Bedke: Good times in Idaho

COEUR d'ALENE — Financially, Idaho is doing just fine.

Knowing this, fourth-generation Idaho cattle rancher and Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke remembers the words of his grandfather: "It's not going to be the bad times that put the ranch out of business, it's going to be the good times that put the ranch out of business."

"During the good part of the cycle, we're going to be tempted to commit to a stream of payments that we can't keep up, that we can make in the good time of the cycle, but we can't keep up with in the bad time," Bedke said.

That same lesson applies to the state, he said Wednesday during a stop at the Coeur d'Alene Press during a trip to North Idaho to participate in the 21st annual Foresters Forum at The Coeur d'Alene Resort.

"We have to be careful now and we have to be prudent," Bedke said. "But we also are in good times, and it's during the good times you catch up on what you couldn't do in the not-so-good times."

He said although Idaho has done some deficit spending and "kicking the can down the road" in the past, in recent times it has been able to invest back into the Permanent Building Fund to address a backlog of maintenance issues at state buildings, including colleges and universities.

"We've been able to do all of that because Idaho is the fastest-growing state in the nation both economically and population-wise, and it's not going to last forever," he said.

Bedke, of Oakley in southern Idaho, served as the speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives for 10 years before being elected lieutenant governor in November.

He provided updates about the ongoing legislative session and shared some insight about legislation coming from Kootenai County's freshman legislators.

“It has been an exceptional year for turnover,” Bedke said. "Nearly every other legislator is brand new."

These new roles come with a steep learning curve. He said population growth is a big issue with which the new lawmakers will grapple.

"There’s just a lot to learn," Bedke said. "They may not have experience in prisons or courts or roads or water or fish and game or tax policy ... Then you have to set 100 different budgets for 100 different programs within the agencies, and everybody wants to be efficient with that money. They want to know what it's being spent on, they want to have some comfort. So there’s a lot of heads down, asking a lot of questions type of things that are going on."

Sen. Doug Okuniewicz, R-Hayden, recently introduced legislation aimed at changing the Idaho Constitution to toughen the rules for adding citizen initiatives to the ballot.

"The ballot initiative thing is a little touchy,” Bedke said. "People think we’re limiting their ability to run an initiative. However, the threshold for getting a measure on the ballot, that’s always the question."

He said if legislation is going to be initiated in the Legislature, every part of the state is involved in the process. Done through citizen initiative, it can be more focused on populated areas and not reach the entire state, although the proposed legislation is ultimately voted on by the people.

“It’s always somewhat controversial,” Bedke said.

He said efforts to change the Idaho Constitution are infrequent. To do so, a measure has to be proposed, two-thirds of the House has to support it and two-thirds of the Senate has to support it, then it’s on the next general election ballot. It would not go to the governor’s office.

“That two-thirds threshold is pretty high,” he said. “It’s hard to get two-thirds of the people to agree on anything.

“The Legislature, I wouldn’t say they’re reeling, but they’ve had their hands slapped a little bit by the court and I don’t know if they’re ready to jump into it yet."

He said he'd be comfortable putting the question to the people.

“Citizens should be actively involved and communicate with their legislators, and from that legislative process, they can do hearings and get to the bottom of an issue,” Bedke said. “If we do it via initiative, it’s more emotional. It’s a reactionary type of legislation. Reactionary legislation usually is not the best legislation."

Regarding an absentee ballot-limiting bill brought forth by Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d'Alene, Bedke said it's all about election security.

“It also shouldn’t be onerous to vote, inconvenient to vote,” he said. “I know some will take issue with that, but we have measures in place. We audit. Idaho does pretty good when it comes to election integrity.

"Everybody’s worried whether or not an election can be stolen, we all know about that, but I think processes that bring more people to the polls are good, but, they need to be who they say they are and they need to be from where they say they're from, and there’s ways to check that. Absentee ballots as presently constituted, they don’t worry me."

He commented on the Legislature passing the bill to provide $8,500 in grants for Idaho’s high school graduates to put toward workforce training. The bill narrowly passed with a 36-34 vote.

“I think we took a major step,” Bedke said.

"You have the ones that say, ‘Well, I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and everybody should have to do that,’” he said. “The problem is some of these kids don’t have boots. That investment back into our youth will pay dividends, and it gives incentive back in school to not just mark time. I think that’s important.”

Bedke will not be in attendance Saturday during the Lincoln Day Dinner event. He said he will be returning home to tend to his cows. He is aware of the controversy surrounding the keynote speaker, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

"I am for free speech. I think we ought to hear everyone," he said, adding that she is her Georgia congressional district's first choice to represent them.

"She's there, she has a voice, so welcome to the mix. I'm old school though. I don't like shrill and I don't like strident, but if she feels that's her only way to break through all the ground clutter, then I guess that's her prerogative. It doesn't help communicate with me, personally."

He said the country has some deep divides.

"Now we're stuck with each other," he said. "We're going to have to work some things out."