The Idaho Senate completed most of its work Thursday and gave itself a long weekend, while House lawmakers popped out two more party-line votes before calling it a day.

The House plans to move a few bills around on its floor calendar this morning and then head home. Both chambers will be back at it Monday, as the third-longest legislative session in state history continues to wind a slow path toward adjournment.

Some details on the day:

The joint budget committee met for the first time in a week and approved three new bills appropriating a combined $81 million in American Rescue Plan pandemic relief funds.

The one-time money will go toward enhanced pay or bonuses for frontline home health workers, as well as for a new program helping low-income families pay their water or sewer bills.

The committee also approved a fourth bill providing $6.52 million in federal funding for construction and repair projects at the Orchard Combat Training Center in Boise.

And it approved a third version of the $183,100 lieutenant governor’s 2022 budget.

The committee previously approved two budgets that trimmed a small amount of funding out of Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s ’22 budget, as well as cutting all or part of a full-time position that had been vacant for a time.

However, McGeachin’s House and Senate allies, including Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, balked at the cuts. They succeeded in returning the bill to the budget committee twice.

The third version is likely to be a charm, as it corresponds with McGeachin’s budget request and the governor’s recommendation. It includes a $1,000, 0.5 percent general fund increase compared to the current fiscal year, and restores the full-time position.

The committee was scheduled to consider new 2022 budgets for higher education and the public schools teachers division, after earlier versions failed in the House because of concerns about “critical race theory” and social justice teachings. However, those items were postponed and will likely be taken up Monday.

House Bill 380, which is a slightly modified version of a $390 million tax cut and rebate proposal that previously passed the House on a 58-12 party-line vote, passed the House again, this time on a 57-12 party-line vote.

House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said it was deja vu all over again.

“We’re still in a position where we have the lowest-funded public schools in America, and we’re still looking at a bill that, rather than fund those schools, gives hundreds of millions of dollars to the wealthiest people in the state,” Rubel said. “It gives more than $9,000 to people in the top 1 percent (of income levels) and gives about $75 to people in the lowest 20 percent. ... Almost anything we look at would be better than this, in terms of getting money to the people who need it.”

Rep. Randy Armstrong, R-Inkom, said people who deposit $1,000 in a bank can’t expect to withdraw more money than they put in. And he looked at tax cuts in that same vein.

“It’s just common-sense logic,” he said. “The people who put the most money in the bank get the most out. I don’t understand why that doesn’t make sense.”

Rubel said likening Idaho’s tax system to a bank account is a “completely inapt comparison.”

“People who pay more in income tax aren’t entitled to a better public school system,” she said. “They aren’t supposed to get better roads. We contribute taxes to have a functioning society, and everyone contributes on a proportional level. You put in more because you can afford to put in more.”

HB 380 provides $169 million in permanent, ongoing tax relief by reducing Idaho’s corporate and individual income tax rates and reducing the number of individual income tax brackets from seven to five.

In addition, it provides a one-time, $220 million tax rebate worth $50 per person or 9 percent of a taxpayer’s 2019 tax liability, whichever is greater.

The measure now goes to the Senate for further action. This is one of the main “going home” bills Republicans want to pass before they adjourn for the year.

The House spent most of the day dealing with House Bill 377, which supporters say is intended to promote “dignity and nondiscrimination” in Idaho’s K-12 and higher education system.

“This bill is Idaho’s statement that we will not tolerate discrimination, and we are reserving education policy to the state,” said Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, who co-sponsored the legislation with Sen. Carl Crabtree, R-Grangeville, and Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot.

The legislation was needed to gain Republican support for the public schools and higher education budgets, which previously failed because of the concerns about indoctrination and social justice ideology.

Among other provisions, it prohibits educators from requiring students to accept or adhere to certain concepts, such as the idea that someone is inherently responsible for the past actions of other individuals with whom he or she shares the same sex, race, religion, color or national origin.

The legislation also prohibits the use of any public funds to teach such concepts.

Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, said social justice and “critical race theory” teachings have been “creeping through our schools forever.”

For example, she mentioned a sign on a Meridian School District bathroom wall that said, “Every teacher can work on being more culturally responsible.”

She also cited a substitute teacher who worried that an English class she taught “was riddled with writings from a Third World experience, by authors completely unheard of — but from a nonwhite race.”

“So any nonwhite author is being given priority in the historical readings of our children,” Scott said. “Classical Christian authors, because of their race, are basically being pushed aside for other books. ... This indoctrination is like a poison in our schools, (and) this bill is an opportunity to address it. The more we wait, the longer our kids will be indoctrinated with this garbage.”

During a House Education Committee public hearing on the bill, Idaho Education Association President Lane McInelly blasted lawmakers for even considering legislation of this kind.

“The allegations of indoctrination by Idaho educators are baseless and downright insulting,” McInelly said. “While some members of this body jockey to diminish public trust in public education, the teachers who moved mountains during the pandemic are still waiting for the compensation they were promised last year.”

The Professional Standards Commission’s Code of Ethics already requires certified teachers to respect the dignity and worth of students, he said. So HB 377 isn’t even necessary.

“While some of you refer to or believe our public schools are government-run indoctrination camps, I still believe they are the great equalizer and the place where students, regardless of ZIP code, should be afforded a shot at a life of promise.”

Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise, noted that the legislation fails to define “critical race theory” or phrases such as “contrary to the unity of the nation.”

“When you don’t have definitions, but just the endless series of anecdotes, hearsay, conjecture, innuendo, emails and robocalls that we’ve heard, then what this bill ends up doing, in practical terms, is intimidation,” he said. “It’s not necessarily intended, but for sure there are people who will use this bill to intimidate teachers, schools administrators and school boards, to make sure they not do anything that might be considered controversial.”

Rep. Gary Marshall, R-Idaho Falls, disagreed.

Having spent his life teaching government and history at every level, from eighth grade to college, Marshall said, “I wouldn’t be afraid of teaching anything under this bill.”

“This bill doesn’t prohibit teaching anything,” Marshall said. “It prohibits compelling students to accept certain ideas, and I’d never do that anyway.”

Rep. Ryan Kerby, R-New Plymouth, a former school administrator, also encouraged passage of the bill, saying it would let parents and students know the position of the Legislature.

“We’d like inquiry, conversations, honest and balanced discussions of a subject,” he said. “But we don’t want students to be compelled to (accept a belief) or be shamed in any way about the way God made them.”

The measure passed on a 57-12 party-line vote and moves to the Senate for further action.

Spence covers politics for the Tribune. He may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208)-791-9168.