UV-Eye-Opener Week of Mar. 12-16, 2007

Changing the Wind. “The real practitioners of social change, like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, understood something very important. They knew that you don’t change a society by merely replacing one wet-fingered politician [those who put their fingers up to see which way the wind is blowing] with another. You change society by changing the wind…Change the wind, transform the debate, recast the discussion, alter the context in which political decisions are being made, and you will change the outcomes.” Jim Wallis, Sojourners

We’ve been pretty close to changing the wind around taxes this year. The fact that the debate around the grocery tax, beginning last fall, has been about making the sales tax fairer is a transformative debate. As I discussed at the opening of the session, until this year the dominant voices have questioned whether the sales tax is regressive at all. Not anymore. This year the debate has been over how not whether. Still we may all go home empty handed. On Thursday, the Senate passed an amended grocery tax credit that increases the current credit from $20 to $40 and from $35 to $50 for seniors. The House concurred and passed HB81 on Friday. The Governor has strongly suggested that he will veto this version, which meets none of the criteria he had set out, i.e. it should target the people who need it the most and it should have a price tag that allows for funding of other important priorities. Unfortunately it is looking like ego, ideology, shortsightedness and politics will trump good policy. And we seemed so close to changing the wind.

I’m guessing IACI was feeling a pretty cold wind in their faces when the big business lobby lost two big ones on Thursday. It ain’t over, but the 5 to 4 vote in the Local Government and Taxation Committee to send IACI’s crown jewel, the repeal of the personal property tax, to the 14th Order to be amended, must have come as a shock. The Senate Committee has been trying to hold the line on new tax exemptions and was not convinced that HB245’s price tag, which will eventually approach $100 million annually, was justified in light of tax breaks that business received last August. There is pretty much unanimous agreement that the personal property tax is administratively burdensome but no such consensus on how it should be paid for. The Senate Committee has talked extensively about repealing either the Production Exemption on equipment or the Investment Tax Credit to offset the cost of repealing the personal property tax paid by business. Neither of these is likely to happen this year. “I was hoping to have this bill a month ago,” said Senator Joe Stegner of Lewiston, in making a motion to amend the bill, “so that we could have amended it thoughtfully.” While this is code for “we’re sending it there to die”, don’t expect IACI to give this one up without a fight.

Some people were calling it the “workers have no rights” bill. And they weren’t a-kiddin’. Senator John Goedde carried IACI’s “12th hour” bill to enforce non-compete clauses so that employees wanting to change jobs would be prohibited from using their skills within a certain geographic area. Read: “And I owe my soul to the company sto’.” Senator Elliott Werk, the chief opponent of SB1203, argued that the bill would put businesses at a competitive disadvantage in recruiting top candidates to jobs if they felt that they would be punished for leaving. The bill failed 16 to 18, handing IACI its second defeat of the day.

Where’s the minimum wage bill? Senator Curt McKenzie, chair of the Senate State Affairs Committee says that passing a minimum wage bill to conform to any federal changes as already passed in the House is not a priority for his committee this year. Yo, Dude, been comfortable too long?

A good bill that has received little fanfare passed the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Monday. HB159, once funded, will provide grants to community health centers for up to half a million dollars in infrastructure improvements. This is a follow up to funding passed last year for Terry Reilly Health Services for renovating a clinic in Caldwell. The Community Health Center network provides services to uninsured and publicly insured people throughout most of the state. Idaho has been one of the few states that provides no state money for these federally funded clinics. No funding is expected this year to start up the grant program.

“I didn’t even know there were so many dang languages,” said Representative Del Raybould remarking on the number of languages spoken in Idaho as he introduced SB1172, which would establish English as the official language of the state. A similar proposal was pulled back a few years ago when the sponsor was approached by concerned members of the Latino community. Unfortunately bills like this that require lawmakers to protect the minority are hard to stop once they get going. It takes leaders willing to take some heat. Instead the current crop would rather minimize the impact. “Just because we have an official bird,” said Representative Mark Snodgrass, “doesn’t mean I hate all other birds.” SB1172 passed the House State Affairs Committee with only five dissenting votes.

“I don’t know what part of ‘illegal’ the opponents of this bill don’t understand,” quipped Senator John McGee, sponsor of SB1157 and the Senator representing the most Latino district in the state. Despite having no numbers to prove the case that undocumented immigrants are costing the state money, Senators moved HB1157 to the floor of the Senate this week. The bill requires proof of legal status in order for anyone to receive “public benefits” as defined in federal law. While intended to keep undocumented immigrants from receiving benefits—that they are already ineligible for and that most are paying for through payroll taxes—several speakers pointed out that the law will hit legal residents hardest. “It will just lengthen the time it will take for legal residents to get benefits,” said Boise Representative Phylis King.

Way to go Idaho. Idaho remains one of the only states in the country that does not allow insurance companies to use the results of genetic testing to determine insurance rates after the House turned back an effort to allow its use for long term care and disability policies. The bill had passed the Senate with only 6 dissenting votes. While the insurance companies pushing the bill described it as just another tool like a health history, opponents, led by the AARP, recognized it for what it is: an attempt to fix the game so that insurance companies can assume less risk and increase profits. Representative Margaret Henbest, a nurse practitioner, cautioned the House not to go down this road since it could lead to fewer people obtaining the testing for fear of being hit with higher insurance rates.

“…This law will not reduce the number of abusive families, but it can harm young girls by delaying access to appropriate medical care,” said Representative Shirley Ringo in her debate against SB1082a requiring parental consent for a minor seeking an abortion. On Friday the bill was sent to Governor Otter on a vote of 53-14. Unlike attempts in previous years that have been successfully challenged in court, this bill was crafted to meet constitutional tests. While no one disputes the desirability of parental involvement in a decision of this magnitude, opponents are concerned that these requirements place young women from abusive families in harms way. “Some of these families barely function,” said Representative Sue Chew of Boise.