With the adjournment of the second regular session of the 60th Idaho State Legislature fast upon us, it is a great time to reflect on some of the accomplishments of this year’s session. Like I am sure you have been doing, we as Legislators watched the continued decline of the state’s economy and the drastic actions taken by Congress. Idaho has a constitutional mandate to balance the budget unlike the federal government. I was committed to reducing state spending rather than raising taxes. Due to the extensive cuts we will have a balanced budget without increasing taxes. As a member of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee, I worked on many agency and department budgets. I carried 17 of the 105 total appropriations bills on the senate floor. Each had a reduction in funding. This has been a very difficult session but I believe that your legislature has made solid decisions to keep Idaho’s economy sound.
State revenues have continued their unprecedented decline over the past year which had a major effect on the General Fund and the decisions we were forced to make. Not only is there no growth in state government, but we have cut almost $700 million dollars from the budget. Every one of the cuts has a real face attached to it and that has not been easy, but necessary. The original FY 2009 appropriation was set at $2.959 billion and the legislature set the FY 2011 target number at $2.29 billion. It was imperative that we set a much more conservative number for the FY 2011 budget than was originally proposed.
The 2010 session was a great opportunity for us as legislators to closely look at the proper role of government and I feel that we have made decisions this year that will best position Idaho in the years to come. It would be wrong to consider raising taxes before we made every effort to trim or cut the fat in our state government. We have preserved the essential functions of state government without increasing the burdens of taxation on our citizens and businesses. This should be a model for many other states and definitely our federal government.
As an Idaho State Senator I realize and understand how important it is that the state provides our students and educators with the necessary tools and funding to help them educate our children. Education funding will now receive a little over 50 percent of our state general fund. The public education budget was one of the most difficult for me this year. Even though the public education budget was forced to take a significant budget reduction for the first time ever (approximately 7.5%), the Legislature did everything it could to provide the local school districts with the flexibility that they need to set and control their budgets. It is important that we as a state continue to do everything that we can to provide flexibility and maximize all education spending. We expect the continued progress of our students even with the unfortunate and hopefully short-lived budget reductions.
As for personal legislation, I continued to work on the chemo therapy parity issue and reached a resolution with the major health insurers in the state. Some health insurers put oral Chemo meds on your prescription benefit instead of under major medical like intravenous Chemo meds, causing high out of pocket costs to the patient. A pre-authorization on all oral chemo medicines over $500 will help alert the insurers to patients who are receiving chemo therapy and allow the insurers to work with the doctors to assure the best medicine is used and where possible the insurance company will kick it over into the major medical category. It isn’t a perfect solution, but will help. I will continue to monitor the issue and if needed bring legislation in future years.
Another bill I worked hard on was S 1341. I drafted it in response to the terrible child abuse and neglect case in St. Maries last year. It would have increased the maximum penalty for Felony Injury to a Child from 10 years to 20 years, but only in aggravated circumstance cases; those with great bodily injury, permanent disability or disfigurement. The bill passed the Senate unanimously but when it got to the House they amended it removing the “great bodily injury” portion and reduced the maximum to 15 years. I could have lived with the 15 years, but removal of “great bodily injury” made the bill inconsistent with other Idaho criminal codes and placed voluminous amounts of case law at risk. I couldn’t allow criminals to contest their sentence because of a misguided change the House made so the Senate refused to concur with the amendments effectively killing the bill. I will try again next year. Another bill I drafted S1312 passed both houses. It will put felony injury to a child on the list of crimes in Idaho Code that if the parent is convicted the department need not automatically seek reunification between the parent and the child. Other crimes on that list include: abandonment, torture, chronic abuse, sexual abuse, voluntary manslaughter of another child, and battery.
In the last days of the session, it came to my attention that DEQ was considering concurring with the EPA amending the Bunker Hill Superfund record of decision. This could take a $340 million program for a set 30 years to a $1.3 – $3 billion dollar program with no time limit. The state is on the hook for 10% of the costs so it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars to our taxpayers. In response, I wrote a concurrent resolution to prevent DEQ from entering into any agreement that would commit the state of Idaho to funding over and above historic appropriation levels.
I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve as your state senator. It is truly an honor and a privilege that I do not take for granted. In serving you, I rely on and value your direct input. Our republic is best served when its citizens make their opinions known to their elected officials. Please feel free to contact me on any issue and anytime. My home number is 208-263-7735.
Sincerely yours,
