Lawmakers wrap up 2014 session

BOISE - At the end of a long Thursday, the 2014 Idaho Legislature wrapped up its 74-day session.

Marked by the 'guns on college campuses' law, multiple gay rights protests, and a 5.1 percent funding increase for K-12 public schools, the session ended when the final gavel came down in the House at 6:58 p.m. The Senate had adjourned 'sine die' for the year one minute earlier.

At the end of his last legislative session, retiring Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, said he would miss the Legislature upon his retirement.

"Oh, of course," said the 91-year-old Henderson, the Legislature's senior member. "I'm gonna miss the people. They're wonderful people - good, serious-minded people."

Henderson and Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, gave the 2014 legislative session strong marks, given the fact the economy is still in recovery mode.

"We came out with a balanced budget as we're required to," said Eskridge, a member of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. "But even more important than that, we filled some of the holes that we had created over the last four or five years because of the economic downturn."

"I think we've got a vision now," Eskridge added, "a direction, because of the task force on education."

Henderson, retiring chairman of the House Business Committee, saw the passage of the potential $3 million tax rebate incentive for expanding businesses as a highlight of the legislative session.

"That's big," Henderson said. "That's gonna be very big, because it makes us competitive with the neighboring states."

What about education funding?

"My opinion is the Legislature always does as much as it can afford to do, that we have money for," Henderson said. "I think we did well. We always do well. Could we do more? Oh, we hope so. But we need a stronger economy that generates more money, so that we have more money to support education. It's that simple."

Eskridge noted that a $4.8 million late-session appropriations bill allows the state's Idaho Education Network - for K-12 public schools programs - through contractor Education Networks of America to operate from July 1 of this year through February 2015.

"We'll look at it again (next year) and see where the federal government is coming from in terms of the challenge, on the expenditure on the contract," Eskridge said.

Budget writers earlier in the session bailed out the wireless networks program to the tune of $6.6 million for the 2014 state budget year ending June 30. That pays the contractor while federal money has been slow coming in to pay for the wireless network.

Eskridge said the Legislature also stowed away $135 million into a budget reserve account. "That's a good thing," he said.

"There were some controversial things that I think were questionable that we needed to deal with them, but we did, and we took care of them," said Eskridge, citing the legislation that overrides no-carry gun policies on Idaho's college and university campuses. That new law came over the objections of Idaho's eight college and university presidents and the State Board of Education.

"That was controversial, and even within the Republican Caucus, there was a split on that, and for good reasons, I think, on both sides," said Eskridge, who voted against the measure, Senate Bill 1254.

Eskridge said his rationale for opposition was, "not to try to diminish the Second Amendment, but to strengthen it."