My first bill!
As the snow from last week melts, I am looking forward to warmer weather and a time when we can return closer to normal. It's been a year since the pandemic first hit Idaho, and many people remain unemployed and unable to pursue their passions. All of us have felt the strain in one way or another. But some hope is on the horizon, with Idaho getting more vaccine doses each week, spring coming, and the legislature beginning to approve some aid to make people whole (including $175 million in emergency rental help). We're getting closer.
Last week, I introduced my first piece of legislation, S1088, a bill aimed at ensuring tenants have notice of the fees they're being charged and that the fees are reasonable. Several people came to testify in favor, including landlords, the religious community, and housing advocates. Everyone present recognized that excessive fees are a major problem and do not serve anyone. I was able to give quite a few examples of fees being misused that staff at Jesse Tree have dealt with. The bill is in the amending order for now to make a minor edit. I think I’ll be able to work out a bit of the wording with the majority to make it work for everyone and get it passed!
Property tax breaks for big business continue to be prioritized over tax relief for regular citizens. The House GOP presented a plan - HB199 - to benefit special and wealthy interests. It decreases the sales tax from 6% to 5.3%, eliminates the grocery tax credit, and decreases income taxes for some. It's a complicated revision to our tax code and we're still learning about its potential impacts, but so far it looks as though the proposal will actually cause taxes to go up for most Idahoans earning a modest income. Another bill which completely eliminates the property tax that businesses pay on their equipment was also introduced last week.
Countering the House GOP bill, House Democrats introduced the Idaho Working Families Agenda, a comprehensive plan to deliver tax benefits to working families and boost education investments to help Idaho's kids catch up after a year of challenges. Unlike the House GOP’s tax plan, it will not raise taxes for any Idaho households and keeps the grocery tax credit to help families offset the sales tax they pay on food. It directs tax benefits to working Idaho families and children, not giveaways to the highest earners and large profitable corporations. Learn more about it here.
S1108, the bill that limits local government budgets, passed out of my committee. I spent three hours on Thursday evening in the Local Government and Taxation Committee listening to testimony against S1108, which seeks to limit local government budgets in an effort to stem property taxes. Local governments and fire districts from all over Idaho expressed great concern that this bill does not allow growth to pay for itself, but instead prevents them from paying for basic services such as fire and police. It provides very minimal property tax relief for residents - one estimate was that it could provide around $20 per household member per year. This bill does not address our biggest issue with property tax: that residents are now bearing three-quarters of the property tax burden. As home values continue to rise, this bill will not address the shift or provide the amount of property tax we need. Because the bill cuts local government budgets for new construction, it could disincentivize new construction and exacerbate our existing housing crisis. Property tax relief is important, but this is not the solution. Unfortunately other ideas such as fully funding public education so that schools don't have to run so many bonds and levies, expanding our circuit breaker, raising the homeowner's exemption cap, indexing, and changing the way we assess values aren't even getting a hearing in committee. The bill will move on to the Senate floor next.
The legislature continues to vie for more power. One way is by restricting voting rights. There are now 19 pieces of legislation about voting. S1110, a bill that would make future grassroots initiatives virtually impossible, passed the Senate State Affairs Committee despite much opposition. S1110 raises the requirements for a citizen-led ballot initiative, like Medicaid Expansion, to require signatures from 6% of eligible voters in all 35 legislative districts, rather than the current requirements to include 6% of all eligible Idahoan voters and 6% of 18 of the 35 legislative districts. The process right now is restrictive enough, and only two ballot initiatives have passed in the last 18 years. This law violates the spirit of Idaho's Constitution, which reserves the right of the people to enact and propose laws on the ballot. I encourage you to keep writing Senators about why this bill is a bad idea, and sign this petition calling on Governor Little to take a stand for our initiative rights.
There are at least 13 pieces of legislation aimed at limiting the Governor's powers to respond to an emergency. A constitutional amendment was proposed which will allow the Idaho Legislature to call itself into special session whenever 60% of the members of each house want to. Currently, only the Governor can call special sessions of the legislature. I will not vote for this bill as it only requires a simple majority (rather than 2/3, like most other states), and allows a session to be called for any purpose whatsoever (rather than a limited set of important topics), at a cost of at least $25,000 per day to the taxpayers. I know I've said this before, but I still wish more of our focus was on responding to our current health and economic emergency and getting Idahoans, schools, hospitals, and businesses the help they need.
