Officials face busy week
COEUR d'ALENE - Big issues were gaining traction in the Idaho Legislature this past week, and local legislators are expecting the coming week to get busier.
"Our State Affairs chairman warned us that next week is going to get very busy," said Rep. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d'Alene.
Sims sits on the House State Affairs Committee with Reps. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens; Don Cheatham, R-Post Falls; and Paulette Jordan, D-Plummer.
The State Affairs Committee will be addressing some big issues, such as the "instant horse racing" machines and concealed weapon permits.
Instant Horse Racing
Barbieri expects heated discussions over banning instant horse racing machines.
"It's going to get pretty contentious I think," Barbieri said. "The bottom line for me is if the machines are in violation of the law, that is one thing, but I don't have a problem with the law."
He said there is no reason to repeal the 2013 law authorizing historic racing, as long as the machines are in compliance.
Barbieri said there has been a lot of money invested in getting those machines in place, and if the machines have the handicapping information on the screen, he sees no problem with allowing the pari-mutuel wagering.
"We would be doing a lot of damage with a knee-jerk repeal of the law," he said.
Attempts to contact Reps. Cheatham and Jordan were unsuccessful, however House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Moscow, mentioned his thoughts on an instant racing repeal in his weekly newsletter.
"Legislation to repeal the slot machine-like 'instant racing' passed the Senate State Affairs Committee on Wednesday. After hearing from members of the horse racing community, the committee decided that the gambling machines are not the same machines being placed around Idaho today," Rusche wrote. "These 'instant-racing' machines look and sound a lot like slot machines, with spinning lights, music and flashing buttons. I expect we'll see the legislation over in the House soon."
The repeal bill, SB 1011 is on the Senate floor, and if it passes it will go to the House State Affairs Committee next week.
Concealed Weapons
Neither Barbieri nor Sims were sure how the concealed weapons issue is going to be dealt with, but Barbieri said he has been assured the constitutional concealed carry bill is not dead.
The constitutional concealed carry bill, or HB 89, was introduced in the House State Affairs Committee on Feb. 5, and has yet to get a hearing.
Another bill thought to be competing with HB 89 was introduced in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Friday, where the committee voted to introduce it. That bill has yet to be assigned a number.
Health Insurance Increase
Rep. Ron Mendive, R-Post Falls, sits on a special committee created last year to deal with state employee compensation. That committee is reviewing the increase in employee health insurance costs, and salary increases.
He said the Affordable Care Act has increased the cost of state employee health insurance by $1,800 on average.
"Last year the average was $1,200 per employee and the state absorbed that," Mendive said. "This year it has gone up $600 more per employee."
Mendive said the increases are attributed to the cost of changes that have to be made under the Affordable Care Act.
"People need to know that Obamacare is causing this," Mendive said.
While Sims does not sit on the committee, she sent a letter to her constituents last week explaining why she was not going to vote for the $600 increase this year.
"Last year they increased it by $1,200, and the state has decided to let the taxpayers fund that," she said.
Now, Sims said, the state wants the taxpayers to absorb the cost of this year's increase, as well as the increase in their own health insurance premiums.
Mendive was also appointed to a special task force that will be reviewing what information will be collected on students under the state Common Core curriculum.
"This is the busiest I've been in the three sessions I have served in," he said.
Transportation
Mendive said transportation is the big elephant in the living room right now.
"ITD is looking for more than $200 million," He said. "But nobody knows where the money is coming from."
Rep. Luke Malek, R-Coeur d'Alene, sits on the Joint Finance and Commerce Committee and said ITD needs $262 million, and that is just for repairs and maintenance - no new projects.
"Everything is on the table at this moment," he said, adding nobody has introduced any legislation yet. "This can has been kicked down the road for a long, long time."
Idaho has not increased its gas tax since 1995.
Malek said there seems to be a lack of communication when it comes to the different transportation stakeholder groups.
"Different stakeholder groups are working on different parts of this," Malek said. "There very well may be competing legislation on this one."
The general consensus in the Legislature is to put this increase on the users of the transportation system, especially the heaviest users, Malek said.
In his newsletter, Rusche said there are many different ideas including increasing the sales tax, increasing the gas tax, or even increasing car registration fees. One legislator suggested an increase of the general sales tax to 7 percent.
Rusche wrote that 36 votes from the Republican House Caucus would be needed to get a transportation funding bill passed.
"That will mean that it will be a while before things get settled, if there is any action on this at all," he wrote. "And the GOP House Leadership is still saying that we will be done March 27 - 6 weeks."
Idaho Education Network
Malek was also appointed to a task force looking at ways to salvage the Idaho Education Network, which provides broadband services to Idaho's public schools.
A judge ruled last year that Idaho violated its public bidding process, which rendered the broadband contract null and void. It was appealed, but the judge ruled against Idaho's appeal this week.
Malek said the state was granted a 14-day stay on that ruling so individual school districts can find a way to secure broadband access at the local level.
"That is a critical message we are trying to get out to the school districts," Malek said. "The districts are really on their own right now."
In the meantime, Malek said the task force is looking at ways to repair the network and get it back online.
Malek said he and Sen. Bob Nonini are also working to get the funding in place for a new veterans home in Post Falls.
Health and Welfare
Rep. Eric Redman, R-Athol, said the House Health and Welfare Committee has been spending a lot of its time on the Department of Health and Welfare budget.
Other than that, he said, he has spent much of his time trying to help seasonal construction workers. At a recent town hall meeting in Post Falls, Redman was approached by a couple of seasonal construction workers who are having problems with unemployment benefits.
Redman said he has worked to boost the number of weeks seasonal workers can receive "attached" unemployment benefits from 12 weeks to 16 weeks.
Redman said when the construction industry slows in the winter, some workers may only work a week or two a month due to the weather. They are eligible for "attached" unemployment benefits that only pays them for the time they don't work.
If a worker is "attached," Redman said, they are not required to seek other employment while receiving benefits because they are expected to return to full employment when the weather improves.
Redman said 12 weeks just wasn't enough to get them through the off-season.
"That feels pretty good to get that fixed," he said.
Open Meeting Law
The House State Affairs Committee is likely to tweak Idaho's Open Meeting Law to make the penalties more punitive. Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, introduced a bill to increase the fines for open meeting violations tenfold.
The fine for violating the current law is $50, and that would have increased to $500 for a first offense and $5,000 for a second offense during a calendar year.
Barbieri questioned the dramatic increase along with others who were also concerned that the second fine didn't discern between knowingly violating the law, or accidentally violating it.
Bateman agreed to withdraw the bill and return with the concerns addressed.
Barbieri said he will probably increase the fines to $250 for first offense, and $2,500 for knowingly violating the law within the same year.
Sims said she supports updating the Open Meeting Law because the fine on that law hasn't changed since former state legislator Gary Ingram wrote it in 1974.
Oil and Gas
Mendive, who sits on the Environment, Energy and Technology Committee and the Resources and Conservation Committee, said he is dealing with many new laws and regulations concerning the oil and gas industry.
Mendive said the Alta Mesa oil company has discovered a large oil deposit in Payette County and is currently drilling in the area. He said the company is able to drill the oil using conventional methods and does not have to use fracking to extract the oil.
Mendive said it will be a huge job creator.
"That is a real blessing for the state," he said.