Representative Heather Scott - District 1
Hello Idaho and welcome new subscribers!
This newsletter is dedicated to sharing more information about funds available to Idaho small businesses and communities and to provide a brief update on the status of efforts by the Idaho Department of Labor’s Unemployment Office to meet the demands of citizens. By the end of this week I plan to update you with more details on the Executive branch’s actions and what we can do about it.
Available MONEY: Cash grants for small business or self-employed
The Idaho State Tax Commission is currently accepting and processing applications to receive cash grants through their Rebound Idaho program through July 17th.
Small Business: A Rebound Idaho cash grant will provide up to $10,000 in financial grant support for Idaho small businesses and nonprofit employees who have suffered interruptions due to the COVID 19 economic crisis (business sizes can be from 1 to 50 employees).
Self-Employed: The cash grant will provide up to $7,500 in financial support for self-employed Idahoans without employees who have suffered business interruptions due to COVID 19. You must have filed a 2019 Idaho resident income tax return to qualify.
Note: You will need a Taxpayer Access Point (TAP) account with the Tax Commission to apply for the cash grant. If you do not have an account you can create one (HERE). General TAP information can be found (HERE). To see if you qualify and for more information (Click HERE).
To apply for a small business or self-employed cash grant, log into your TAP account, click the “Idaho Rebounds Grant” link in the top right of page, and answer a few questions and then submit your application. The grant is not a loan.
UNEMPLOYMENT ISSUES:
On the weekly Governor’s calls to legislators, we are continually reassured by the Idaho Department of Labor that they are “doing everything possible” to try to keep up with the demand for unemployment claims. They have hired more staff, retrained staff, set up more phone lines, extended operational hours and even hired consultants to help them keep up. They are telling legislators to have their constituents be patient and please keep calling. Their number is (833) 410-1009 and will be staffed from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mountain Time Monday-Friday. Here is a link to their frequently asked questions: (LINK)
Some citizens have been waiting for almost three months for their claims to be paid with no success. On a recent conference call, legislators were encouraged by the Director of the Department of Labor to send lists of names of citizens who were still having problems with their unemployment. If you are in a dire situation and need assistance immediately to keep food on your table or make house payments, please email your legislator and share a short description of your situation along with your claim number.
No matter how you feel about 5G or fiber optics in your community, you should be aware of this website: (Idaho Commerce Dept.)
Idaho plans to use $50 million of its federal coronavirus relief money to improve the state’s broadband capacity. Regional entities, non-profits, government entities, businesses and others will be applying for grants to make changes in your communities, especially in rural Idaho. This is a big goal of the Western Governors Association’s “Reimagining the Rural West” Initiative I talked about in an earlier newsletter. Link to (Handing Idaho over on a Silver Platter Part 2) to read more on this goal.
At this point, your legislators have had no input into how this money will be distributed or what policies or laws may need to be put in place, so if you have concerns, encourage your legislators to put controls on the Governor’s emergency powers and call the Governor’s office to voice your concerns.
Responsible Government
Responsible government is a blessing and a benefit to its citizens. Irresponsible or oppressive government is not. We need responsible government at all levels. Government payrolls seem to be bloating in these times of crisis. Because of our government’s unique relationship with its citizens, in that every employee works for the people, responsibility and accountability must be demanded. Citizens must identify and remove bad or dangerous behaving government employees to ensure responsibility and accountability at all levels.
Law enforcement departments around the country are tasked with handling and defusing dangerous and demanding circumstances in high profile environments. These situations can lead to isolated incidents of abuse of power. But is that reason to abolish police departments completely? Can you imagine if we used this same principle in our state government? Our federal government? Our schools? Our hospitals? Our military?
The call to defund the police reminds me of a tactic that is used in society against populations, to shift the range of ideas the public is willing to accept. It involves asking for something extreme and unthinkable, wait until there is public outcry and chaos to the absurd notion, and then settle for what is really desired. It has worked well on unsuspecting populations.
So, what is the real agenda here? It’s unclear, but we do know that nationalization of police forces around the country has been a goal of globalists for many decades. Nationalized police forces work well in communist and totalitarian countries. Having rioters demand government leaders defund law enforcement agencies is an abhorrent way to shift our society to a seemingly less radical goal such as nationalizing our police force. The problem with this idea is that it removes critical jurisdictional boundaries which are the premier safeguards protecting the citizens in our Republic - just like the checks and balances afforded the Legislature over the Executive and Judicial branches.
History will repeat itself. We can either learn from past mistakes or are doomed to repeat them and suffer the same consequences.
I do plan to share more information later in the week, but I wanted to get this important information to you right away. You can read past newsletters you may have missed at RepHeatherScott.com.
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