> >
>> > Betsy Z. Russell
>> > Staff writer
>> > March 27, 2007
>> >
>> > BOISE - Vote-by-mail legislation that was backed by every county clerk
>> > in
>> > the state is dead for the year, one of an array of high-profile bills
>> > unilaterally killed by legislative committee chairmen.
>> >
>> > "It's not going anywhere this year," said Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona,
>> > chairman of the House State Affairs Committee. "I've got a lot of
>> > concerns
>> > about it, and I think legitimate concerns."
>> >
>> > House Bill 94 came out of the House State Affairs Committee on an 11-7
>> > vote
>> > in mid-February, and backers were ebullient.
>> >
>> > "We were doing really well with our vote count on the floor - that's
>> > when
>> > they pulled it back into committee," said Kerry Ellen Elliott, lobbyist
>> > for
>> > the Idaho Association of Counties. "We got the message - we won the
>> > battle,
>> > but we lost the war."
>> >
>> > Loertscher told the House on Feb. 16 that a problem had arisen that
>> > needed
>> > another look in his committee, and the House backed him on a 53-16
>> > vote.
>> > Loertscher said then that he expected to hold another hearing on the
>> > bill,
>> > but he never did.
>> >
>> > Committee chairmen have that prerogative - they can decide which bills
>> > to
>> > place on their committee's agenda. They can even take a bill that's
>> > already
>> > passed the other house handily, stash it in a desk drawer and let it
>> > die
>> > there.
>> >
>> > Among bills that have died that way this year are Sen. Joyce
>> > Broadsword's
>> > measure to eliminate exemptions from the state's child car seat law;
>> > Sen.
>> > Lee Heinrich's bill to raise the fine for seat belt violations; and
>> > Sen.
>> > Clint Stennett's bill to eliminate the current rule that only those who
>> > have
>> > their primary home within a mile can testify at a hearing on a proposed
>> > large feedlot.
>> >
>> > House Transportation Chairwoman JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, sidelined both the
>> > car
>> > seat and seat belt bills; and House Local Government Chairwoman Lenore
>> > Barrett, R-Challis, declined to schedule a hearing on Stennett's
>> > feedlot
>> > testimony bill.
>> >
>> > "It's disappointing," said Broadsword, R-Sagle, who had warned
>> > lawmakers
>> > that if exemptions aren't removed, Idaho babies and toddlers risk
>> > becoming
>> > "ping-pong balls" inside a crashing car. "When you put your most
>> > vulnerable
>> > population at risk, that's just not responsible," she said.
>> >
>> > Broadsword said eliminating the exemptions, which waive the law if
>> > there
>> > aren't enough seat belts or if parents want to remove the child to feed
>> > or
>> > change a diaper, would qualify the state for nearly $1 million in
>> > federal
>> > grants that would in part pay for car seats for low-income Idaho
>> > families.
>> >
>> > Heinrich, R-Cascade, said his bill to raise seat belt fines could help
>> > boost
>> > Idaho's seat belt compliance, which is up to 78 percent, but needs to
>> > hit
>> > 85
>> > percent to qualify the state for $4 million to $5 million in additional
>> > federal highway funding.
>> >
>> > "I think it's unfortunate. Legislation should be by the will of the
>> > people,
>> > not by the individual," Heinrich said.
>> >
>> > Loertscher said he thought there were problems with the way the
>> > vote-by-mail
>> > bill was written. "There may be a constitutional problem, on the right
>> > to
>> > absolute secrecy of the ballot," he said.
>> >
>> > With mail-in voting, he said, "There are gaps when it's out of control
>> > by
>> > the voter or the county clerk."
>> >
>> > The eastern Idaho lawmaker said there were other problems with the bill
>> > as
>> > well, but he couldn't remember what they were. "It was two months ago -
>> > boy,
>> > you're asking me to remember," he said.
>> >
>> > Kootenai County Clerk Dan English said there was no constitutional
>> > problem
>> > with mail-in voting.
>> >
>> > "I think it was asked and answered early on," he said. If there were
>> > such
>> > a
>> > problem, he said, Idaho wouldn't be doing absentee voting by mail-in
>> > ballot,
>> > and states such as Oregon and Washington wouldn't have instituted
>> > vote-by-mail.
>> >
>> > In the last general election, 25 percent of Kootenai County's ballots
>> > were
>> > cast as absentee ballots, most of those in the mail, English said.
>> >
>> > "I guess if there were other concerns, we never had a chance to address
>> > them," English said.
>> >
>> > "It certainly seems to have a lot of popularity with the average
>> > voters. .
>> > It's disappointing."
>> >
>> > Loertscher said personally, he doesn't like vote-by-mail. "Voting is a
>> > right
>> > and a responsibility," he said. "The easier it becomes, the less
>> > important
>> > it becomes to us. . It starts to mean less."
>> >
>> > Elliott said, "It'll come up another day. I think the people want
>> > vote-by-mail. . They'd have more time to look at the ballot, examine
>> > the
>> > issues. People have schedules that are insane now. It's coming."
>> >
>> > ------------------------
>> >
>> > Bills killed unilaterally
>> > Legislative committee chairmen can kill bills by declining to schedule
>> > them
>> > for hearings in their committees. Here are some that have died that way
>> > this
>> > session:
>> >
>> > .HB 94, to allow counties to conduct elections by mail. Passed the
>> > House
>> > State Affairs Committee 11-7, but was pulled back to committee by the
>> > chairman for another hearing, which he then declined to hold.
>> >
>> > .SB 1094, to eliminate exceptions to the requirement to restrain young
>> > children in car seats while traveling. Passed the Senate 29-4; died in
>> > House
>> > Transportation Committee without a hearing.
>> >
>> > .SB 1135, to raise the fine for not wearing a seat belt from $10 to
>> > $25.
>> > Passed the Senate 22-12; died in House Transportation Committee without
>> > a
>> > hearing.
>> >
>> > .SB 1056, to allow people to testify at confined animal feeding
>> > operation
>> > hearings even if they don't live within a mile of the project. Passed
>> > the
>> > Senate 30-4; died in House Local Government Committee without a
>> > hearing.
>> >
>> > ---------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > Seeya at the polls, Moscow.
>> >
>> > Tom Hansen
>> > Moscow, Idaho
>> >
>> > "If not us, who?
>> > If not now, when?"
>> >
>> > - Unknown
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > =======================================================
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>> > mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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>> >
>> >
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>> > 2:31 PM
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>> >
>>
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