Rep. Trail - Legislative Newsletter III--JANUARY 21-26, 2002

[RepTrail <RepTrail@infotrail.com>]

Dear Visionaries,

LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER III--JANUARY 21-26, 2002
The third week of the 2002 Idaho Legislative Session is history. Here are 
some of the events and highlights of the week.

1. Term Limits -- HB425 the term limit repealer passed the House on a 50-20 
vote. The bill now goes to the Senate State Affairs Committee. Surveys 
indicate the bill may pass the Senate by a 2/3rds majority which is needed 
to overide a veto. If this occurs, there is no doubt that an initiative 
drive will be conducted to put term limits on the ballot again this fall.

2. Registration of Farm Labor Contractors -- SB1289 passed out of the 
Senate Commerce and Human Resources Committee by a 9-0 vote. The bonding 
and licensing law, a followup to last year's minimum wage law to 
farmworkers, is backed by Gov. Kempthorne. This is the legislation that 
Rep. Ken Robison and I have worked on for four years. The legislation is 
intended to protect those working for unscrupulous contractors who cheat 
them out of their wages. It will help both farmers and farmworkers.

3. Appaloosa License License Plate -- HB 477 has been introduced into the 
House Transportation Committee. This bill will create a special Appaloosa 
license plate that will honor Idaho's state horse. I've been working with 
the Appaloose Horse Club in Moscow and Carrie Bitterwolf's fourth grade 
class at West Park Elementary in the development of the bill. It appears 
that we will have the hearing about February 14th. Students in Carrie's 
class have developed part of the presentation of the bill. The plans are 
for Carrie and students and their parents to attend the hearing and then 
meet with Gov. Kempthorne in his office later in the afternoon.

4. Vandal Gold -- This legislation has not received much attention. RS 
11480 will be heard in the House Business Committee this coming Thursday. 
It is sponsored by Rep. Gary Young, Sen. Gary Schroeder, and myself. The 
intent of the legislation is that any college or university located in 
Idaho may make available to its student body and members of its faculty a 
university debit card program. A debit card transaction may be used to 
purchase goods and services from the college or university or approved 
vendors located at any college or university site or in the community in 
which the college or university is located. WSU initiated a similar program 
last fall. Pullman businessmen report an increase of 10-15% sales with the 
use of the debit card. This also gives students more selection and options.

5. Idaho Fair Elections Option/Election Campaign Reform -- This bill 
sponsored by Sen. Betsy Dunklin, Rep. Gary Young, and myself was given to 
the House Clerk on Friday. We hope to get a hearing either in the Senate or 
the House. The legislation is especially timely in light of the recent Eron 
scandals which have "jumped started" national campaign reform bills in the 
House and Senate. I'll share more about this bill next week.

6. Recycled Oil -- RS 11646 is a low profile bill. The intent is to 
encourage state agencies to utilize recycled oil for their fleets of 
vehicles. State Agency Directors can offer up to a 5% price preference for 
recycled oil. This bill is voluntary in nature. Many states have similar 
legislation in place, and the price of recycled oil is cheaper than regular 
oil. This bill should fit nicely into an energy conservation policy.

7. Education -- Members of the House Education Committee heard testimony 
from all of the Idaho Institutions of Higher Education this week. Testimony 
indicated that the deep cuts being proposed would negatively impact the 
quality of academic programs and research. All university presidents 
indicated strong support for the Idaho Promise Scholarship Program. More 
than 5,000 Idaho students have been awarded the Promise Scholarship. More 
than 1,100 students at the University of Idaho are on the scholarship 
program. Mike Curley, Chairman of the Moscow School Board, testified about 
the impact of holdbacks on the Moscow School District in the House 
Education Committee on Friday. We were told on Friday that more cuts in the 
education budget may need to be made because of the continuing downslide in 
the economy. The impact on both K-12 and Higher Education with the hold 
backs and 10 percent or more cuts on Higher Education is simply tearing the 
muscle out of our education system and we will suffer the consequences. We 
can tap one time money including the $70 million in the Budget Stablization 
Fund, $19 million coming in from the Tobacco Settlement, and $32 million 
from the Capitol Restoration Fund. Gov. Kempthorne has placed a freeze on 
about $80 million in capital improvements. So there are one time funds 
available. A moratorium on the tax cut is another area of funding 
opportunity. These funds could at least plug the dike and anticipating 
economic recovery could help us over the economic hump. No one has 
mentioned raising taxes, but recent polls conducted by BSU indicate that 
Idaho citizens would approve an increase in the sales tax dedicated to 
building schools. Gov. Smylie in 1965 instituted the sales tax for 
education. We need to look at all options and soon.

Next week we'll take a more in-depth look at the budget and impact on 
education. I'm also going to post some position papers on some of the 
important bills being discussed in the Legislature on my web page (select 
the "Position Papers" link on my update page - www.infotrail.com/idaho). 
You can contact me via e-mail at ttrail@house.state.id.us or phone 
208-332-1202.

Rep. Tom Trail/Dist. 5