IACI visits Cd'A to set 2014 agenda

COEUR d'ALENE - The Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry is meeting at The Coeur d'Alene Resort this week to begin developing its 2014 legislative agenda.

Alex LaBeau, president of IACI, said the group is holding seminars on a variety of topics, which they plan to take before their board of directors later this year.

"This way we have a half of a year to work out the agenda," he said. "And we'll have a chance to fine tune everything before we get into the session next year."

The event attracted Idaho Governor Butch Otter, about 60 state legislators and 130 IACI members representing companies from the dairy industry to the mining industry, he said.

"It's pretty much soup to nuts; you name the industry and they are represented here," LaBeau said.

Many of those members and legislators met out on the deck of Whispers Lounge to attend a soiree hosted by the North Idaho Political Action Committee, which has been dubbed the Reasonable Republicans.

President Brad Corkill said he was pleased with turnout, and wanted to host the event to connect with the state's most powerful business lobby.

"I want to talk with a lot of them about fielding good candidates for the next legislative elections," he said. "I want to let them know where we are coming from."

LaBeau said the event was a nice touch.

Currently, he said IACI is focused on a number of issues, but the big ones that will be discussed in the next legislative session will be health-care reform and a re-visit of the state's personal property tax.

Gov. Otter said state coffers are experiencing a surplus, and it would be a good time to go back and look at the personal property tax exemption they passed in the spring.

He would not speculate on how much he expects the final surplus to be, but added that in April the state had already collected a surplus of $62 million.

"But with all the tax changes this year, it could be that a lot of people overpaid their taxes," Otter said. "If that's true, they will be looking to get some of that money back."

Rep. George Eskridge agreed with Otter, saying that the tax exemption for the first $100,000 worth of personal property helped a lot of people, but didn't go far enough to help the larger industries in the state.

"We need a larger exemption for bigger businesses," he said.

Eskridge said health care will also dominate a lot of time during this upcoming legislative session.

"Medicare expansion will be a big issue," he added.

But not just Medicare expansion - LaBeau said the whole healthcare system will be scrutinized next year.

"How do we reform it is the big question," he said. "Businesses will spend hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and indirect health-care cost to deal with PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act)."

He said that is one of the major topics IACI is looking at during this conference.

"We want to know the numbers without all of the politics associated with it," he said.

LaBeau said another big topic will be economic development.

"We have gotten away from any serious efforts in economic development," he said, adding the group was just briefed on our state's efforts to attract a company that is looking to relocate 400 high technology jobs.

LaBeau said Idaho is on a short list of four states that also include Utah, Arizona and Oklahoma. Both Utah and Arizona put together $35 million in incentives to attract those $75,000-a-year jobs.

"Oklahoma is offering $50 million in incentives," he said. "Here is the kicker though: Idaho is only offering $5 million."

LaBeau said these other states have figured out a way to use the company's own money to attract them by using tax rebates to pay for incentives over 10 years. He believes Idaho should be looking at ways to do the same.

"Why wouldn't we get into the game?" he asked. "We are tired of Idaho getting held back.

"I can tell you the governor wants success."

Otter said any type of economic development strategy is going to have to be well vetted.

"It's got to be worth the money and worth the assessed risk involved," he said. "We don't have the kind of money nor the philosophy to get into a big bidding war."