Legislative Update from Rep. Trail, February 14-20

[Tom Trail <RepTrail@infotrail.com>]

Visionaries:

     We just completed the sixth week of the Idaho Legislature.  Time is
becoming compressed now as we are introducing bills in committee and on the
floor of the house.  I received about 150 e-mail messages this past week.
Most of them were related to the three PERSI bills..

      1.  PERSI  --  Over 300 teachers and state employees showed up
Wednesday at the capitol for a hearing on the three PERSI bills.
Thirty-seven testified in favor of the legislation and a Mr. Purvis with
the City of Boise talked in favor of an alternative plan.  The three bills
will be discussed in a subcommittee meeting of the House Commerce and Human
Resources Committee early next week.  As of Friday I thought the
subcommittee would vote 3-2 to recommend to the full committee to table the
introduction of the bills this session and recommend that a Interim
Committee study the bills over the summer.  Mr. Bob Maynard, Investment
Manager for PERSI, spoke to the Republican Caucus on Thursday and he
apparently reassured us that the passage of the bills would guard the
financial integrity of the fund.  I see in the Tribune today that the
Speaker of the House indicated there still might be some life in the
legislation.  I'd like to see at least one of the bills make it through the
session.

       2.  Head Start  --  In a surprise move on Thursday JFAC approved
$1.5 million in surplus Health and Welfare funds for Head Start.  Head
Start will work with H and W in developing programs for the poorest of the
poor children and families.  The JFAC vote was 14-6.  The next step will be
for the Legislature and the Governor to approve the line item in the budget.

     Another Head Start bill sponsored by Sen. Gary Schroeder and myself
asked for $500,000 in state funding.  In addition, the bill called for a
five person advisory council made up of early childhood experts, and  that
the program be attached to the Department of Education.  The bill has been
printed.

      3.  Reduction of the Super Majority to 60% for passage of school
bonds.  Rep. Donna Boe and I decided to give up on this bill because we had
not received any active support from the Governor's office on the bill.
Rep. Boe and I polled the State Affairs Committee and by a 10-1 margin the
members were against the legislation.  Sen. Schroeder has introduced the
bill on the Senate side.  The chances for passage are small this year.

      4.  Advisory Vote for Funding School Bonds  --  Several pools
developed by Boise State University indicated that almost 65% of Idaho
citizens would approve a 1/2 cent increase in the sales tax to fund the
construction and upgrading of public schools.  Idaho is the only state in
the U.S. that does not provide some type of assistance for building schools
to local school districts.

      We have submitted a resolution calling for the Legislature to approve
putting the issue on the 2000 election ballot as an advisory vote.  The
question is simply, "Would you approve increasing by 1/2 cent the sales/use
tax to fund the construction and upgrading of public schools."  If approved
the funds would flow to the State Building Fund and school districts could
apply for the funds.  We feel that it is absolutely necessary to put
pressure on the Legislature so that we can do something about school
facilities.  This would be one avenue to solicit input from citizens on
this most crucial issue.

     5.  HB 143  --  The House Environmental Affairs Committee endorsed my
bill to give state agencies the option of granting a 5 percent purchasing
preference to purchase recycled paper products.  The bill would extend the
lifetime of landfills and create jobs in the recycling industry.  The bill
comes to the floor of the House on Monday for a vote.

      6.  Term Limits  --  The Governor has indicated some flexibility in
addressing the issue of term limits.  Rep. Dan Mader and I have submitted
legislation to the House State Affairs Committee that if approved would go
on the 2000 ballot for a vote of the citizens.  The bill would call for
term limits of 12 years for members of both the Senate and House.  This
would consist of three (4) year terms.  Elections would be staggered with
odd number districts voting under the system in 2002 and even districts in
2004.  A bill considering an option for local county voters to consider
whether or not they want to keep or drop term limits will probably also be
proposed.

     7.  Minimum Wage Bill for Farm Workers  --  I'm a co-sponsor of HB 79
which calls for the establishment of a minimum wage--$5.15/hour for farm
workers.  Over 150 attended a four hour hearing on Thursday.  Dennis
Tanikuni, Farm Bureau, told the committee the law is not needed because he
couldn't find any farm worker earning less than the minimum wage.  I
requested the Idaho Insurance fund to conduct a survey of farm owners.  The
results from a telephone interview of 185 farmers indicated that 20% of the
farmers did not pay their workers the minimum wage.

      One of the issues is why should agriculture be the only industry in
the state not required to comply with the Federal law and pay farm workers
the minimum wage.

     8.  Gifted and Talented Programs  --  In 1992 the State Legislature
mandated all public school districts to carry out gifted and talented
programs in five areas.  The only funding provided by the state was last
year when a $500,000 line item was approved for the training of teachers.
This legislative action has in essence been an unfunded state mandate on
the school districts.  About 39 of 112 school districts have no gifted and
talented coordinators.  All funding for gifted and talented programs
basically comes from the school districts.  About seven percent of Idaho
students have been identified as gifted and talented and only 3.4% are
involved in gifted and talented programs.  The resolution calls for the
Legislative Council to appoint an Interim Committee to study this unfunded
mandate and try to identify alternative funding.

     9.  Victim Identity Theft  --  HB 110 will be introduced on Tuesday to
the House Judiciary and Rules Committee.  This is a bill that I am
introducing along with the Attorney General's Office.  The bill would make
it a crime to rob someone of their identity, i.e. social security number,
etc.  Nationwide this is almost a $750 million dollar crime.  Of interest
is the fact that two of the House Committee members have been victims.
Latah Co. Prosecutor, Bill Thompson, and Moscow Chief of Police, Dan
Weaver, have endorsed the bill.

     10.  HB 145  --  This bill passed the House with little opposition.
The bill would allow the counties to bond for purchasing public open-space
and/or easements for scenic and recreational purposes.  The issuance of
such bonds must first be authorized by a two-thirds vote of the qualified
electors.  This will provide counties with some new options that would
serve as a positive means for guarding high priority public open space.

     11.  Reading Initiative  --  The four bill package is currently being
presented to the House Education Committee.  I will be presenting a bill on
teacher preparation and In-Service Education on Monday.  Last week JFAC
approved $500,000 to fund the program.

     12.  Immunization Registry Bill  --  this bill cleared a Senate
Committee last week.  The bills calls for tracking child immunizations
statewide so that more children get their shots on time.  Idaho ranks 49th
in the nation in terms of the percentage of children under the age of two
getting all of their shots.

     13.  Telemarketing Bill  -- The Attorney General's plan to limit pesky
telemarketing calls hit some problems in State Affairs.  I've received over
25 calls in support of the legislation.  One constituent indicated that
several times a week he gets telemarketing calls at very inconvenient
times.  Three businessmen, all in the insurance business, feel that the
legislation is unfair since they are established businesses with a long
record of community service.  They feel that the law would impose a
hardship on their businesses.  Amendments are now being drafted to try and
correct this problem.

     14.  Finance Campaign Reform  -- a recent national study indicated
that Idaho ranks about 50th in the nation in terms of good campaign finance
reform legislation.  Rep. David Collister introduced a bill that would have
eliminated legislators from receiving contributions during the session.  I
thought this was an excellent idea since a legislator receiving money
during the session might be voting on a bill involving the donor.  This is
an obvious conflict of interest.  Last session legislators collected about
$20,000.  The bill was voted down.

     Another bill called for all legislators to turn back excess campaign
funds at the end of the election--they might keep $1,000 for administrative
purposes.  Some legislators have campaign chests in excess of $10,000.  The
idea of the legislation is to make it more of a level playing field for
other candidates.  This was a good piece of legislation but voted down in
committee.



Rep. Trail, district 5

 I would like constituents to e-mail, phone, fax, or write me with their
ideas, comments and recommendations.  

by phone: (at the House Communications Center)

208-332-1201 or 1000  (phone)
208-334-5397  (fax)

by email:

Boise daytime:           ttrail@house.state.id.us
Boise evening:            mjmaxwell@juno.com
Moscow (weekends):   ttrail@moscow.com

if uncertain, you can send email to RepTrail@infotrail.com and your message
will be forwarded to me at the proper location.

or by normal mail

Idaho State Legislature,
State Capitol Bldg
P.O. Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720-0038

Legislative newsletters and additional materials and information can be
located on my web
and home page http://www.infotrail.com/idaho/idaho.html