 Rep. Maxine Bell and Rep. Clark Kauffman drawing the winning school which will receive the $350 that was awarded to legislative District 25 during the Steps for Schools contest. Hanson School District was
the drawing winner.
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The Canadian Consulate speaking to
the Idaho House of Representatives.
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March 16, 2016
Young inventors from across the
state came to the Capitol to share their creations with legislators.
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Durga
Rajarajan shows Rep. Clark Kauffman her Tornado Catcher invention.
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Week 10 has been both busy and slow. Steady by jerks as they say. We’ve had long intense discussions on how to
cover the 78,000 people that are in the health care gap, those left without
health coverage. There are two drafts
that are being discussed and we will have one or the other or a combination to
consider on Monday. The best guess is
still that we will be done by Easter. We
will see.
Significant legislation this week includes SCR 137
& SCR
135. These Concurrent Resolutions
deal with water issues.
SCR 137 statement of
purpose states: This Resolution
requests the Idaho Water Resource Board to identify and implement stabilization
and sustainability projects to stabilize and enhance ground water supplies
throughout Idaho. As documented in the Resolution, ground water supplies across
Idaho have been declining. These declines in some areas have resulted in an
inadequate supply of water to sustain surface and ground water uses and led to
contentious, costly and time consuming litigation. This Resolution encourages the
Idaho Water Resource Board to undertake a proactive approach to reversing the
declines in ground water levels in aquifers throughout the State to prevent the
economic impacts that will inevitability arise if ground water levels continue
to decline. The Resolution calls for specific
actions in the Treasure Valley, Mountain Home,
Big and Little Wood River Basins, and the Palouse
Basin.
SCR 135 statement of purpose states: The purpose
of this resolution is to express legislative support for the June 30, 2015
Settlement Agreement between participating surface water members of the Surface
Water Coalition and participating members of the Idaho Ground Water
Appropriators, Inc. This settlement will resolve the multiple water delivery
calls that have led to protracted litigation and economic uncertainty for all
water users in the Upper Snake River Basin. Under the terms of the Settlement
Agreement, ground water users diverting from the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer
have committed to reduce their consumptive use in order to "stabilize and
ultimately reverse the trend of declining ground water levels and return ground
water levels to a level equal to the average of the aquifer levels from
1991-2001" by April 2026. "No ground water user participating in this
settlement will be subject to a delivery call by the [Surface Water Coalition]
members as long as the provisions of the
Settlement Agreement are being implemented."
This resolution recognizes that the State supports
the goal of the Settlement Agreement to stabilize
and reverse the trend of declining ESPA water
level.
These water resolutions will have long lasting
effects to all of Idaho.
The REAL ID bill that was amended in the House
and sent to the Senate has been amended in the Senate and was heard again in
House Transportation Committee Friday afternoon. It passed out of committee with a do pass
with amendments.
SB 1389
the concealed weapons bill passed the House on Friday with a vote of 54 yes and
15 no.
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Senator
Jim Patrick received the Apple Award from the School Choice Coalition because of his strong support for choice in Idaho’s educational system. |
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March 14, 2016
In
celebration of Women's History Month (March), the “Women of Idaho” exhibit was
unveiled this week at the Capitol. The exhibit can be viewed on the 4th floor
in Statuary Hall of the Capitol building. Click Here
for more information.
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Rep. Maxine Bell was recognized at the unveiling of the "Women in Idaho" exhibit. |
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I reported last week that the budget process
was winding down. I also reported we had a little bill to celebrate The
Year of The Cowboy. Somehow the two events seem to be connected.
First the budget process is not moving as smoothly as I would like.
Apparently The Cowboy thing has caused a “rodeo” each day when it comes to
bills. We will finally finish up three pieces to make the K-12 funding
whole as far as the elements needed to move the needs of our educators
forward. Several other concerns just cannot seem to get out of committee,
and hopefully, we are looking at the end of the session. Everyone in
the house seems to be of a different opinion, always a problem, but more so
this year. There was an opportunity to accept money (not anyone’s taxes)
from The Forest Legacy. We had two budgets with a portion of that
funding. The misunderstanding was so extreme that we will be re-doing those
budgets next week. This does not look good for a Good Friday ending.
The program appeared to be a good way to keep healthy forests in production, on
the tax rolls, and give access to the public for recreation. Obviously,
not everyone agreed.
Kudos
to the Speaker and Senator Baer for the body of work to address the health of
our aquifers in the state. The Senate Resolutions were passed by the House
on Thursday. This will put into place the funding we have ready to follow
that will help manage the recharge of our aquifers. In fact, the activity
is happening our Jerome County now prior to needing the water for other
uses. The funding will allow the Water Board to continue to better manage
this valuable resource.
Because
60% of Idaho is owned or managed by the Federal government, we have constant
efforts to gain more control. As a rule the reasons are
valid. We do manage state lands much better. The last two years
had brought terrific fires to the state, many of them originating on the
federal land. There are two efforts in play now to gain some control of
the lands which we believe would be better managed in state hands. H582
did pass the house and by all study should do no harm to all of us who want
public access and use. The Forest Service has closed over 2,000 roads in
the past few decades. We can hope this action will prevent that situation
if we have a hand in management.
And as
always the nice events continue to give us pause. On Monday, the ladies
in the legislature paused a moment to honor those stalwart women who served the
state before us. On Tuesday a group of Idaho citizens of Turkish descent
provided a little event at noon. The beautiful children danced while
dressed in the native costumes. While we enjoyed the dancing, we were
treated to a table of Turkish pastries and candies. It was a very nice
and welcome break.
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