House Highlights 2/23/11

House Highlights
By Tom Loertscher

While I was growing up, it used to drive me crazy to hear some of the older generation talk about how good things used to be in days gone by. It must be my age, but I catch myself looking back to times that seemed to be less complicated. It reminds me a bit of when the phone line was put into Bone. I could tell that the contractor who was laying the cable came from a small town where there was little traffic. Whenever he would stop to check on his employees, he would stop right in the middle of the road with no thought of the heavy traffic that was going by. Since then I have often envied someone who could deal with things in a simple manner.

That doesn't seem to be the way things are going around the Statehouse these days. The issues seem to be getting tougher and the hearings in the committees are longer and more complicated. Again this week it was necessary in the House State Affairs Committee to continue a hearing for a second day. The issues were concerning union activities and after a long discussion the two bills were sent to the House floor. My hat is off to the good people of Idaho who have been coming to these committee meetings these last weeks in a calm yet passionate manner.

Being busy around this place is a very large understatement. The other day I was trying to catch up on answering some of my e-mail. It seemed like for each one I opened and read and answered two more would pop up on my screen. Floor debate on two bills, one that has been called nullification, and the other having to do with peace officers and Indian tribes each took a full day. The first bill passed the House (I voted yes) and the second failed to pass (I voted no).

There is an old saying, "May you live in interesting times," that was once thought to be a blessing but actually was given as a curse attributable to the Chinese. I can't help but think that it does apply to us one way or the other depending on your point of view. We definitely do live in interesting times, and I can't help but think after seeing some of the things that have happened over the weekend in other parts of the country, that we are fortunate once again to live in Idaho. While we are definitely having our own budget crisis this year, it is not nearly the magnitude it is in other states. I think a lot of legislators are looking for a magic bullet, but there is nothing on the horizon that looks magical at all. As my mother used to say, "The only way out of this, is through it."

The budget committee hearings are pretty much at an end and that means that once a budget number is reached that the budgets will soon be set by the committee. If all goes well, and no one knows if it will, it gives the signal that there is about a month left for the work of the legislature this year. So keep your fingers crossed. I know I will.

House Highlights 2/15/11

House Highlights
By Tom Loertscher

It's what I call the extension cord dilemma. I think you know what I mean when you throw an extension cord in the back of your pickup, the next time you take it out it is in such a tangle that it takes you half an hour to get it straightened out. There is no way on earth that you could ever tangle a cord up that badly if you did it on purpose. That is sort of what happened around the halls the legislature this last week.

How could it be possible for three committees of the legislature to schedule what will probably go down in at least recent history, as the three largest hearings ever to take place at the capital. I can assure you that it was not orchestrated by any of the committee chairs. The House State Affairs Committee hearing on what has been called the nullification bill lasted for two days, Wednesday and Thursday. The House Judiciary and Rules Committee had a very long hearing Wednesday afternoon that dealt with law enforcement on tribal lands. Also, as you may have heard, on three consecutive days the Senate Education Committee had very long days of hearings on Superintendent Luna's education reform bills. All in all it proved to be quite a week.

You may be curious as to what my thinking is on House Bill 117 which is the bill that directs our state agencies not to further implement the Affordable Health Care Act. During the last session of the legislature we authorized and directed our Attorney General to file suit in an effort to have the national health care bill declared unconstitutional. Our suit was consolidated with that of twenty-five other states and the case was tried in the state of Florida. With the ruling on our case that declared the law to be unconstitutional, it only makes sense that we should not move forward in implementing it. I think if we moved ahead with implementing the law that we could very well be in contempt of court. At least it seems like it is not reasonable to continue with implementation when the very judge we asked to make the decision told us that we were right, that it is unconstitutional to require every citizen to buy a certain product. House Bill 117 merely says that we are going to follow the judge's order. We expect floor debate in the House early in the week.

The volume of e-mail coming on education reform has been astonishing. There has been so much going on this past week that it has been impossible to keep up. On top of the two mornings of very long hearings, the afternoon committees have kept me busy as well. I can't remember a session where there has been so much to do all at once. In talking with some of my colleagues they are finding that the same is true for them.

This education legislation is turning out to be one of the more interesting issues I've ever seen around this place. The three days of hearings have convinced the sponsors that there are some changes that need to be made. I am thinking that we should be careful and as always the devil is in the details. I don't think there is a way that I can support mandatory online classes for kids. I think there's a better way to accomplish what we're trying to do in modernizing education in Idaho. Further I think that there has to be buy-in from all concerned, kids, parents, and teachers. No matter what we do in the legislature, if there is no buy-in, the program will face tough sledding. I am also concerned that the more regulating we do in the capital, the less innovation there is in the classroom. Stay tuned for the changes. There are likely to be a bunch.

House Highlights 2/7/11

House Highlights

by Tom Loertscher

The other night I decided it was time get a haircut. As it usually happens a conversation breaks out between the haircutter and the client. Noticing that I was from out of town, she asked where I was from. I told her that I was from Eastern Idaho and she told me that she had never been east of Pocatello. She then asked me what brought me to Boise. I said, "Oh, I am one of those people that you may love to hate." She then asked, "Are you a senator?"

The preliminary revenue numbers for January are in and they indicate that we are up slightly from our projection at the end of last session. Even though that is the case there are still some fairly large holes in our budget. The budget still seems to dominate our conversation. The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee is seeking input from the various committees about the department budgets. It's interesting that even during these tight economic times some of the departments continue to ask for increases and new line
items in their budgets. To the governor's credit he has eliminated most of those line items in his budget request to the legislature.

There have been a couple of controversial bills introduced in the State Affairs Committee. One is known as the Nullification Bill and the other is the Telecommunications Bill. We are anticipating a very large crowd to come on Wednesday for the Nullification Bill and are making preparations for the hearing to be held in the auditorium on the Senate side of the capital. Some are concerned that our taking action of this kind, especially after our court case about national health care legislation was declared to be completely unconstitutional, could be detrimental to our case. And as usual we are hearing from attorneys on both sides of this issue, one of them being the state Attorney General. It will be extremely interesting to see what the hearing provides in the way of good solid information for the committee.

As for telecommunications, that is a very long ongoing discussion that has been going on for several years between the various telecom companies and the cities. Some of the companies want us to change the law so that there is a statewide franchising system which would only require them to have to negotiate one contract for the whole state. As you can imagine our e-mail boxes have been filling up with comments from several of the cities. I think the members of the committee are taking a wait and see approach to see if some of the differences can be ironed out between the various parties concerned.

It seems that around here, as it is down on the farm, that sometimes the simple stuff is overlooked on the way to the solution to problems. The heater in the Suburban went on the blink and that was my weekend project. We tried everything, replacing the controls, tearing out the dash and checking the fan motor, checking all electrical connections and checking all the relays. It turned out to be a simple ground wire fault. Something so simple but so time consuming to solve. This may not be exactly how it works around here, but I have to think that there might be simpler solutions to solve our budget woes this year. Maybe this is just another one of those things that we love to hate.

Students Come First: Call for Civil Discourse

Call for Civil Discourse

Governor Otter and Superintendent Luna spoke out today about recent incidents of hostility and vandalism over the Students Come First plan. Governor Otter told media, “The Idaho way is to have good robust debate. The Idaho way is for us to exchange in our ideas and do that in a civil way. And I would hope that as we continue addressing not only this issue but some other tough issues that are coming at us because of our budgetary restraints, that we would offer then the Idaho way in addressing all of those budgetary issues.”

“The Governor and I have put forth a plan that is based on the fact that we are in an economic crisis, now going into its third year. We recognize that if we want to preserve the kind of education system that our state constitution requires us to have, there must be changes. We must change the way we spend what we currently have. That’s uncomfortable for some people, and I understand that. I understand that if can drive passion, but there are limits. We have a certain way of doing things in Idaho, and you do not cross that line,” Luna said. “I join the Governor in saying, not just for myself or the Governor and his family, but for all senators and representatives, that you can come to us and have civil discourse with us about issues, but family and personal property are off limits.“

Over the weekend, a teacher went to Superintendent Luna’s mother’s home with the intent to harass. Superintendent Luna happened to be there and spoke with the man. This morning, the Superintendent’s truck was spray painted and his tires were slashed. Hours later, he was confronted by a man at a local coffee house after doing an interview for a morning television show.

Additionally, social media postings have listed legislator’s home addresses and phone numbers urging people to leave notes for these legislator’s neighbors asking them to voice their opposition to the Students Come First plan.

House Highlights 2/1/2011

House Highlights
By Tom Loertscher

During the Revolutionary war, Thomas Paine wrote a series of articles entitled The Crisis. He wrote, "THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." While the crisis that we are facing at this present time may not be anything like the Revolutionary war, the times definitely are a challenge.

We keep looking for some good news as it pertains to our budget and revenue and at the close of this last week we just don't seem to be able to find the good news we’re looking for. The revenue numbers for January will soon be in and we will know better how the economy in Idaho is performing. Everyone around here is crossing their fingers for a positive result.

I don't recall a time when we have had more hearings into budget matters then we have had this year. It seems that the various committees of the legislature are more engaged in looking at how the budget might be put together. The House Health and Welfare Committee invited several provider groups to speak to the committee about how to save money in the Medicaid program. Due to a previous commitment, I was unable to attend the meeting but it was recorded and I listened to it while driving home. It was interesting to hear the comments from many providers and how they see Medicaid from their point of view. It ended on the note that they committed to working with us and all concerned to find savings. The most frequent comment in the meeting was to hear each one explain how important their particular program is. That's not new, but what is new is that they have committed to help.

The pace of the session has picked up with several new pieces of legislation being introduced. I don't know how we compare to other sessions at this point, but it seems like the load is quite heavy already. I know what you're thinking, just what we need, more laws. I had one legislator approach me the other day and tell me that he had a good one-liner, "Section such and such is hereby repealed." My reply? "Go for it!" That's a little bit of music for my ears.

With the pressure that has been building around the capital, it was good to get home over the weekend, get a little sunshine, and get a change of pace. I don't know what other legislators do on weekends, but I do know that being home down on the farm is quite therapeutic for me. I got a chance to look through the cattle, check out the snowpack, do a little repair work on the house and sleep in until 6 AM. Then I turned on the news to see all the unrest in the world. That put an abrupt end to a restful weekend.

Whether or not you call what we are experiencing a crisis or not, the matter is serious. The latest projections are that we may be $185 million short to cover 2011 and 2012. We definitely have our work cut out for us. Last summer I attended a meeting where the speaker told us that the most unfortunate thing about these times is that the words million, billion and trillion all sound the same. How on earth did we get here? That’s a subject for another discussion.