[Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter V

Sat Feb 13 09:02:53 PST 2010

Rep. Trail,

Thank you for the updates. Can you please inform us as to the status of funding for IPTV?

Would you and Rep. Ringo consider a bill changing the legislative rules so that a separate 2/3 vote of the House, and a 2/3 vote of the Senate, to cut education funding in one year buy more than 7.5% must be taken before including such a proposal in the budget?

This would prevent drastic cuts to education in the future, and would put a protective bubble around it as the budget may take a massive dive in the immediate two-four years.

Thanks,

Donovan Arnold

--- On Sat, 2/13/10, Rep. Tom Trail <ttrail at moscow.com> wrote:

From: Rep. Tom Trail <ttrail at moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter V
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Saturday, February 13, 2010, 4:24 PM

                           Legislative Newsletter V—February 7-12, 2010

Constituents:

This week I’m going to take a different approach and report more about some of the activities and issues that I’m working on.

1.     UI Students Win One for the Gipper—Rep. Ringo and I both spoke in favor of the resolution citing the Vandal Football Teams Humanitarian Bowl Victory, and the fact that the Vandal Football Team members have the highest grade points in the WAC Conference.

        Apparently the UI students have won another victory as well.   I was approached by UI Student leadership in early January with a complaint.  Last year the University Administration had set a new policy to charge students taking an approved overload (18 credits hours or more) and for each credit over 18 hours the fee was basically double.   This seemed strange to me because the University Presidents, State Board of Education, and the Legislature have all urged students to try and complete their undergraduate programs in four years.   Many of the complaints came from some of the 270 students taking 18 or more credits.   They said that they were urged to complete their programs in four years and in order to do so they had to take an overload of courses.   This to me was a disincentive and in one sense punishing the students for trying to reach a goal that University administration had set for the students.   I had legislation
 drawn up and shared it with the UI administration and the State Board of Education which called for all overload fees to be the same as regular credit fees.   I was informed by Marty Peterson, UI Advisor, that the UI has reconsidered their policy and will work with the UI students and revert back to their old policy of uniform credit fees.

2.     Money and Politics—Our House Ag Committee received some attention from Dan Popkey, a reporter for the Idaho Statesmen, in a front page story on Friday.  Popkey reported that one of Idaho’s most powerful businessmen has allied with an underground movement of raw mild drinkers to take on the biggest force in Idaho agriculture—the $2.1 billon dairy industry.  Frank VanderSloot, the founder of Mealeuca Inc—with sales of $850 million per year tried to kill a new rule aimed a bringing scores of small raw dairies under the Department of Agriculture.  But for one vote the Idaho Falls wellness products magnate would have succeeded in overturning the rule.  The Ag Committee approved the rule on a 5-4 vote after a great deal of testimony.  Consumer safety was a primary reason why I voted for the rule.   The Department had been involved in a 2 year negotiated rule making process and the lobbyist hired by Mr VanderSloot just showed up with
 his concerns two weeks ago, and was not involved in the process.   Mr. VanderSloot is also one of the largest contributors to the Republican Party.  Political pressure was applied through the Governor’s Office for the Committee to reconsider their decision; however, everyone stood firm.   The Department will work closely with both parties in working on extended rule making this coming year.

3.  Idaho Human Rights Commission—Governor Otter in his State of the State address indicated he wanted to eliminate funding for the Idaho Human Rights Commission.   Members of the Moscow Human Rights Commission contacted me and expressed their concern when Director Roger Madsen of the Department of Labor volunteered to incorporate the Commission into the Department of Labor and come up with the funding to keep the Commission whole.   I contacted Director Madsen and I’d like to quote from his letter to me:

 “I appreciate the concerns the members of the Moscow Human Rights Commission have expressed to you about the future of the Idaho Human Rights Commission.  But let me assure you and those commission members that the independence of the Idaho Human Rights Commission will not only be preserved if the commission is merged with the Department of Labor, but it will be enhanced.  As a Department, we are excited about being able to provide the logistic and administrative support that will enable the Idaho Human Rights Commission to continue doing the work that is vital to maintaining our state’s commitment to equality.  Our involvement in areas of efficiency and effectiveness will focus on maximizing the commission’s resources in support of its goal to eradicate discrimination where it exists.  Rest assured, Rep. Trail, that if the merger is accomplished, the work of the Idaho Human Rights Commission will remain a top priority for our state.”

4.     Public School Funding—After visiting with all of the school superintendents in December in Dist. 6 it was very apparent that the districts were going to have major funding challenges during the next two years.   I drafted legislation that if enacted would allow local school districts to voluntarily opt out for a two year period from preparing to meet the 2013 increased math and science standards approved by the State Board and the Legislature.  The standards were approved in better economic times and the financial outlook for many school districts is bleak for the next 2-3 years.  A statewide survey indicated at this time 57 school districts favored a two year opt out.   All districts supported the increased standards over the long haul, but many simply do not have the resources to carry them out at this time (it could be viewed in one sense as an unfunded mandate).   I met with SPI Tom Luna, representatives of the School
 Superintendents Association, and of the School Boards Association, yesterday for an hour to discuss the matter.  We met again this morning and agreed to improve the legislative draft and to continue our dialog this next week.   I talked to JFAC Co-Chair,  Rep. Maxine Bell about the proposal, and she said, “Go for it.  Our school districts need some added financial flexibility”   The savings could be as high as an estimated $6 million/year.

5.     Legislative Items—This week I worked on several legislative initiatives:

a.   Preservation of Historic Agricultural Barns and Sites—I’m co-sponsoring this resolution with Rep. Steve Hartgen of Twin Falls.  The RS was approved for print.

b.     Recognition of Idaho Farmer Markets—Jaime Burns,  who runs a 25 acre farm in the Treasure Valley brought this resolution to my committee.   I will be co-sponsoring the resolution along with Senators Nicole LeFavour and Tim Corder.  The resolution was approved for print.

       c.  Legalization of Industrial Hemp—I co-sponsored this measure with Reps. Brian Cronin and Eric Anderson.  The measure was defeated on a tie vote.

c.      Protection of Personal Data—This measure will be heard in State Affairs and would give added assurances that Idaho State citizens personal data would be more adequately protected when handled by state employees.   The same measure sailed through the House and Senate last year without a negative vote last year and was vetoed by the Governor (the same day he vetoed 35 bills).   I’ve been reassured that the Governor will not do the same thing again this year.

6. Funding State Parks and Recreation--Sen. Schroeder and I have developed legislation that proposes to put an idea on the fall ballot for a vote. The concept is to allow the voters to express whether or not the State Tax Commission could deduct $5 from each income tax return submitted by taxpayers.  Another idea is that when you reregister your car that you would have to purchase a Parks and Rec sticker to put on your license plate for $6. In either case the idea is to help raise funds for Idaho Parks and Recreation.

Well that’s all for this week.  Please give me your comments and suggestions.  My e mail is ttrail at house.idaho.gov and phone
(208) 332-1184.

Rep. Tom Trail

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