[Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter XI

[Rep. Tom Trail]

LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER XI
Constituents:
    
We didn't quite finish up the legislative session on the 26th of
March.   We will be
coming back, hopefully, to finish up on the 29th, and then we can head
home.    Here are
some of the events of the week.
 1.  HB729  --  Texting
While Driving Ban passes the House 
--  the bill makes
texting behind the wheel an infraction with a penalty of $50 plus court
costs on the first offense and $100 plus court costs on subsequent
offenses.   There is a
Senate version that would impose fines up to $300 and jail time up to 90
days.  The House and Senate
will have to work out details on Monday.
 2.  House Eases Rape Laws for Young
Men  --  Men within three years of age of
their 16 old or 17 year old sexual partners would no longer face statutory
rape charges if the sexual encounter was consensual.        
I voted against the bill primarily because it did not have the
support of Idaho's Prosecutors.   Sandee Meyer, Executive Director of the Idaho
Prosecuting Attorney's Association send me the following e-mail:  "On behalf of Idaho's
Prosecutors, we would like to thank you for opposing SB1385.  We continue to strongly believe
that the passage of this legislation poses a great threat to innocent,
young adolescents in Idaho. 
Again, thank you for your opposition to this dangerous and
unnecessary legislation.
  3.  10th Amendment/States Rights  --  American constitutional law is a centuries old struggle
between       Alexander Hamilton and
Thomas Jefferson  --  between expansive and narrow views
of federal power.       Both Virginia and Idaho
struck a blow for Jefferson when these two states passed resolutions to
ban federally mandated health insurance (from the new national health
plan).  In Virginia 23 of the
Houses's 39 Democrats supported the legislation.


 
     Although the Constitution’s
supremacy clause makes it clear that federal law trumps state law, there
are a number of issues that are not clear as to the constitutionality of
the new health national health care plan.   Many
opponents believe it breaches the constitution itself.  First is the broad challenge on
states' rights grounds, particularly with respect to health care.  Second, the Supreme Court has
recognized a right to medical self determination, notably finding it
within the 5th Amendment's due-process clause.  An individual mandate could violate that right by
restricting choices of doctors or procedures.  The last and strongest argument concerns the
government's power to require the purchase of health insurance under the
commerce clause.
      The non-partisan Congressional
Research Service found this the most challenging constitutional      question
related to health care reform, as the commerce clause, the clause in the
constitution that allows the federal government to regulate trade between
the states, has never before been used to require that citizens buy a good
or service.   If the
Supreme Court finds in favor of any one of these arguments, the state laws
become irrelevant:  the
individual mandate will have been invalidated at the federal level.   It will be interesting to
see how this plays out.


 
 4.  Idaho
Education at the Crossroads 
--  Idaho Public and
Higher Education are at the crossroads.  Our educational infrastructure has suffered from the
cutbacks of the past few years, and it is likely to suffer more in the
coming few years unless a dramatic turnaround occurs.
    
The Idaho constitution clearly outlines that we have a
constitutional obligation to provide a thorough and uniform education for
our children.  This obligation
clearly signifies that we need to provide the resources to K-12
students.  This year's budget
for K-12 is down about 7% and Higher Education's       support is down more than
10%.
      Idaho elected officials are
strong supporters of public education.   I've heard Governor Otter and Superintendent of
Public Instruction, Tom Luna, say that we must do our best to prepare
Idaho students to compete in the Global Economy.  But when we have schools that have gone to four day
school weeks, increased class size, and suffered a dramatic decline in
support of the resources need to adequately fund the educational
infrastructure this raises the question of whether or not we are meeting
our constitutional obligation to provide a thorough and uniform education
for our K-12 students.
    
In 1985, Higher Education received almost 17% of the state
budget.  This has declined to
about 8% today.  
Priority and world class programs have been eliminated, class sizes
have increased, and top researchers and teachers are leaving for better
opportunities elsewhere.  Fees
for students are increasing by 10-12% a year, and the average graduate
leaves their Alma Mater with over $20,000 in debt.   Governor Otter has said on
many occasions that higher education prepares the work force for our
State's economic engine; however, the State's commitment to Higher
Education does not seem to indicate it has a high priority.  Our teachers put in over 10 hours
a day of work for five days and also work on the weekends.   Idaho ranks 41st in the U.S. in teachers' salaries and
47th in expenditures per student. 
    
Bob Huntley, former Idaho Supreme Court Judge and Democratic
candidate for governor, and I are proposing an alternative for the
Governor and others, which we feel could help us adequately support
education and other critical state services.  We call our proposal the Idaho Economic Recovery
Act.  The proposal would
reduce the 6% sales tax to 5%. 
This would benefit low income families and make us more competitive
with other states. 
Additionally we propose that services be taxed at the 5% level and
that certain exemptions be eliminated.  The net return to the state as calculated by the Idaho
Tax Commission would be about $200 million.  This could be used for supporting our educational
programs. Under our proposal, production and agricultural exemptions would
not be touched and there would not be a tax on health
services.
    
We held a press conference on Thursday.  The Idaho Education Association, Labor Unions, and
members of the community attended.   We proposed this initiative because we feel that
education is at the cross-roads in Idaho, and that our proposal leads
toward a more equitable tax system
    
Lee Iacocca said, "In a completely rational society, the best
of us would aspire to be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle
for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation
to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility
anyone could have."  
And as Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you think education is
expensive, try ignorance." 
Again, we urge the Governor and our elected officials to look at
our proposal, and move forward to strengthen education in
Idaho.

That is all for this week.   I'll be sending out another
summary once we Sine Die.  
Please contact me at ttrail at house.idaho.
Rep. Tom Trail
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