Pam Parks, director of the Idaho Human Rights Commission, and Roger Madsen, director of the state Department of Labor, say they're gearing up for a July 1 merger, if lawmakers approve. Gov. Butch Otter already has endorsed the plan, Madsen said, and legislation is in the works. Parks said, "Roger immediately said yes, we should explore this," launching "a really positive, wonderful discussion about how we'd be able to save the commission."

Madsen said his department has committed $144,000 next fiscal year, double that amount the following year, three times the amount the third year out and four times the fourth year, to make up for the four-year phase-out of state general funds to the commission that Otter called for, starting in fiscal year 2011. The commission's current state funding is about $1.5 million. Labor will take the money from penalty and interest funds paid by employers and claimants, and from a special administration account that comes from interest earnings on the unemployment reserve fund. Those funds had been scheduled to pay for several building upgrades at the Labor Department next year, including $800,000 to replace inefficient single-pane windows and another $800,000 to repair leaking geothermal pipes and install a heat exchanger. "We'll push it down the road," Deputy Director John McAllister said of the building maintenance.

Parks said, "It is a workable plan." She noted that Madsen said he was "humbled" to provide a home for the Human Rights Commission; she said, "We're humbled that they offered help."