Idahoans are still waiting for relief.

This coming week is the last week to introduce pieces of legislation, and I worked to finalize a few bills I'm working on that will alleviate property taxes, protect renters, and ensure access to public lands. Let's just say I started to learn the concept of "racing bills" last week! On the Senate Floor, conflict over the emergency order and the anti-drug constitutional amendment continued to take precedence. One bright spot was unanimous passage of the Wrongful Conviction Act, which will require Idaho to compensate the wrongfully accused.

While emergency powers continue to be a priority for our supermajority, the legislature is sitting on $900 million in funding that could help Idahoans with food, rent, and daycare, while vaccine distribution continues to experience delays. It's proving to be true in practice that the legislature is not the best governmental body to adequately respond to an emergency. SCR101, which would have ended the state of emergency, was pulled from the Senate floor after the Governor moved Idaho back to Stage 3 restrictions, which made SCR101 to have no effect. The legislature rightly coined this back-and-forth a "chess match" - a game in which Idahoans are surely losing. Amazingly, there are still several other pieces of legislation aimed at limiting the Governor's emergency powers: H0016, HCR001, HCR002, S1003, H0001, S1031, and S1001. Just one bipartisan piece of legislation was introduced which aims to speed up Idaho's vaccinations, which would subject Idaho businesses to a $5,000 fine if they fail to report that they have extra COVID vaccine doses, and gives businesses two weeks to distribute their share of doses.

I hope Idahoans' biggest concerns are better addressed in the Governor's budget.  Idaho's General Fund projections are $58.5 million more than anticipated, leaving our state with $662.5 million in the bank. Some of this came from 5% holdbacks from state agencies ($96 million), and cuts to K-12 education ($98 million), with other big boosts coming from federal funding and the online sales tax fund. So far, much of this surplus is set to be spent on one-time tax cuts rather than much-needed investment in education and health care which would have lasting benefit and positive fiscal impacts on our state in the long-term. The Governor has dropped the part of his budget that would have cut the state’s Medicaid budget due to increased federal funding for the rest of 2021. Medicaid has been very important during the pandemic as people have lost jobs and need health insurance, and expanding Medicaid has already saved Ada County's courts over 1.5 million dollars.

Rental assistance has also been delayed, and is still being considered. $175 million in a federal grant for rental assistance is still being considered by the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee. I am disappointed in this delay, as emergency rental assistance is needed now more than ever. Even before the pandemic, our rental market was a challenge for many renting families with rapidly rising prices and stagnant wages, and the pandemic has only worsened those conditions. A recent report released by the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy found that $118.5 million to $148.5 million in rental assistance will be needed to ensure every Idaho family most severely impacted by the economic crisis can be stably housed through Fiscal Year 2021. The report also estimates that eviction-related homelessness occurring as a result of lack of access to rental assistance in Idaho could cost Idaho taxpayers between $172 million and $412 million. 

Real property tax solutions are needed. I drafted an op-ed explaining why cutting local government budgets is not the solution to reducing property taxes for residential homeowners, and I've been working with a few other Senators on a bill which would expand the circuit breaker, adjusting it for inflation, so that more low-income Idahoans could receive some property tax relief. You can read more about the benefits of the circuit breaker here - it's used by around 27,000 Idahoans every year. I hope we can get this bill heard in committee. SB1021, the bill that would cap city and county budgets at 4% was delayed last week and will be discussed in my committee this week. Again, I believe this bill continues to distract us from the root of the problems with our property taxes: rising home values and a shift in burden from commercial to residential properties.

I am seeking bipartisan support on a bill that would limit late fees for renters. A story about one of the tenants my nonprofit, Jesse Tree, has worked with demonstrates the need for this legislation. Jennifer is a single mother who got her hours cut at work and was going through a rough divorce. In the fall, she fell behind in her rent, and Jesse Tree was able to help her with rental assistance and case management. This isn't quite a success story, however, as she will still be left with just over $800 in late fees. Our case manager talked to the landlord about waiving some of the fees and she refused, saying that Jennifer left her no choice and that she needs to keep adding fees to prove a point. This story demonstrates how late fees are sometimes used in an exploitive way to unnecessarily punish tenants when they are struggling. Many good landlords do not use these fees unfairly, but we need to protect renters from outlying bad actors with this reasonable regulation.

SJR101, the bill that would prevent Idaho from ever legalizing medical cannabis, passed on the Senate floor 24-11. I voted against this proposal, because I believe Idahoans should have the ability to propose legalization of medical cannabis by referendum. By enshrining an anti-drug law in the Constitution, voters will never have that choice. The amendment also references statutes which could change in this session, and in future sessions, which takes away from the thorough way we can amend our Constitution by a two-thirds majority and voter approval. The House will soon introduce the bipartisan bill to legalize medical marijuana, which would open up a new line to treatment to those with chronic pain, seizures, and much more, who might otherwise have to rely on addictive opioid pain medications.