The House Ways & Means Committee held one of its rare meetings today on adjournment of the House, the second time the leadership panel has met this session. Today, the committee voted along party lines, 4-3, to introduce legislation from Rep. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, to make electronic transactions in gold and silver an alternative form of legal tender for paying bills or taxes in Idaho. "When we left the gold standard, we did not do a really good thing," Barrett declared. She suggested her bill, if enacted, would attract businesses to the state who want to "come to Idaho and do a free-market business with gold and silver backing."

The committee also voted unanimously to introduce two other bills: One from Rep. Mike Moyle, R-Star, to exempt "flaming" of mint fields from state field-burning laws - Moyle said there's little plant material burned and little smoke released when that occurs; and the other a memorial from Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, to ask Congress to permit more use of "longer combination vehicle" trucks. It was the second Ways & Means Committee meeting this session. At the first, last Thursday, the committee introduced 10 new bills.