Idaho legislation has taxes, health districts, and the executive powers of Governor Brad Little on its agenda when it meets on January 11th.
Senator Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, has begun work on laws designed to change the capabilities of regional health districts.
“Right now the district is voting to approve something and it is effectively becoming law,” said Vick. “My proposal is not a complete draft, but it would require one more step, a final step where the district officers approve the health district’s recommendations.”
Vick and Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d’Alene, both said the health district theme would be notable this year.
“I am concerned that the unelected bureaucrats are making decisions that affect everyone’s lives,” Mendive said. “We need to create transparency about the health districts, change the way they work and limit their power.”
One anticipated battle from the 2021 session is whether to remove some of the executive powers Little exercised during COVID-19. When relief began, lawmakers found they were out of date, said Senator Mary Souza, R-Coeur d’Alene.
“They were written in the 1960s, so the House and Senate must work together to bring them up to date,” she said. “We want to make it clear to them what kind of emergency, like a physical attack or a natural disaster, different things come into play and we need to know the rules.”
Other discussion points to be expected include the administration of federal grant funding, the duration of the state of emergency, and the power of lawmakers to return to the meeting without the governor’s permission.
“The governor has the ability to make all COVID emergency decisions without input from the House and Senate. We were not elected to stand idle,” said R-Post Falls Rep. Tony Wisniewski. “One of the main issues we will be working on is returning the right authority to the legislature and independence from us.”
Vick expects issues related to COVID-19 will be an overarching topic as at least half of his emails are related to the issue. There will be laws restricting the governor’s authority, he said. Perhaps not specific skills, but their duration.
“The periods of time it can operate without legislator approval, how much money is spent on large cash grants, which makes the legislation more involved rather than the governor’s advisory board making all the decisions,” Vick said. “This will be a big discussion from day one to the end.”
Changes to some of these capabilities would require a constitutional amendment, Mendive said, to allow lawmakers to call back to session. When the legislation went through the statehouse, voters would determine their approval.
Taxes – everyone’s favorite conversation – will again be the topic of Statehouse this year, according to Rep. Jim Addis, R-Coeur d’Alene. He co-chaired a provisional property tax and revenue expenditure committee after the 2020 meeting failed to resolve the state’s long-term problem.
Addis will sponsor a uniformity and transparency bill that will report the income and expenditure of all tax authorities nationwide online.
“Local property taxes pay for many local expenses,” Addis said. “It’s a budget-oriented system. So if we can provide each tax district’s chart of accounts, we can compare. I think it will revolutionize access to local spending.”
He believes that through transparency, companies would reduce budgets or at least slow growth. All authorities – counties, cities, highway districts, schools – would be available on the state inspector’s website.
“I think this is going to be a pretty revolutionary session as opposed to an evolutionary one,” said Addis. “There are a lot of great Idaho ideas on great topics and I think the legislation will be very focused on getting a lot going.”
Other initiatives in which the legislature has expressed interest:
Senator Steve Vick: Use Idaho’s $ 530 million surplus to eliminate 6% state sales tax on food, maintenance of transportation systems, water storage issues in southern and eastern Idaho, and joint administration with federal and state governments State authorities over some of Idaho’s nationals woodlands in the panhandle to maintain forest health.
Rep. Jim Addis: Revising Idaho Sales Tax Act and Idaho Response to Oregon Gross Income Tax That Affects All Commerce Doing Business In The State Of Oregon Even If The Company Is Based In Idaho.
Rep. Tony Wisniewski: Resolving issues related to restricting in-person tuition for students, lowering property taxes, and reconstructing crash charges to encourage new growth and transportation.
Senator Mary Souza: Electoral Integrity Laws, which Revolve around Safety and Security, and a continuation of her resolution on financial literacy that would extend financial literacy to high school and college students.
Rep. Ron Mendive: Legislation adopting the traditional model of education to allow parents more choices in learning style, including an “education savings account” that ties education funding to the student.
Rep. Doug Okuniewicz, R-Hayden: The freshman lawmaker said it intends to partner with seasoned lawmakers to cut property taxes, allow lawmakers to return to the session without the governor’s approval, focus on education reform, and support for Obtain a law on reentry centers. This would require the Idaho Justice Department to apply for a special permit prior to building a facility.