Legislative Update - Week 12
The Legislative Session for 2024 seems to be trying to wind down. Senate Committees have been shutting down their regular schedule and are only operating “At the Call of the Chair” meaning whenever the Chair wants to call his committee for a hearing of a late piece of legislation.
In the Senate, our floor calendar, or the bills waiting to be debated, are being cleared off as we finish debating them and sending them to the House. There are a few more smaller appropriation bills that we are waiting for and some late coming legislation that always show up.
One significant bill we passed off the Senate floor this week was Senate Bill 1428 (S1428). S1428 states that retirement benefits paid by the United States to a retired member of the military, or their widow or widower, will see a deduction from their individual taxable income if they have reached the age of 65 or are classified as disabled. Retired veterans bring valuable knowledge and skills to the civilian workforce and employers’ benefit from having hired them. This bill demonstrates that Idaho is friendly to retired veterans and we appreciate them.
I was disappointed this week to find Senate Bill 1416 (S1416), the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) bill we have been working on for over a year, was assigned by the Speaker of the House to the House State Affairs Committee after passing the Senate by a wide margin. We have not been able to get the Chairman of the House State Affairs Committee to agree to hear the bill which means it is dead for this year. There is a lot of support for this legislation as it contains intent language to declare that EMS is an essential service in the State of Idaho and sets up a process in which volunteer EMS districts around the State can begin to receive funding to help with equipment and support.
This is an important issue for me, and I will continue to do all I can to either get the bill heard this year or get it set up for the next Legislative Session with a different approach that will get the bill through both the Senate and the House.
I was pleased to see some people from home this week in our State Capitol helping legislators understand the importance of significant pesticide legislation. Our Idaho-based industry needs this legislation to help the over 800 Southeast Idaho families that mine and process elemental phosphorus keep their jobs! This is not only important for the production end but also for the consumer end as the product that gets its start in Soda Springs, Idaho, helps feed our nation! Without the plant in Soda Springs, farmers will be forced to buy all their pesticide product from China placing our food security and our national security at risk. It is disappointing that so many legislators have been won over by arguments from radical environmentalists and others that want to shut down domestic production of our entire agricultural system, where currently one American farmer feeds over 160 U.S. citizens.
A bill that Representative Megan Blanksma (LD-8) and I have been working on for 4 years finally has made it through both houses and is headed to the Governor for his signature. Senate Bill 1292 (S1292) removes the responsibility of Idaho’s Attorney General to provide representation to the Idaho Department of Lands (DOL) and allows the DOL to hire or contract its own independent legal counsel. This bill also removes the perceived conflict of interest that was present. The DOL is the administrative arm of the Idaho State Land Board of which the Attorney General is a constitutional member. Currently, the attorneys that work in the DOL work for the Attorney General and not the DOL Director. This presents a conflict of interest and places the DOL Director in a bad position and questions the loyalty of the Attorney General’s attorneys. S1292 will clear this issue up and allow the DOL to hire attorneys loyal to the department and not the Office of the Attorney General.
As always, I like to hear from you. Please feel free to contact me at: [email protected]. I will do my best to get you answers!!
