Ten proposed resolutions were submitted to the state GOP convention this year, and six passed the resolutions committee, on everything from opposing the Obama Administration’s guidance on bathroom arrangements for transgender students in public schools to calling for amending the Idaho Constitution to “expressly permit” the use of the Bible in the state’s public schools; that means they’ll go to the full convention for a vote tomorrow. Among those rejected were one denouncing “bigotry, racism and xenophobia” and another calling for strengthening Idaho’s campaign finance disclosure laws.

Steve Millington of Buhl, resolutions committee chairman, proposed the anti-bigotry resolution, but said it immediately ran into concerns about free speech. “Whether we like it or not, the 1^st Amendment does give me the privilege to be as hateful as I want to you,” he said after the meeting. He said he hoped to promote “a high level of civility in our public discourse. … Let’s be decent and let’s be civil. We should encourage one another to be thoughtful and considerate.”

His anti-bigotry resolution came up just after the debate over opposition to transgender bathrooms. “I think the timing probably didn’t do me any good,” Millington said. Overall, though, he said he thought the resolutions committee process went well. “They come down here to participate – they want to participate in that great conversation,” he said. “We can experience a divergence of ideas and still go away belonging to the same organization, and still have the same objectives going ahead. We’re here to organize and build and create a stronger Republican Party for the state of Idaho.”

Here are the six resolutions approved by the committee:

1 – Submitted by Maureen Hatfield, Resolution P1 calls for awarding a military occupational specialty to graduates of the U.S. Army sniper course. It calls on Idaho’s congressional delegation to make the proposal in the House and Senate Armed Services committees.

2 – Submitted by Dan Cravens, Bingham County Central Committee chairman, Resolution P2 calls for the Idaho Republican Party and its central committees to host candidate forums to educate voters about nonpartisan judicial races.

3 – Submitted by Sean Borzea, Ada County, Resolution P3 calls for Idaho to oppose and resist the Obama Administration’s guidance to schools on bathroom use by transgender students.

4 – Submitted by Evalyn Bennett and Viki Purdy, Resolution P4 calls for Idaho driver’s licenses to specify whether the license holder “is a U.S. citizen or a lawful immigrant,” and calls for stricter citizenship documentation requirements to get an Idaho driver’s license.

5 – Submitted by Evalyn Bennett and Marge Arnzen, Resolution P5 calls for amending the Idaho Constitution to “expressly permit” use of the Bible in schools, mirroring legislation that was vetoed this year by Gov. Butch Otter over constitutional concerns.

6 – Submitted by Evalyn Bennett, Rick Martin and Viki Purdy, Resolution P6 calls on Otter to call a special session of the Idaho Legislature to pass a law requiring “provisional ballots” for people who register at the polls under Idaho’s same-day registration requirements, and also calls for same-day registration to be abolished if no new provisional balloting law is passed and signed into law. The resolution also calls for provisional ballots for voters who sign an affidavit rather than show a photo ID. The provisional ballots wouldn’t be opened or counted, instead being set aside for tabulation later, only if the voter’s eligibility has been verified.

The four resolutions that failed were:

P7, submitted by Evalyn Bennett, calling for restructuring the Republican presidential campaign process to move all state primaries within an eight-week period between February and March, require closed primaries in all states, require all voters to “acknowledge agreement with their state and national GOP platform” to participate; and requiring all candidates to be included in all GOP presidential debates.

P8, submitted by Steve Millington, to resolve “that the Idaho Republican Party most emphatically denounces and condemns bigotry, racism and xenophobia everywhere, and specifically in our communities, our state, our party, and our nation.”

P9, also submitted by Steve Millington, to strengthen Idaho’s Sunshine Law on campaign finance reporting, including 24-hour reporting of contributions and independent expenditures.

P10, submitted by Tracey Koellish, vehemently opposing any interpretation of federal Title 9 as applying to transgender students, and calling for new laws at the state and federal levels allowing students “struggling with gender confusion” to be provided “a single-stall restroom, changing room or similar alternative.”