On The Record

Highlights from the past week in the Idaho Legislature:

They said it

“The mistaken feeling is out there that in 1990 the people who carried the abortion legislation lost their elections. I think if you get past that, that would be a big plus, because that is certainly the Legislature’s job, is the moral issues, to make those decisions,” Rep. Jeff Alltus on his prediction that the Legislature’s willingness to act on abortion this year will open the door for future debates on moral issues.

Votes

Here are some of the votes cast by North Idaho lawmakers in the past week:

Unemployment tax: A bill to reduce the Unemployment Insurance tax by $31 million in 1998 and by $112 million during the next four years unanimously passed the House and Senate this week.

Representatives voting yes were Alltus, R-Hayden; John Campbell, R-Sandpoint; Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake; Charles Cuddy, D-Orofino; June Judd, D-St. Maries; Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls; Wayne Meyer, R-Rathdrum; Don Pischner, R-Coeur d’ Alene; Jim Stoicheff, D-Sandpoint; and Larry Watson, D-Wallace.

Senators voting yes were Clyde Boatright, R-Rathdrum; Gordon Crow, R-Hayden; Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint; Marguerite McLaughlin, D-Orofino; and Jack Riggs, R-Coeur d’ Alene.

Reservations about sales tax: The House Revenue and Taxation Committee unanimously agreed to debate a controversial bill to tax people who shop on Idaho Indian reservations.

Rep. Kellogg, R-Post Falls, voted for the debate, but Reps. Clark, R-Hayden Lake, and Watson, D-Wallace, missed the vote.