 This week we all had the opportunity to meet with Know Your Government participants from District
25
The senate is winding
down and will hear mostly house bills this coming week. The major tax relief
bill passed the Senate committee and is one of the major pieces of legislation
and will likely pass the full Senate.
We will be sending a
change in the Non-Compete laws so it is business and employee friendly. I am
working on a pharmacy benefit manager’s bill to help lower the costs of
pharmaceutical prescriptions.
We also passed out of
the Senate a bill requiring the credit reporting companies not to charge for
freezing credit reports as well as unfreezing these same reports. This summer
there was a major data leak and as a result anyone that has a credit card or
charge account may be at risk of identification loss or theft.
There are many other
issues that we address that the press doesn’t cover so I would encourage
everyone to look at the Idaho Legislative web page. Most of the bills reported on will not pass
but makes great headlines.
Sincerely, Jim
Patrick
 Idaho Ed News
February 21, 2018
By Andrew Reed
Gov. Butch Otter, 12 lawmakers and 45 fourth-graders from
Boise’s Monroe Elementary School braced 30 degree weather Wednesday afternoon
to walk around the Statehouse to raise awareness about health and fitness.
They are participating in the Steps
for Schools Walking Challenge, an
annual event that encourages legislators to get out and walk each day. Click Here for the full story.
The start of the week I had the pleasure of working with a
group of 4-H young people who came to Boise as participants of Know Your
Government (KYG). This program started
30 years ago by Mary Jean Craig. The
idea came from a similar conference in Washington State. On Sunday afternoon we met and helped a
legislative committee of 4-H kids conduct a legislative committee hearing on a
bill they had written. We ended the
afternoon with a tour of the Capitol.
The KYG conference is supported by the University of Idaho Extension
4-H. From 1988 – 2018, 5098 youth have
been involved in KYG. For more
information on this great program go to www.uidaho.edu/extension/4h/events/know-your-government
This week I met with Magic Valley School Superintendents and
school board members. We discussed
issues of concern and interest that are happening in the Education Committees.
Idaho Commission on
Hispanic Affairs Legislative Reception.
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I serve as one of the Commissioners on the Hispanic Affairs
Commission. On Tuesday evening I
attended the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs legislative reception where
we heard from a panel made up of State Education Superintendent Sheri Ybarra,
Idaho Dept. of Labor Director Melinda Smyser, Idaho Department of Health &
Welfare Deputy Director Lisa Hettinger and Mr Ricardo Pineda,
from the Mexican Consulate, Boise. The
discussion centered around the positive impact of the Hispanic population in
Idaho.
I continue in the “Steps for Schools” contest and on
Wednesday we walked around the Capitol with 4th graders from a local
school in Boise. Any legislator who
averages 10,000 steps per day in the month of February will receive $500 for
exercise equipment for an elementary school in their district. If I continue to qualify, Representative Bell
and I will have a drawing to select a school in District 25 to receive the
money.
This week I presented HB 513 to the Senate Local Government
& Tax Committee to exempt free medical clinics from sales tax. The committee voted to send the bill to the
Senate floor with a “do pass” recommendation.
The bill already passed the house and will now go to the Senate floor
for debate.
The House passed HB533 to increase the amount the State pays
counties who house state sentenced inmates changing the amount from $45 per day
to $55 per day for the first seven days and $75 a day thereafter.
This has
been an issue of discussion recently with county officials who are being paid
less than their costs to house state inmates.
This is a much needed and desired change.
I
presented HB 537, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in the House
Agriculture Committee on Tuesday and it passed unanimously. It is now up for vote on the House Floor and
if it passes will be sent to the Senate.
Representative Kauffman
receiving Wayne Meyer Statesman Award.
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On
Friday afternoon I attended the Leadership Idaho Agriculture (LIA) graduation
where 29 individuals from all areas of Idaho graduated in Class 38. At that ceremony I was honored to receive the
Wayne Meyer Statesman Award. Wayne Meyer was a lifetime member of LIA,
graduating in Class 27. Wayne was a
farmer on the Rathdrum Prairie in North Idaho and a leader in the grass seed
industry. He was active in his local
community and served as a State Legislator from 1995-2004. The LIA Foundation established the LIA Statesman Award in honor of Wayne
and to continue to recognize dedicated public service by LIA alumni. I graduated from LIA in class 13 in 1998.
Contact
me with concerns or questions. It is an
honor to serve as your Representative.
Sincerely, Clark Kauffman
Senator Jim
Risch and Senator Mike Crapo came to the Idaho Capitol this week and gave a
congressional report to both chambers of the Idaho legislature.
What
a great way to start the last full week of February. It is always such a
privilege to have friends and neighbors from our district. We began the
President’s Day with an early morning breakfast with some of our 4-H members.
There is a full week-end of hands-on events to help them know about
government. The highlight for me was the speaker. Allyssa Hansten
from Jerome. She did a great job, and it is a pleasure to have her share
her abilities with the legislature. The following day, we met with some
of the school superintendents from the Magic Valley. Staci Leavitt and
Don Mitchell from the Jerome School Board were welcome guests.
The
largest budget we set came together this week. We have learned a lot over
the years. I was reminded of Thanksgiving Dinner. It appears on the
table and is a memory in a very short time, however, the preparation can be
hours of intensive labor. The budgets are all worked on during the days
prior to the actual funding. Small groups of those interested meet and
study what is necessary and reasonable. This activity makes the actual
vote to spend more comfortable for those of us responsible to manage your tax
dollars. The budget for K-12 included an additional one hundred million with 32
million more in a saving account for the addition of students as they come
into the school during the year. This is the third year we have had the funds
to include an extra $100 million.
The
number of bills on the floor continues to build. As with a number of
them, many are minor adjustments. It makes one wonder why we did not do a
better job on the original attempt. One bill pointed out that while we
should always pull over and stop for emergency or police vehicles there is not
a parking lot on the side of highways. Easy clean-up. Another bill was
presented to prevent foreign law from being used in Idaho Courts. Idaho
Judges take the same oath of office that I do, to uphold the laws of the United
Stated and the State of Idaho. Most of us have known Jim Jones and Roger
Burdick when they lived and worked in the Jerome area. We also knew them
both as Supreme Court Judges, where Judge Burdick is now the Senior
Judge. This bill implied a violation of that sacred oath by our
judges. I was sorry to see it move to the Senate.
We
will have the budget bills on the floor by this time next week, which usually
signals the beginning of the end of another session. Our final visitors
of the week were our two senators, Senator Risch and Crapo. One of our
own, Robert Sonnichson, who grew up and went to school in Jerome, is a
member of Senator Crapo’s staff.
 The 34th Annual Idaho Watercolor Society (IWS) Capitol Rotunda Show
began this week and will run through March 4, 2018.
The IWS is a state-wide society which promotes
and supports the use of watercolor media. Ruth Clark was the founding member of
the society and to this day, IWS supports student artists by awarding three
yearly Ruth Clark scholarships. Click
Here to learn more about IWS.
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H0364 This bill saves taxpayer dollars by
digitizing the transition vehicle credentialing process used by the Idaho
Transportation Department. (2/21/18 update: has passed the House
and Senate)
H0369 This
legislation provides an Idaho-specific Roadless rule approach, rather than a
one size fits all approach from the federal government. The bill codifies the existing Idaho Roadless
Rule Implementation Commission as the entity to inventory Roadless areas of the
state. (2/21/18 update: has passed the
House and Senate)
HO387 This bill provides for a
license plate fee exemptions for Purple Heart recipients. (2/21/18 update: on the Senate 3rd
Reading)
H0451 This
bill helps to address Idaho’s doctor shortage.
The legislation provides an income tax credit for charitable
contributions made to Idaho-based medical residency placement organizations,
accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or the
American Osteopathic Organization. Residency placement programs are essential
to the final stages of M.D. and D.O. educational processes, and residency
placement programs enhance programs like WWAMI by encouraging doctors to stay
in the state of Idaho. (2/21/18 update:
on the Senate 3rd reading)
H0493 This legislation
facilitates the modernization of the state’s business information
infrastructure. The bill
provides the funding source and governance model for the State Controller's
office. (2/21/18 update: on the Senate 3rd
Reading Calendar)
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