Legislative Newsletter VII - February 18-22nd

[Rep Trail <RepTrail@infotrail.com>]

Dear Visionaries:

Here's the legislative update for the week of February 18-22nd.

1. HB 477  --  Appaloosa License Plate Bill  --  HB 477 passed the House on 
a 34-28 vote and now goes to the Senate.

2. Promise Scholarships  --  JFAC reduced the Promise Scholarship Program 
from $250/semester to $200/semester. With student fees increasing 10% per 
year, this is certainly not sending any positive messages for students to 
stay in Idaho.

3. Meeting with Governor Kempthorne  --  Sen. Schroeder, Rep. Young, and I 
met with the Governor on on Tuesday. We presented him with the 1,000 plus 
signatures on petitions from District 5 constitutents expressing concerns 
for the cuts in education and supporting a moratorium on the tax 
cuts.  There was some discussion about the tax moratorium in Florida.  An 
aide made the comment that the Florida cut only yielded "peanuts" in terms 
of money saved.  I checked the next morning and the Florida Legislative 
Economist reported the tax moratorium realized $129 million/yr for 
education.  The 50% personal income tax moratorium that Rep. Donna Boe and 
I are supporting should yield about $30 million/yr for education.  This 
bill has been introduced, and we hope to have a hearing next week.

The Governor did not appear to support the tax moratorium concept.  He 
hopes that we will turn the economic corner soon.  April will be a key 
month in terms of incoming tax revenues.  If the revenues are low then it 
is very likely the Governor will call a special session in June, and it 
will probably mean a tax increase to balance the budget.

I'd like to thank Kenton Bird and Jack Porter for facilitating the petition 
drive.

4. School Facilities Suit  --  The ISEEO offered the State a chance to 
settle the School Facilities Lawsuit.  There were three conditions set:  1) 
lower the supermajority from 2/3rds to 60%; 2) support Senate Bill 1433 
(this would pay a minimum of 10% of the interest on bond levies); and 3) 
support Senate Bill 1432 (this would require that the state provide 0.75% 
of the funds and the districts provide 0.75% of the replacement value of 
all district owned buildings to a deferred maintenance fund).  The offer is 
good for the legislative session.  Frankly, I doubt if the Legislature will 
pick up on the offer, and we may be faced with Judge Bail telling us with 
what we will do.

5. Seat Belt Legislation  --  The Senate approved mandatory seat belt usage 
for passengers under 15 years old and a higher fine when the seat belt law 
is violated.

6. HB564a  --  This relates to the theft of Anhydrous Ammonia increasing 
penalties to a felony. This has been a reoccuring problem in the 
Palouse.  Thieves used it to make meth (an illegal narotic).

Predictions are that the Legislative Session will be over about the 15th of 
March.  JFAC has now set all of the budgets.

Please contact me if you have questions or comments

e-mail:     ttrail@house.state.id.us
Phone      332-1202
website:   www.infotrail.com/idaho

Rep. Tom Trail/Dist. 5