House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, presenting the new version of his bill to forbid camping on state property in the Capitol Mall, told the House State Affairs Committee this morning, "If this law is passed, this would make our camping policy consistent with the camping policy across the street. The city of Boise has a no-camping ordinance."

When the original bill was introduced, the committee voted to add two words to clarify a technical issue; those words were accidentally added in the wrong place. The new version of the bill has "no substantive change" from the earlier one, just that fix, Bedke said. He said, "This will be a law that will be applied neutrally. The Boy Scouts will not be able to camp there, the Girl Scouts will not be able to camp there, and neither will anyone else unless the law is modified in the future."

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