Bills to keep an eye on
Many of you know that I ran for office to focus on practical issues affecting a majority of Idahoans - housing, transportation, and education - which voters at doors brought up throughout my campaign.
Unfortunately, there are many bills that have focused on social and cultural issues right out of the gate - but there are some bright spots as well. Below are some bills to keep an eye on.
An attack on the ballot initiative
SJR101 would make it even more difficult for voters to put issues that are important to them on the ballot. The ballot initiative process is already arduous and time-consuming enough. Our founders intentionally put the initiative into our Constitution to make sure voters always had a voice to overcome a potentially intractable government. I wholeheartedly believe that this is an important right that should be protected.
Public schools vs. vouchers
S1038 would move Idaho to implement a voucher education system. As discussed in my last newsletter, I'm a big supporter of public education and I believe a voucher system would only pull much-needed funding from public schools, ultimately costing our state more. Read more of my thoughts on vouchers here and this helpful summary of the failure of a voucher program in another state. My seatmate, Rep. Galaviz, is also keeping track of all education bills here.
Potential property tax solutions
A bright spot is that a few bills were introduced that could provide real property tax relief to Idahoans:
H077 would put sales tax funds towards property tax relief.
H078 would increase the homeowners' exemption to almost $225K and re-index home assessment values.
H079 would establish a fund to provide funding to school districts, increase the homeowner’s exemption, increase the circuit breaker, and revise how distributions are made to the State Public Defense Fund, all of which would reduce property taxes.
I'll be considering all of these options in my role on the Local Government & Taxation Committee and I am committed to supporting the best solution for real property tax relief.
