Amador analyzes longest session ever

COEUR d'ALENE — The 2021 legislative session was unlike any other, Rep. Paul Amador said Tuesday night during an event sponsored by League of Women Voters of Kootenai County. 

Amador, a third-term Republican from Coeur d'Alene with a highlight reel of education and finance appropriations bills, reflected on Idaho's 122-day session — which now holds the title for longest ever. 

Unsurprisingly, Amador noted, the 2021 session was dominated by an overarching topic, the COVID-19 pandemic. He explained that repercussions of the epidemic manifested in a range of actions, from the passage of physical legislation to the implementation of remote testimony technology. 

"Now you can testify sitting here in Coeur d'Alene in any committee hearing that goes down in Boise," Amador said. "That is a huge win for individuals far away from Boise because that is what we tended to hear in our committee hearings — public testimony all from people from the Treasure Valley. That's not necessarily representative of all of Idaho."

Curtailing the emergency powers of certain entities — more specifically the governor and regional health districts — also took precedence this year, Amador noted. Several pieces of legislation, House Bills 391, 392, and 393 and Senate Bill 1217, were signed into law, limiting the governor's powers during an emergency. These bills "essentially ensured you have rights," Amador said. 

"They make it so that emergency declarations can't supersede your constitutional rights," he continued. "The governor can't alter or adjust or create new provisions of Idaho Code during an emergency. Only the Legislature can create law." 

In response to an audience question that implied the Legislature wants to expand its powers while limiting the governor's, Amador referenced a phrase he has heard many times on the House floor.

"There were never created three equal branches of government," he said. "I don't know where that comes from, and that's not how I remember history. 

"I think there is always going to be a constant struggle between the three branches of government because all of them want to be the most powerful. Because, why wouldn't you? I think it's a perfectly accurate analysis to say that there was a power struggle to have the legislative branch have more authority."

Senate Bill 1060 restricted the ability of public health districts from issuing county or districtwide orders without the approval of related county commissioners. Amador said he was "99% sure" he voted in favor of that bill, stating that if something were going to be mandated on community members, it "should be coming from elected officials."

Two things Amador said he didn't anticipate hearing so frequently on the floor were social justice and critical race theory. 

"Not sure I could have told you what critical race theory was before the Legislature started this year, but I certainly am more familiar with it now. That hung up a lot of our budgets," he said. 

It took passage of House Bill 377 to get those budgets approved, he noted, after lawmakers expressed concern that educators were teaching social justice and critical race theory. The law banned any educational institution from directly or otherwise compelling "students to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere" to the idea that any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior." 

"It was a necessary step in the process," Amador said. 

An audience member asked what the representative's views were on the recent claim by the Idaho Freedom Foundation that the Coeur d'Alene School District is teaching critical race theory through the Equity Framework document. District spokesman Scott Maben told The Press in a June 9 article that the "framework is in no way related to CRT" and aims to provide students with the necessary resources for "academic greatness."

"I don't know what the Coeur d'Alene School District model looks like, so I can't comment on that," Amador said. "But I think that, as far as trying to meet students where they are and provide them the resources they need to be successful, is absolutely the right thing to do." 

While he recognized the pushback HB 377 has received, Amador said the bill language itself is "innocuous" and intended to ensure that no viewpoints are pushed on young learners. 

"I think those terms, unfortunately, are being politicized right now — CRT and social justice. I'm not going to claim even remotely to be an expert on either of them," he said. "I think we need to educate our children in an understanding that we live in a diverse world, and there are different points of view. I think that's important."

After pointing out a series of legislation that passed through the statehouse, Amador said the session was, in short — "an incredibly interesting session."

"I think I've seen it labeled many times on social media as 'worst legislative session ever.' I wouldn't know, I haven't been to all of them, but I can tell you it was very long," he said. "I think there was a lot that we accomplished, and there were a lot of things that I wish we could have avoided, but in the end, we hopefully got most of the work done that we needed to."