Rep. Trail Legislative Update 6, Feb. 21-25th

[Tom Trail <RepTrail@infotrail.com>]

 LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER 6  --  FEBRUARY 21-25/2000

     Last Monday I had my three week check up.  Although my doctor cleared
me to return to work immediately, I decided to accept Rep. Miller offer to
finish up rest of the week for me.  I did stop by on Friday for a few hours
to greet the other legislators and will return to a on Monday to resume my
work during the day hours.  I want to thank Rep. Maynard Miller who has so
ably filled in for me during my recuperation from open heart surgery.  And
I'd like to thank all of you who sent me cards and letters,  and thanks, of
course, to my good wife Jo Ann who has taken excellent care of me.

     1.  Tax Cutting Proposals and State Priorities  - It appears that
sometimes too much surplus money in the state treasury can be too much of a
good thing.  Estimates are that Idaho could have $70 million surplus in the
Treasury by June 30th.  Governor Kempthorne would like to put $54 million
in the budget stabilization fund.  Speaker Newcomb would like to put $20
million into a revolving loan fund for school districts to tackle building
safety problems.

     One needs to take a firm look at what some of Idaho's problems are
that could be helped by surplus funds versus proposed tax rebates to
citizens.  The School Facilities lawsuit will begin on March 7th.  If the
State of Idaho loses this lawsuit, the Court could simply tell the
Legislature to come up with so many million dollars and give the
Legislature a time to complete the task.  Arizona had a similar case in
which the Supreme Court simply told the Legislature to come up with $400
million and get the schools fixed up in 5 years.  If Idaho loses this
lawsuit we may be faced with the task of raising taxes.

     Another report indicates that the State has been overcharging
out-of-state truckers coming through the state.  The State has a potential
$80 million liability if this is upheld by the courts.  There are other
state priorities such as education, scholarships, health, state building
maintenance and parks, and roads.  The salaries for beginning teachers
ranks Idaho in 49th place in the country, and many of our best teachers are
being recruited out-of-state.

     JFAC is nickel and diming the Governor's reasonable budget, and making
cuts in many key areas.  JFAC is proposing to cut back on the education
budgets and health districts, for example.  It is popular to support a tax
cut but then this means tougher decisions on education, health care, and
public safety.  We could enter into a Ben Franklin's dilemma of "Penny wise
and Pound foolish" of a popular tax cut now and yet pay much more heavily
for this move in the future.

     The current tax proposals include a one time 5 percent credit on
individual income taxes that taxpayers would get on the returns they file
next year.  About 30% of the benefit would go to less than 4% of the
taxpayers.  In addition, the self employed would immediately gain full tax
deductibility on the health-insurance premiums they pay.  This would lower
the tax take by about $1.6 million.  The deduction for
married couples filing jointly would double to $300 for a total of more
than $1.2 million.  Another idea being floated around is increasing the $15
grocery credit.

     I will continue to listen and contribute to the debate, and at this
point might be sympathetic to the martial, deduction of health insurance
premiums for self employed, and increasing the food tax credit aspects of a
tax cut program.  These would probably total no more than $5 million;
however,  the basic question is, "How are we going to take care of the very
important issues of education, health, public safety, road, etc. if the
money isn't there?"  The impending school facilities lawsuit also is a wild
card to consider.

     2.  Industrial Hemp -- while the bill I introduced failed in
committee, it is interesting to note that the Illinois House of
Representatives passed a similar bill by a 49-9 majority.

     3.  Minimum Wage for Farm Workers and Registration of Farm Labor
Contractors  --  these two bills will come up for debate in the Ag
Committee on March 6th;  however, all parties including the Speaker have
agreed to support a concurrent resolution to submit the bills to a
Legislative Interim Committee to study this Summer.  There is an increasing
awareness that failure to include our largely Hispanic community of farm
workers under minimum wage is not presenting a good image of the State of
Idaho when we talk about fairness and diversity.

     4.  Victim Identity Theft  --  This bill is still alive and will be
introduced in several weeks.

     5.  Recycling Bill  -- The bill to allow state agencies to purchase up
to 5 percent of their paper needs with recycled paper passed the House
Environmental Committee last week.

     6.  Anti-Spamming Bill  --  Those of you who are inundated with
unsolicited e-mail messages will be happy to know that this bill passed the
House Committee last week.  The major thrust of this newsletter was to
cover some of the financial and tax issues that will dominate the remainder
of this session.



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)

208-332-1000 switchboard
208-332-1202 desk
208-334-5397  (fax)

by email:

ttrail@house.state.id.us      My email in Boise
infocntr@lso.state.id.us      Information desk at the Capitol
            
Address:

Rep. Tom Trail
Idaho State Legislature
State Capitol Building
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