Here are some highlights from Idaho’s 2021 legislative session, which set the record today as the longest in state history:
By the numbers — Lawmakers approved $4.22 billion in general fund expenditures for fiscal 2022. That’s an increase of $163 million or 4 percent from the original 2021 budget.
Public schools accounted for nearly half that amount. They’ll get $2.06 billion in general fund support next year, an increase of $74.6 million or 3.8 percent over the current year.
Total K-12 funding, however, will jump $311 million or 13.3 percent, to $2.65 billion, due to an infusion of federal COVID-19 relief funds. That doesn’t include another $454 million in American Rescue Plan funds that schools can spend over the next three years.
Colleges and universities will receive $313 million in general fund support in fiscal ‘22, an increase of $6 million or 2 percent.
The total appropriation for the Department of Health and Welfare’s Division of Medicaid jumped by $680 million or 21.8 percent, to $3.79 billion. That includes a $489 million, 23 percent increase in federal funding. General fund support for Medicaid is up by $45.7 million or 6.3 percent, to $770 million.
Budget matters — House Republicans lashed out at various agencies this year, killing appropriations bills for the Attorney General’s Office, higher education and the Division of Welfare, as well as the K-12 teachers division and an early childhood education grant.
Most of the bills were rewritten with minor revisions. However, the $6 million for early childhood education was a permanent casualty.
Another dozen or so budget bills would have died, had they not had backing from House Democrats. That includes the entire Division of Medicaid budget, the fiscal ‘22 health education programs budget, which funds the state’s medical education and residency programs, and the Idaho Public Television budget.
House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said most voters don’t understand how critical Democrats are to preserving basic government services in Idaho.
“We’ve been instrumental in keeping the state functioning,” Rubel said.
Critical thinking — Education spending received prolonged scrutiny over the course of the session. Appropriation bills for colleges and universities and public school teachers both failed on the House floor, after far-right lawmakers alleged that schools are indoctrinating students in “critical race theory” or social justice ideologies.
Lawmakers eventually sent the four public colleges and universities a “message” by docking them $2.5 million to discourage any use of public funds for social justice activities or programs.
Building Idaho’s Future — Faced with an unprecedented budget surplus in fiscal 2021, Gov. Brad Little recommended using about $330 million in general fund dollars, plus another $35 million in federal coronavirus relief funds, for one-time infrastructure investments.
That included $126 million for transportation projects, $90 million for various building projects — such as permanent dormitories at the National Guard Youth Challenge Academy in Pierce — $50 million for state water projects, nearly $50 million for broadband infrastructure and $20 million for summer reading programs for students in kindergarten through fourth grade who lost ground last year because of challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Lawmakers made some minor tweaks but eventually approved the entire package.
Taxing decisions — One of the last bills approved during the session was a tax-cut proposal that will provide $163 million in ongoing tax relief, plus a one-time tax rebate worth another $220 million.
The legislation, which still has to be signed by the governor, reduces the top corporate and individual income tax rate from 6.925 percent to 6.5 percent. It also reduces the number of individual income tax brackets from seven to five.
Full-time Idaho residents who file a 2020 income tax form will qualify for the tax rebate, which is worth $50 per person or 9 percent of their 2019 tax liability, whichever is greater.
Road trip — Lawmakers also dipped into the general fund for more transportation funding this session.
The amount of sales tax dollars going toward highway projects will increase from 1 percent to 4.5 percent. The Idaho Transportation Department will receive $80 million; anything above that amount will go to cities and counties to pay for local road and bridge projects.
The $80 million is expected to support about $1.6 billion in bonding capacity for state construction projects.
Drug competition — Lawmakers spent weeks discussing and modifying a proposed constitutional amendment that would “protect and preserve” the Idaho way of life by prohibiting the legalization of marijuana and other recreational drugs without the consent of the Legislature.
“Recreational drug use destroys lives and ruins families,” said Sen. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, one of the prime sponsors of the legislation. “It causes addiction, increases health care costs and increases violent crime.”
Rep. Mike Kingsley, R-Lewiston, partnered with House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, and Jeremy Kitzhaber, a retired Air Force officer, to introduce legislation allowing medical marijuana to be prescribed by doctors for people with certain life-threatening or chronic illnesses.
The measure never received a public hearing. However, support for the bill likely contributed to the failure of Grow’s drug amendment, which fell five votes short of the two-thirds needed to advance following a lengthy House floor debate.
Proper tax policy — Demonstrating an extreme version of legislative sausage-making, a multipronged property tax relief proposal was introduced and approved last week, all in the space of three days.
Almost every major component of the package has been discussed and debated multiple times in recent years; however, this was the first time they were all put together in the same bill. Given the late date, there was also virtually no time allowed for public comment.
The legislation, which still has to be signed by the governor, increases the homeowner’s exemption from $100,000 to $125,000, increases the business personal property tax exemption from $100,000 to $250,000, and raises the circuit breaker tax benefit.
However, it also adds a new asset test to the circuit breaker, to prevent people with higher-valued homes from qualifying.
The measure also changes how cities and counties handle new construction values, limits their use of foregone taxes and alters the accounting for property from urban renewal districts.
The people’s voice — Citing a need to protect rural residents from more liberal urban voters, Republicans succeeded in placing further restrictions on Idaho’s citizen initiative process.
Anyone who wants to get an initiative or referendum on the ballot will now have to collect signatures from 6 percent of registered voters in all 35 legislative districts in the state.
Supporters said the measure is needed to ensure that initiatives have broad, statewide support before they qualify for the ballot. Critics suggested this was another backdoor effort to prevent ordinary citizens from participating in the legislative process.
“No elected official who relies on the vote of citizens to obtain their office should ever be in support of legislation that restricts or silences the voice of the very citizens they’re elected to represent,” said Donald Williamson, during testimony before the Senate State Affairs Committee.
Reclaim Idaho, the grassroots organization that sponsored the successful Medicaid expansion initiative, filed suit last week, asking the courts to declare the new law unconstitutional.
Conduct unbecoming — In a sad denouement to an already bruising session, Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger, R-Lewiston, resigned from office April 29, shortly after the House Ethics Committee concluded he engaged in conduct unbecoming a member of the Idaho House.
The issue came to light when a 19-year-old House intern accused von Ehlinger of forcing her to engage in oral sex following a March 9 dinner date.
Boise Police are investigating the allegations, but von Ehlinger has not been charged with any crime. He said the sex was consensual, and denied that his actions violated any written House rules.
Compounding the disgust many lawmakers felt, Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, posted a link on her Facebook page to a Redoubt News article that named the intern.
Giddings, who has since removed the link, defended her decision, telling the Ethics Committee she “wanted both sides of the story to be accurately reported.”
The committee unanimously recommended that von Ehlinger be censured and suspended without pay for the remainder of his term of office. He resigned before the full House could vote on the recommendation.
“We have a responsibility to those who helped elect us, and a responsibility to our districts as a whole,” said Ethics Committee Chairman Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay. “We have a responsibility to the state, to this institution and to all those who came before us … Whether we like it or not, in the public’s eye we are held to a higher standard — and that’s a standard we should embrace. It is an honor to gain the trust of your constituents.”
Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208)791-9168.
