State reps come to the people

COEUR d’ALENE — Education and liquor licenses were the hot topics of Saturday's town hall meeting with Idaho Representatives Paul Amador and Luke Malek.

More than 80 community members showed up at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library to listen to Amador and Malek talk and to voice their opinions on education, animal abuse, health care and poverty among other concerns.

Education dominated most of the 2 1/2-hour long meeting. One of the first questions asked was about what the state is doing to address the fact that schools always go to the taxpayers with levies because the state isn’t providing enough funding.

“It’s not sustainable for the property taxpayers to carry the weight,” the man said. “The constitution requires that we have a free, public education, and I’m finding nothing is really free.”

Malek, R-Coeur d’Alene, said he agreed, that going straight to taxpayers because of inadequate funding from the state is not a good thing. However, he said, there are only a few places the government can get revenue.

“I don’t think we need to raise taxes to get to where we need to be,” he said, mentioning the state has a surplus of funds this year. “But don’t expect any major tax cuts from a state that knows it’s not meeting some of its obligations.”

Amador, R-Coeur d’Alene, who sits on the House Education Committee, chimed in that there is a committee currently researching on how best to change the education funding formula. He said the current formula hasn’t been changed in “several decades” and the committee wants to find one that’s appropriate for modern society that will “better fill the needs of the schools.”

Another constituent asked the two legislators what they think the number one reason is that Idaho is ranked almost last in education in the U.S.

Both representatives said it’s important to look at the basis for that claim, which is funding per pupil. They said if someone were to look at test scores, go-on rates and other things, Idaho would probably rank somewhere in the middle.

“When you hear we’re 49th, that is a concern, but I can tell you I don’t think funding is the only solution to our issues, it’s part of it but there’s more resources out there,” Amador said. “All the research shows that what makes a good education is quality teachers in front of the kids. We want to attract good teachers, keep them there and support them.”

Malek added that in Boise, everyone understands that improvements in any part of the state can’t be talked about without talking about the investment the state is making in education.

The last part of the town hall meeting was spent discussing the state’s liquor license law and the new bill that Malek is currently working on to fix the existing legislation.

Currently, there are a limited amount of liquor licenses in circulation in Idaho based on the population of different areas. Once the population grows enough, another liquor license becomes available. There is currently a waiting list for people in line for the next available licenses.

Those who have liquor licenses are able to sell or lease them to another interested party should they no longer want or need one. These are being sold at very high prices; some, Malek said, have been sold for $300,000.

Malek explained his new legislation would provide a fair system to obtain licenses moving forward, and recognize the investment some people have made in their licenses using the current system.

He said his new legislation, which isn’t finished yet, would allow existing license holders to receive an additional 5 percent off from liquor dispensaries for a total of 10 percent off, differentiate the old licenses from new licenses the state will issue — the new licenses would only be able to be used at restaurants, which would be carefully defined, and would not be transferable — and the state would provide a mitigation fund for people who would end up selling their liquor license for a loss.

Two men in the crowd had liquor licenses. One argued that the system doesn’t need changing and that a new system would cause his businesses harm. He said that even if four new “restaurants” with the new liquor licenses opened up downtown, it would still hurt his business.

“What’s wrong with the policy as it is?” he asked.

“The fee entry into the market is $300,000,” Malek responded.

“And they’re paying it,” the man countered. “You’re going to devalue our licenses.”

Other hot topics in between the education and liquor license discussion included a bill that limited early voting and the constitutional convention that asks for a U.S. Constitution amendment limiting the federal government’s spending power that is headed to the Senate.

Both representatives said the voting bill was providing standards for voting across the state and it didn’t affect mail-in ballots. As for the constitutional convention, neither Malek nor Amador said they thought it was the best way to provoke change in the federal government, rather, speaking with U.S. Senators and Representatives would be best.

“Compared to a lot of town halls, we’ve talked a lot about education,” Amador said after the meeting. “There’s a lot of passion here about how we can improve education in Idaho. I don’t think there’s a silver bullet solution; obviously there’s funding, but how can we be innovative in delivering our education services?”