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Eye On Boise

Otter on refugees, health care, sanctuary cities, faith healing, more…

Gov. Butch Otter commented on refugees and religion, Idaho’s health care coverage gap, the need for transparency in Idaho’s oil and gas regulations, faith healing, Idaho Fish & Game fee increase legislation and more during his address to the Idaho Press Club this morning. Here are some of his remarks:

REFUGEES: Otter said he wished he hadn’t said, during an interview on Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television on Friday night, that he is in favor of discrimination with regard to Christian refugees vs. Muslim ones. “I should have said … we’re talking about preference here,” he said. “The United States has always made preference for people that were in peril. When they see a particular group of people creating genocide on others, we create a preference for those.” He added, directly contradicting his remarks on Friday, “I think it’s not discriminatory. I think it’s preference.”

He also defended President Trump’s immigration executive order, which is now held up in court. “No. 1, it isn’t a ban,” Otter said. “It’s a 90-day slowdown, and I can understand why Trump did that as quick as he did it. If he’d of said, ‘We’re going to do this in a week,’ you could’ve expected a lot of people then to try to come in, including those jihadists that want to do us harm.” He added, “I’m OK with religious preference,” and said, “I’m sure they’re not going to ask me.”

Asked if there’s anything the new Trump Administration has done that he doesn’t agree with, Otter said, “Yes. Yes, several.” Asked if he could name some examples, he said, “No.”

HEALTH CARE: Otter said when he addressed a Senate subcommittee during inauguration week along with nine other governors, he pressed for flexibility for states in any changes to health care. “We want flexibility in the states, we want consistency and we want predictability,” he said, “none of which we really got from the Obama Administration or the Affordable Health Care Act before.”

Otter said Idaho made two suggestions, for “universal waivers” – allowing any state to follow plans for which another state already has received a waiver from federal regulations, even outside the health care arena – and creation of a 10-state board, consisting of state Medicaid program managers, to vet all new regulations regarding Medicaid before they’re implemented, “if you will, much like the Legislature does with my administrative rules.” He said, “We thought it came off pretty well. We haven’t seen any action on it yet.”

Otter said he hopes Congress takes into account states like Idaho that haven’t expanded Medicaid, and doesn’t penalize them in any future Medicaid program changes, including block grants. “So what can we expect? And what can the Legislature do? I think we’re at a point that we’re going to have to do our business here and stay with what we know now,” he said. “And that’s going to be my suggestion to the leadership, is let’s deal with the issues that we’ve got in the state. Maybe we’ll be able to do something before the end of the session, because then maybe Washington, D.C. will have something for us to react to or act on.”

OIL AND GAS REGULATION: The governor said the state Land Board and Department of Lands is working with lawmakers, and noted that lawmakers rejected an initial rule. The state also is bringing in an expert to Utah to review how Idaho’s approaching the issue, he said, “because it lacks the transparency that I think we want. It lacks the reporting and the validation of those reports by a third party that we want.”

SANCTUARY CITIES LEGISLATION: Otter said he hasn’t yet reviewed the legislation proposed in the House to punish any Idaho city or county that becomes a “sanctuary city,” even though Idaho doesn’t have any yet, and to impose immigration-related duties on local law enforcement. “Is it needed? You know, I would say, probably not,” the governor said. “But the Legislature can do what the Legislature wants to do.”

FAITH HEALING: Otter noted that last year at this time, he called on legislative leaders to for an interim committee to look into Idaho’s religious exemptions for faith healing. A panel was formed, but it made no report to the full Legislature. “I don’t know why they arrived at that decision not to do anything,” he said. “I asked ‘em to consider it, they considered it. I asked ‘em to put together an interim committee, they put together an interim committee. I haven’t talked to the leadership.” The governor said he’s meeting with legislative leaders this week, the minority tomorrow and majority leadership on Thursday. “Thursday, I’ll bring it up, find out where we’re going with it, what we’re going to do with it,” he said.

FISH AND GAME FEES: The governor said he’s aware that House Resources Chair Marc Gibbs, R-Grace, has blocked the Idaho Fish & Game Department’s fee increase legislation over concerns about depredation. “We’ve put a lot of money into depredation,” Otter said. “We’ve put a lot of effort into managing the wildlife of the state of Idaho for the benefit of those that are paying for it. I haven’t talked to Marc about it, but I intend to.”



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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