Let’s focus on the real issues.

Last week continued to move at a rapid pace, with many bills introduced. I'm learning how important digging deep into the code and history of each bill is, as well as what's behind the arguments for and against it it. It's extra work since I'm new in the room, but I'm working to be armed and prepared for each committee meeting, with a deep understanding of bills' implications and research and data backing up my questions.

I voted "no" for the first time on the Senate floor, against putting an additional $4 million into the Legislature's Legal Defense Fund. As legislators, we should be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars and thoughtful lawmakers. We should have an incentive to pass laws and make decisions that will not draw constant legal battles. In recent history, this fund has been treated as a slush fund and used in legal disputes over a woman's right to choose, gay marriage, and the ability of same-sex couples to have parental rights - a failure to focus on the real issues.

I continue to be disappointed on the focus on topics that are detracting from our need to address our current health and economic crisis, and that Idahoans have reasonable property taxes, affordable housing opportunities, good-paying jobs, and access to public land. Despite everything, I'm trying to work on on the issues that matter most.

Our legislature is learning that you can't legislate your way out of an emergency. There are still several pieces of legislation that are targeted at limiting the Governor's powers and ability to act swiftly during an emergency. A loud minority of Idahoans are upset about a number of sometimes arbitrary, yet unenforced rules around social distancing and masks, and are pressuring our Republican legislators to put the Governor in check. (A recent study showed that 59% of Idahoans support a mask mandate.) An ongoing emergency is not a time to try to change how we respond to future emergencies; we have other major problems to tackle.

For example, our state is having a serious problem distributing vaccines. St. Alphonsus is having to cancel appointments due to vaccine shortages, while several thousand vaccines that were shipped to Idaho went unused. Idaho ranks 40th in the country for vaccine distribution. I do wonder if our legislature's focus on changing emergency laws is detracting our attention from solving urgent problems that are happening right now.

SCR101, which would end the state of emergency, will likely come back to the Senate floor for a vote this week. This bill will likely make our state lose tens of millions of dollars in FEMA funding that's needed to distribute vaccines. An Attorney General opinion was also released that showed the legislature cannot use a concurrent resolution to impact statute, so this approach is likely unconstitutional and will be challenged in court.

An important issue I'm trying to focus on is Idaho's housing crisis, an issue we need to tackle before it's too late. My desire to work on our local housing crisis is a big reason I ran for office. This session I'm already working on rent relief, protecting housing consumers, and providing property tax relief.

Rental Assistance
Idaho has received almost $200 million in a federal grant for rental assistance. This grant is similar to the $15 million that was distributed earlier this year from CARES Act funding. The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee, which sets Idaho’s budget, currently is looking at a bill that will allow $110 million of these funds to be spent this year to help Idahoans across the state. The money will go to help lower-income renters who have been affected by the pandemic. This bill should pass, and that money should quickly go to helping vulnerable people who need it!

Late Fees
Rental assistance is just the tip of the iceberg in solving our state's housing crisis. As more tenants are struggling to pay their rent on time, case managers at my nonprofit, Jesse Tree, continue to see late fees cropping up as a major problem. From their perspective, property managers often use late fees not to protect themselves but to penalize tenants who are already struggling. Tackling the issue of late fees is something I am most committed to working on this session, and we will keep you updated on our progress to find more balance on this important issue.

Property Taxes
SB1021, the bill that would have a detrimental impact on local county and city governments by capping their budgets at 4%, and will be discussed in my committee this week. Focusing on local governments’ budgets will reduce their ability to address growth, and ignores the root cause of property tax growth: an outdated homeowner’s exemption, a tax shift from commercial to residential properties and underfunded schools struggling to cope with growth.

I am hopeful actual solutions will gain traction this year. Other upcoming legislation includes efforts to re-index the homeowner’s exemption to housing values so that rising property values do not unfairly shift the tax load onto homeowners. There will also be a bill to catch up the circuit breaker program with rising property taxes, so more homeowners on fixed incomes such as seniors, veterans and people with disabilities can qualify for property tax forgiveness. We must allow growth to pay for itself by utilizing impact fees as well.

Another distracting proposal: a bill that would prevent Idaho from ever legalizing medical cannabis. The bill modifying Idaho's Constitution to operate as a permanent ban on any "psychoactive drug," SJR101, was approved by the Senate State Affairs Committee, and will likely go to a vote in the Senate this week. In Idaho, psychoactive drugs are already illegal, but this would modify Idaho's Constitution in order to prevent future legislators or voters from changing the law. Federal legalization of marijuana is likely, and if that happens, it would be permitted everywhere in America but Idaho.

There continue to be new medical developments with THC and CBD. Thirty-six states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have approved comprehensive, publicly available medical marijuana programs. In the House, a bipartisan bill to legalize medical cannabis will be introduced in the next couple of weeks. The legislation was written by Ret. Senior Master Sgt. Jeremy Kitzhaber, who is terminally ill with Stage 4 cancer. His story can be heard here.

Despite everything, I'm trying to stay focused on the issues that matter most. It’s time to set aside distracting devices, and instead, focus on actually helping our citizens, not creating additional problems. We need to enact responsible solutions, which voters overwhelmingly support.