I am back at my desk in Boise for the 2016 legislative session where I will be reporting weekly on issues that impact the day-to-day lives of Idahoans, with a special emphasis on the residents of District 26.
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The Idaho Legislature adjourned on April 11th at 1:33 a.m. after 13 weeks in the Capitol. While it can be challenging to represent the diverse populations and interests of District 26, many of you expressed support for the most important issues confronting us this year. You wanted us to improve teacher compensation after too many years of low pay that ranked Idaho at the bottom. You asked us to extend Medicaid to cover uninsured workers and save taxpayers millions. You supported protecting access to public lands and upgrading roads and bridges to improve public safety and the movement of goods. While we may not have met all these goals, we did have some notable achievements and I wanted to share a recap of the 2015 legislative session from my vantage point.
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Happy Easter! The Senate will not be in session Friday and won't reconvene until Monday afternoon to allow for travel home over the weekend. It remains to be seen how next week will unfold, especially with the break in floor time, but there appears to be a commitment to address transportation funding, at least to some degree, before we adjourn for the year. That goal was complicated by actions taken this week in the Senate.
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The career ladder teacher funding legislation has passed both chambers by a wide margin (96 aye votes out of 105) and heads to the Governor for his preordained signature. Starting teacher salaries will rise from $31,750 to $32,700 in year one and to $44,375 by year five. The Idaho Education Association has an online salary allocation calculator for determining how the career ladder will impact individual teachers based on years of experience and levels of education.
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It's the first day of Spring so it seems fitting that education legislation, namely the career ladder for funding teacher salaries, has come out of hibernation. 20 years of deep cuts to education funding devalued Idaho's teaching professionals and the critical role education plays in our economy. But today I'm happy to report that an arduous but highly collaborative negotiation process has led to a unanimous vote by the House Education Committee to send H296 to that chamber's floor with a "do pass" recommendation
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It is possible that the session will not end on March 27th as was planned by Majority Leadership. This is primarily the result of the sluggish and uneven pace of legislation addressing education funding. Additionally, a new transportation fight has arisen in Week 9 with dueling measures to address the $262 million annual deficit in transportation maintenance first brought to the attention of the legislature in 2010.
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This marks the end of our eighth week and it's possible we will leave town after just 15 more days of legislative work. The Majority Leaders addressed the press this week and they are sticking to their goal of adjourning on March 27th. There is every reason to believe we would do so without meeting our duties. Failing to adopt the Health Idaho Plan could cost the state and her counties $653 million over the next decade. Failing to address transportation infrastructure means we sink deeper into a maintenance deficit. But failing to adequately fund education means we lose another year of meeting the needs of Idaho's students and teachers. I'm willing to stay as long as it takes to do what we were sent here to do; craft public policy that benefits the citizens of Idaho.
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Legislative News
WEEK SEVEN, February 23-27, 2015
What a long, strange week it's been! The pace of legislation is picking up dramatically with the introduction of bills ranging from religious shield laws in the guise of parental rights to abortion legislation that got Idaho national attention. A resolution to officially declare Idaho a Christian state was defeated and a scandalous email from a lobbyist angry over funding tax cuts vs. teacher salaries was leaked. Maybe we need to expand the scope of the anti-bullying bill introduced by Representative Ilana Rubel to cover more than school-age children.
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Legislative News
WEEK SIX, February 16-20, 2015
The big story of the week came yesterday when Idaho Education News reported that CenturyLink will not pull the plug on the Idaho Education Network (IEN) this Sunday as threatened. However, in an email sent to school districts, a manager with broadband contractor Education Networks of America (ENA) still indicated the possibility of cutting services to any district that hasn't signed a short-term contract with ENA by next Friday. I sent an email this week to all superintendents within District 26 outlining the process for directly applying for Federal e-rate funds before the March 26th deadline.
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Legislative News
WEEK FIVE, February 9-13, 2015
In the previous newsletter, I indicated that the Price Lock proposal from F&G had died in a House committee. I'm happy to report that F&G is working to re-craft the bill based on feedback from the committee and they remain optimistic that citizens will still have an opportunity to weigh in on this measure during the 2015 session.
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Legislative News
WEEK FOUR, February 2-6, 2015
There was an emphasis on resource-related issues this week in the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee, with the budget writers hearing presentations from the various agencies with oversight of everything from agriculture to water. In addition, the Resources & Environment Committee, one of the two committees on which I sit, also addressed some controversial rules that may dramatically impact private property rights.
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Legislative News
WEEK THREE, January 26-30, 2015
The pace of legislation is still gaining steam in these early days and most of our committee time is devoted to vetting gubernatorial appointments and reviewing agency rules implementing legislation passed in 2014. Beyond these housekeeping duties, there was still tremendous activity in the Capitol this week, much of it dramatic, some of it historic.
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Legislative News, WEEK TWO, January 19-23, 2015
On Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, one of Dr. King's speeches reminds us of the greatness of the man we celebrated. "I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you can murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that."
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Legislative News, WEEK ONE, January 12-16, 2015
Greetings from the 1st Regular Session of the 63rd Idaho Legislature. I'm honored to be back in the Capitol representing District 26 and all the residents of Blaine, Camas, Gooding and Lincoln Counties.
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Legislative News, End of Session, 2014
Thursday marked the end of the 2014 legislative session, the shortest in a decade. When you gave me the honor of serving you in the Idaho Senate, I promised to work hard, to lead with integrity, and to always be guided by the needs of Idaho's children, families and businesses. I am also honored to represent the fine Democratic senators as their Minority Leader and I'm proud of the accomplishments our team made this year despite the issues Idahoans value most - education, economic opportunity and access to quality healthcare - being buried under election-year posturing.
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Legislative News, WEEK TEN, March 10-14, 2014
At the close of Week Ten, it is difficult to cover every topic that warrants discussion so I will focus on actions that impact the most citizens or specifically those living in District 26. Reporter Betsy Russell does an amazing job of covering the legislature and I recommend her blog.
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Legislative News, WEEK NINE, March 3-7, 2014
Week Nine of the legislative session provides an excellent opportunity to review the status of education-related legislation.
At the start of the session, Governor Otter declared "my highest priority remains public schools." He called for a 2.9% overall funding increase with zero invested toward increased pay for teachers.
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Legislative News, WEEK EIGHT, February 24-28, 2014
The pace is break-neck in Week Eight. Perhaps in an effort to meet the majority leadership's goal of conducting a short session, bills are coming before us at a speed that makes thoughtful consideration challenging.
Among the many measures are a slew of water-related bills which often arise at this point in the session and several of which directly impact residents in District 26. I can only detail a couple but would point you to House bills 390, 392, 410, 412 and 479 for further review.
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Legislative News, WEEK SEVEN, February 17-21, 2014
This Week Seven newsletter starts with another Olympic-sized congratulations to one of our own. U.S. Women's Hockey team star forward, and Sun Valley resident, Hilary Knight won her second silver medal yesterday. I highlighted gold medalist Kaitlyn Farrington last week but need to correct her mother's name which is Suz Locke. These Olympians represent Idaho beautifully and it's important to recognize the sacrifices made by these athletes and their families in order to achieve world-class success. As such, I've requested proclamations from the governor's office and resolutions from the legislature acknowledging their accomplishments.
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Legislative News, WEEK SIX, February 10-14, 2014
Congratulations to Kaitlyn Farrington for winning the gold medal in the halfpipe at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi this week! Here is a wonderful profile of Kaitlyn and her parents Gary and Suz Farrington of Bellevue. You have made Idaho so proud.
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