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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Reading cut off after lawmakers offended

Rep. Julie Ellsworth, R-Boise, presents a sex offender registration bill to the House on Thursday; Democrats had forced full reading of the bill, but its wording offended some lawmakers, so the minority agreed to cut off the full reading. The bill, which makes changes to Idaho’s registration law to reflect court rulings, passed unanimously. (Betsy Russell)
Rep. Julie Ellsworth, R-Boise, presents a sex offender registration bill to the House on Thursday; Democrats had forced full reading of the bill, but its wording offended some lawmakers, so the minority agreed to cut off the full reading. The bill, which makes changes to Idaho’s registration law to reflect court rulings, passed unanimously. (Betsy Russell)

Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, objected to the full reading of the sex offender registration bill, saying its language was offensive - it included wording about crimes of a sexual nature. "Having the clerk have to get up and read that, that's ridiculous," Wood said. "I think it's cruel to her to make her read that, and it's certainly not something we want to go out on TV." Wood added, "It's bad enough we have to deal with it in committee. Everybody doesn't have to have their nose rubbed in it."

The reading continued, but then Rep. Stephen Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, rose and said he thought the full reading of this particular bill was "inappropriate," and asked unanimous consent to waive further reading of the bill. This time, Democrats didn't object. The bill was then presented by its sponsor, Rep. Julie Ellsworth, R-Boise, and quickly passed on a unanimous vote.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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