Newspaper Association: End of Idaho Legislative Session Report
The First Regular Session of the 64rd Idaho Legislature adjourned sine die at noon on Wednesday, March 29, 2017 on the 80th legislative day.
The session was dominated by three main topics: tax reduction, transportation infrastructure improvement and education funding.
In the first six months of Fiscal Year 2018, Idaho experienced surpluses in tax revenues and the legislature projected 4.8 percent in overall revenue growth for the remainder of the year. This positive economic outlook set the tone for a session-long debate about funding levels and tax cuts.
The House of Representatives led the charge for income tax relief in the form of a $52 million reduction to personal and corporate income tax. This bill passed the House early in the session, but was held up – and ultimately amended by the Senate in the waning days of the legislative session. The Senate amendments completely removed the income tax relief and replaced it with a repeal of the 6 percent sales tax on groceries.
Ultimately, the House concurred with the Senate amendments and sent the bill to the Governor. Prior to the House’s concurrence, Governor Otter threatened to veto the grocery tax repeal. Since the legislature has adjourned, the Governor has ten days to sign or veto the bill.
Education funding was another top priority for the Governor and the legislature this session.
The K-12 budgets sailed through both bodies with a 6.3 percent increase in state general fund expenditures – roughly $100.6 million more than current levels. This included a $61.9 million initiative to give teachers a third-consecutive year of raises under the “career ladder” teacher program.
The final “going home” issue was transportation infrastructure funding. This past winter was incredibly devastating to Idaho roads. That devastation is on top of a $242 million backlog in road maintenance, as well as a backlog in new construction projects. While it took the entire session to negotiate a funding package, a final plan was not released until the final days of the session. Ultimately a $320 million investment package was passed.
This legislation authorizes $300 million in GARVEE bonding for new construction, and extends Idaho’s “surplus eliminator” for maintenance for two additional years.
After passing both the House and Senate yesterday, the bill now goes to the Governor for signature. Along with the larger transportation package the legislature also voted to allow a general fund appropriation for $52 million in emergency road repair to assist with damage following the devastating winter weather and flooding.
There were a variety of measures introduced or discussed this year regarding coverage for the Medicaid “Gap” population. However, the anticipation of changes at the federal level made the legislature uncertain and unwilling to move forward with major policy changes this year.
As is the case every year, there were many issues that we tracked on your behalf.
Below are a few of the issues that was of interest to the Newspaper Association of Idaho.
HB56 and HB95: This bill was an attempt to limit the Lottery Commission from publicly identifying prize winners of $600 or more unless the winner has provided a specific authorization for the release of their information. It would also exempt lottery winners and their information from public records requests. This bill made it through the House but was killed in the Senate State Affairs committee after we expressed the many problems with the bill to committee members.
HB233: This bill would provide an exemption from the Public Records Act for communications between members of the Idaho Legislature, with constituents and with legislative staff. This bill was introduced in the House State Affairs Committee, however the bill never received a full hearing.
HB332: The legislation would allow for government entities to publish legal notices on government websites in lieu of the current requirements that they be printed in newspapers. We spoke with the sponsor and several legislators, explaining to them the variety of reasons this is a horrible idea. The bill wasn’t introduced on the first attempt in the House Local Government committee but was then given a courtesy introduction in the House Ways and Means committee in the final days of the session. It never received a full hearing.
A final version of your 2017 Idaho Legislative tracking report will be available once the Governor has acted on all the legislation he has received.
Risch ? Pisca, Pllc
Law and Policy
Newspaper Association of Idaho
March 29, 2017