Issues from Idaho’s just-completed legislative session

Here are some of the other issues Idaho lawmakers dealt with in their third-longest legislative session ever, which concluded last week:

Voters will decide in November if the state constitution should be amended to make marriage between a man and a woman the only legal union in Idaho, after the Legislature passed House Joint Resolution 2. Similar amendments had failed the past two years, but five senators changed their votes from last year and voted in favor of the amendment, including Coeur d’Alene Republican Sens. John Goedde and Dick Compton, giving it the two-thirds approval it needed with two votes to spare.

Indian tribes spent more time in the Statehouse than expected, lobbying against House Concurrent Resolution 35 in the middle of February and House Bill 661 two weeks later. HCR 35 proposed asking the attorney general to assign an outside counsel to examine the constitutionality of Indian gaming machines, approved by voters in a 2002 ballot initiative. HB 661 proposed requiring the tribes to pay fuel tax to the state for fuel sold on their reservations. Both measures died in committee. A subcommittee of the Idaho Council on Indian Affairs, led by Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, will work this spring and summer to find a solution to the fuel tax dispute.

North Idaho began the process of water rights adjudication with HB 545, sponsored by Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, and 12 other North Idaho lawmakers. The bill authorizes the doubling of fees for those seeking to settle their water rights, to raise money to start the adjudication process. Eastern Washington and North Idaho share the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, and lawmakers anticipate Washington could approach the federal government soon about settling which state controls what amount of water. The bill’s sponsors say establishing who has what water rights in the region will prevent the federal government from coming in and will keep possible litigation at the state level. Reps. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, co-sponsored a bill to allow voters to decide if a small fee should be levied to pay for protecting the aquifer.

State employees got merit-based raises averaging 3 percent under legislation pitched by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne in his State of the State address and approved by the Legislature less than two weeks later. The raises went into effect Feb. 1. Top elected officials got a 4 percent raise from the Legislature, state judges 6 percent, and Public Utilities commissioners, Industrial commissioners and State Tax commissioners 3 percent. Starting salaries for teachers will increase from $28,500 to $30,000 starting July 1. A bill from House Democrats to increase the minimum wage by $1 failed in committee.

Pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamine, will now be kept behind the counter at stores, and no more than 9 grams can be purchased in a 30-day period.

Statehouse renovation will begin in 2007 under legislation approved this year. HCR 47 and Senate Bill 1491 authorize renovation of the building and construction of two new underground wings for the Capitol, construction that should be complete by 2010.

Numerous bills restricting eminent domain powers were passed. Among them is HB 555, which sets three conditions that must be met for a government agency to condemn property: identifiable threat to building occupants; risk to public health, safety, morals or welfare; and conditions conducive to poor health, diseases, juvenile delinquency or crime.

Specialty license plates will continue in Idaho after the Senate, by just one vote, rejected a bill aimed at stopping them, HB 609. The Legislature approved four new plates, one for the Idaho Historical Society, one promoting breast cancer awareness, one for the National Rifle Association, and one for the Elks Rehabilitation Hospital. Proceeds for the NRA plate go to the Transportation Department.

More field burning will be allowed in North Idaho next year under HB 593, which authorizes field burning on land that’s in the federal Conservation Reserve Program. A bill from Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, HB 568, that would have mandated that the state Department of Agriculture notify local law enforcement and government agencies of the exact location and time of upcoming field burns, failed in committee.

North Idaho first-term lawmakers Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, and Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, each successfully spearheaded their own legislative efforts this session. Jorgenson sponsored SB 1316, which implements minimum standards for language interpreters for deaf and hard of hearing children. Broadsword sponsored SB 1423, which mandates that genetic information and genetic testing results be kept private, and prohibits discrimination based on the information. Anderson worked all session to raise awareness about Eurasian milfoil. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee allotted $4 million to fight the weed.

-Meghann M. Cuniff