IDGOP District 14 Newsletter - April 2023
The latest updates from District 14 Republicans
We invite you to join us at our next regular meeting on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at the VFW Hall in Emmett. For more information email Chairman Steven Thayn at stvnthn4@gmail.com.
Contents
Thoughts on the Session by Secretary Brian Almon
The difficulty legislators face in reducing the size of government by Chairman Steven Thayn
The Founding Fathers and Natural Law by Chairman Steven Thayn
District 14 2023 session report
The 2023 Idaho legislative session just ended. Senator Scott Grow, Representative Ted Hill, and Representative Josh Tanner played a significant role in the successes of this session. The residents of Eagle and Gem County should feel fortunate to be represented by such competent legislators. This is especially true of our two representatives who just completed their freshman session.
Senator Grow was the main mover behind one of the most significant and difficult bills dealing with property tax relief. To get a major property tax relief bill through the legislature is a testament to his tenacity and ability to bring people together. (He also serves as the co-chairman of the powerful Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee)
PROPERTY TAX
Since he first became a legislator, Senator Grow has been concerned about the oppressive property tax burden on homeowners. Over the past year, he developed a property tax proposal that provides up to $1 billion dollars of tax relief in the first three years without increasing any taxes.
Senator Grow’s proposal, H292, passed both houses, but was then vetoed by the governor. Senator Grow strongly encouraged the Republican Senators to override the veto, which they all did. Fortunately, both houses overrode the veto and the bill became law.
Approximately three-fourths of the $1 billion in tax relief will reduce homeowners’ tax bills. Beginning in December of this year, it will show up as a one-line subtraction on the homeowner’s individual tax notice. This relief is in addition to the existing deduction provided by the homeowner’s exemption and the circuit breaker.
ANTI-ESG
Senator Grow sponsored a bill that assures that banks and credit unions designated as depositories of public monies do not boycott industries based on their ESG score. ESG is an attempt to discourage businesses from investing in certain industries deemed unacceptable based on their Environmental conscience, Social responsibility, and diversity in the makeup of their Governing boards. Some of these disqualified industries are key to Idaho’s economy. Signed into law, this bill allows the State Treasurer to choose custodians for state funds based on financial criteria alone.
Representative Hill serves on the Education, Transportation, and Resources and Conservation Committees.
LIST OF BILLS SPONSORED AND CO-SPONSORED BY REP. HILL
S1100a Bathroom Bill, Sponsor, LAW
Ensures bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers are separated for biological girls and biological boys, with reasonable accommodations for everyone else. Everyone’s rights are recognized, including children and parents. School boards have direction and can now focus on education.
H163 Parent’s Rights in Schools, co-sponsor, Floor sponsor, LAW
Parents now have full transparency on what is happening in their children’s education. No secrets or hidden agendas. Parents get full advocacy for their children’s education.
H295a, shutdown credit card surveillance. Lead, LAW
Prohibit credit card companies from assigning unique credit card codes to firearms retailers that sell weapons and ammunition in Idaho. The tracking of these codes will allow unprecedented surveillance of 2nd Amendment activity by sharing with the government.
H274 TikTok Ban for Idaho Public Entities, Lead, LAW
Legislation prevents the presence of the TikTok application on any state government-issued device. The objective is to prevent the collection of private data of Idaho citizens to be shared with the Chinese Communist Party.
H294 China Contracts Prohibited in Public Entities, Lead, LAW
This legislation will prohibit an Idaho public entity from entering into certain contracts with companies owned or operated by the People’s Republic of China, led by the Chinese Communist Party.
H173a Foreign Ownership of Idaho Lands. Sponsor, LAW
The legislation prohibits a foreign government from purchasing, or holding a controlling interest in agricultural land, water rights, mining claims, or mineral rights in the state of Idaho. Particular focus on the activities of the CCP.
S1039a Property and Reasonable Fees, Sponsor, LAW
Legislation requires rental fees to be enumerated in a lease agreement or other written agreement, and that fees be reasonable.
H292 Property Tax Relief-Co-sponsor, LAW
The legislation provides immediate and long-term property tax relief to all property taxpayers in Idaho. The first year of the bill will provide up to $355 million dollars in property tax relief.
H341a Crimes, trafficking & prostitution. Co-sponsor, LAW
Closes the legal gap that will give law enforcement and prosecutors the necessary changes to the existing Idaho Code in order to prosecute human sex trafficking in Idaho.
H314 Children's School and Library Protection Act, Co-sponsor, GOV VETO
Requires public schools and community libraries to take reasonable steps in restricting children's access to obscene or harmful material.
Representative Tanner is a new member of the legislature who serves with Senator Grow on the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee. Rep. Tanner is working hard to get to the bottom of the Department of Health and Welfare budget. Much of Rep. Tanner’s work is behind the scenes and the payoff will come in future sessions.
I had a discussion with Rep. Tanner. He informed me that the JFAC only reviews new spending budget items. The old spending or base spending is not reviewed annually by the JFAC committee. Rep. Tanner plans to review the ‘base’ H&W budget. This is a huge undertaking. This is an extremely important task because the H&W budget is $4.7 billion. Much bigger than public school spending which is only $2.3 billion. The H&W budget includes federal money as well as state funds.
Rep. Tanner was able to cut $151 million from the Medicaid budget dealing with Covid expansion.
Reduced and changed the focus of the Needle and Narcan needle exchange program to only first responders. Also, he was able to reduce the budget from $23 million to $15 million. He is working on restricting TANF funding.
He also worked to get property tax relief to 100% disabled veterans by not requiring them to apply every year (H258) which was enacted into law.
Rep. Tanner desires to see the focus of H&W move from keeping people dependent upon government handouts to helping them become independent. Rep. Tanner has the tenacity to get it done if we can get behind him and give him the help he needs.
Some other bills of interest
Click here to see a list of every bill that was signed into law this year.
H258 Veterans, perm disabled, tax relief
This legislation would enable Veterans with a 100% service-connected permanent and total disability rating to make a one-time application for the special property tax or occupancy tax reduction under Title 63 Chapter 7 in Idaho Code and would be able to continuously receive this benefit in subsequent years.
S1029 Child protection, immunizations
Amends and adds to existing law to prohibit a child protection investigation based on a child’s immunization status and to provide that a court shall not grant an order terminating a parent and child relationship based on a child’s immunization status.
This bill amends the Idaho Energy Resources Authority (IERA) Act by removing definitions of “renewable energy” and “renewable energy generation projects,” replacing those terms with definitions of “clean energy” and “clean energy generation projects.” The new definition of clean energy carries over the old renewable energy definition that included water/hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and biogas, while adding nuclear, hydrogen, energy/battery storage, and other non-carbon emitting resources. Broadening these definitions signals Idaho’s support behind research and development of emerging energy technologies, including advanced nuclear energy, small modular reactors, hydrogen turbine generators, and energy storage systems.
H124 Voting, identification, students
This legislation removes student ID cards from section 34-1113 as an acceptable form of personal identification to vote at the polls. There is a lack of uniformity in the sophistication of student ID cards. Statewide, only 104 voters who voted at the 2022 General Election used a student ID card to vote, which was the second least utilized form of personal identification. Alternative forms of personal identification are available and accepted at the polls
This legislation requires licensed daycare facilities to notify parents or guardians of their right to vaccine exemptions anytime the licensed daycare facilities communicate with parents regarding vaccination requirements. Vaccine exemptions for children attending licensed daycare facilities exist in Idaho code 39-1118. With the addition of this legislation, any notifications to parents or guardians regarding vaccinations must include a description of their right to exempt their child.
The legislation expands the ability of Idaho citizens in rural and underserved areas to access health care from providers who are not physically present in a patient's geographical area. The legislation updates the Idaho Telehealth Access Care Act in Title 54, Chapter 57, Idaho Code by changing the term "telehealth" to "virtual care," and clarifies virtual care practice requirements. This legislation also provides a permanent solution to lessons learned through COVID-19 related to technology limitations and best practice interstate licensure exemptions for qualified provider’s licensed and in good standing in another state to provide continuity of patient care.
H228 Sex education, definitions
This legislation provides an official definition for abstinence. This definition aligns with the federal government’s definition which has been officially used since before 1981. It also aligns with our own statute found in 33-1608 which deals with family life and sex education. This bill was opposed by nearly every Democrat.
S1148 State judiciary, judicial council
This legislation addresses the filling of judicial vacancies and changes the term of appointment of judicial council membership from six (6) years to four (4) years. In addition, it does the following:
It changes the way the members of the Judicial Council are chosen. Currently the Idaho State Bar appoints three lawyers to the Council, with no review from the Governor’s office, comprising half of the Council’s membership. This legislation changes that process so the Bar recommends a slate for two positions, from which the Governor will appoint those two members to the Council, with consent of the Senate. The Governor retains authority to appoint the other half of the Council who are non-lawyers, with consent of the senate.
It changes the membership from seven (7) members to nine (9) members to add an additional public member and a magistrate judge as a permanent member of the Council and allows both the magistrate and district judge positions to be appointed by the Governor from a slate nominated by the Supreme Court, and still confirmed by the senate. Currently, the Idaho State Bar also nominates the district judge position.
This legislation also allows the Governor ask the Judicial Council to augment a slate of nominees provided by the Judicial Council to fill a judicial vacancy.
It makes public information concerning the applicants to fill a judicial vacancy who are on a slate of applicants provided to the Governor for appointment.
It allows applicants to see survey comments which are solicited from Idaho State Bar members and the public, which previously were withheld from applicants, but provides that comments are not public. Providing comments to applicants can increase accountability for comments submitted in support or opposition of applicants.
It removes the ballot information that gives incumbency an advantage in contested elections.
This legislation, opposed by every Democrat, closes three loopholes in Idaho’s food stamp program and returns greater accountability and oversight to the Idaho legislature. This bill limits the Department of Health and Welfare's ability to waive work requirements for the SNAP program by implementing the following provisions:
It would not allow the department to use geographic waivers without the legislature's express approval
It prohibits the use of no-good-cause exemptions
It implements mandatory employment and training for all able-bodied enrollees in food stamps.
H269 School courses, career exploration
This legislation defines a career exploration experience for 7th or 8th grade students to assist them in identifying potential interests and resulting career paths. Students are only required to take the course one time prior to their 9th grade year. It complements and strengthens existing individual career pathway requirements.
S1030 Immigration, law enforcement
This legislation adds a new chapter to Title 19, Idaho Code, to provide for the enforcement of federal immigration law, and provides procedures for the Idaho Attorney General to seek equitable relief from a government entity found in violation of Title 19, Idaho Code.
H374 Criminal abortions, exceptions
This legislation amends Idaho Code, Section 18-622 to clarify our existing definition of abortion and it eliminates the trigger provision and affirmative defense. The legislation also provides additional clarifying language regarding the reporting standard on rape and incest.
H242 Abortion, pregnant minors
This legislation adds a section in the chapter of the Idaho Code relating to abortion. The legislation adds definitions related to the illegal trafficking of minors to procure a criminal abortion and amends the section of Idaho code dealing with criminal abortion by prohibiting anyone from trafficking a minor for a criminal abortion with the intent of concealing the crime from the minor’s parents. This legislation authorizes the state Attorney General to prosecute at their discretion for a crime committed under the section governing criminal abortions. The legislation provides for civil remedies.
Thoughts on the Session
By Brian Almon, Secretary, District 14 Republicans
As the 2023 Legislative Session loomed on the horizon, I hoped to be able to make the time to follow it more closely than I had in past years. It was serendipitous, providential even, that I was offered the position of Communications Director with the Idaho Freedom Foundation. I spent every day of the session in an office across the street from the Capitol, closely following legislation from introductions to floor votes. I learned a lot about how the sausage is made.
This year, the Legislature and its various committees considered more than six hundred bills, resolutions, and memorials. Issues ranged from property tax relief to protecting children from harmful drugs and surgeries to a $14 billion state budget to choosing a state dinosaur. I was sometimes disappointed and sometimes pleasantly surprised.
The budget might have been the most eye-opening thing I learned this year. The state of Idaho will spend more than $14 billion this year, and that spending was divided up into dozens, even hundreds of separate appropriations bills that were passed by JFAC and then passed by the House and Senate. Appropriations were divided between state revenues (that is, taxes) and federal grants (also taxes!) Every agency believes that it has the most important claim on your money, and so every single budget bill had passionate defenders who debated its merits on the House and Senate floors.
Appropriating money might be the most consequential thing the Legislature does each year. Even small budgets can lead to large social changes, such as the hundreds of thousands of dollars we were spending to promote radical sex education curricula that twisted the definition of “abstinence” in a way that would make Orwell blush. (JFAC stripped that funding this year, thank goodness.)
I urge anyone interested in politics (and you obviously are, since you’re reading this newsletter!) to become familiar with the Legislature website. You can quickly see what bills are being considered, their statuses, when they will be presented in committee and how to sign up to testify, as well as video archives of every committee and every floor session of every year. We have an incredibly transparent elected government, if only we are willing to take advantage of it!
Click here to read Brian’s personal Substack newsletter.
The difficulty legislators face in reducing the size of government
By Steven Thayn, Chairman, District 14 Republicans
Why does government continue to grow even though most legislators believe in limited government? The answer is fairly simple. The current structure of some of the biggest budgets such as Health and Welfare and public education are based upon socialistic or non-natural law principles. Despite the energy and desire of our good legislators, nothing will change until the underlying structure of these two programs change. These two budget item historically have taken up 85 percent of the state general fund.
Health and Welfare creates dependency. It is designed to help people alleviate the symptoms of poverty and sickness; but not to help individuals become independent and healthy. The programs “give a man a fish, but do not teach him how to fish.” Until limited government Republicans take the lead and start creating alternatives to the big-government hand-out programs, nothing will really change. These changes will have to be small in the initial phases. More on this issue in another newsletter.
Public education also suffers from false assumptions. The current system is based on the belief that the state is responsible to see students educated and that parents are not needed. This is contrary to natural law. It is the parents’ responsibility to see students get educated. The public school system must be a servant and not the master. As parents do more, costs will drop and outcomes will improve. As parents do less, costs go up and outcomes fall.
The way to get parents involved is to have school choice. Next newsletter, I will discuss the landscape of school choice in Idaho. Also, some choice options that can impact all willing families that cost taxpayers little to nothing with great returns.
The one glaring failure of the legislature this session was the lack of a clear school choice bill.
The Founding Fathers and Natural Law
By Steven Thayn, Chairman, District 14 Republicans
The mode of transportation (horse or walking), communication (unreliable, slow mail), medicine, and energy (burning of wood) at the time the founding of this nation were virtually identical to what they had been 3,000 years earlier. Famine was common and the people suffered under constant oppression.
What caused such a rapid technological improvement in the last 230 years? We must ask this question and discuss it if we want to maintain the freedoms that we have.
The answer is fairly simple. There exists a body of unseen natural law (outside the control of man) that govern the universe. Some notable examples are gravity and electromagnetism. These natural laws make it possible for science to exist. They are stable and unchanging. They are binding on all of us. We cannot escape the consequences of our choices.
The effects of natural law can be understood through the observable, measurable, and repeatable effects they have in the world. Natural Law constitutes a science of morality that does not depend upon religion, faith, or belief system. (Natural Law is not in opposition to religion, it simply exists outside of religion.)
Our Founding Fathers were all natural law philosophers. They created a system of government that more closely aligned with natural law than any other government in secular history. The more closely an individual or nation aligns with natural law, the more that person or individual will enjoy prosperity, stability, and universal liberty.
Our national problems can be explained in terms of straying from the observable, measurable, and repeatable consequences of natural law. Rather than strive to live by natural law, we, as a nation, are trying to create our own rules and restructure the rules of the universe. This will not work.
Just a couple of short examples…
Prosperity is a function of work – not redistribution of the wealth. (The Founders tried to outlaw leveling)
Individuals should be able to keep the fruits of their labors to encourage production and not be subject to slavery or high taxation to fund redistribution of the wealth programs
Prosperity is also a function of having children in wedlock – the largest cause of childhood poverty is sex outside of marriage.
Freedom is a function of aligning with natural law – freedom is not doing what one wants.
Children do better in school when parents oversee the education of their children. (Just because a parent homeschools does not mean the parent if overseeing their education, but it is the parents’ choice.)
Finally, it is the belief that these eternal, natural, unchanging laws exist that should unite us. We don’t have to be united in our understanding of natural law. We can have vigorous discussions on the data, history, and observable consequences of a policy. But, we must have as a starting point that there are eternal laws that we don’t fully understand (humility) and are willing to submit to them (ego) once they are discovered.
If you want property tax relief for the homeowner...its really easy.... double or triple the homeowners exemption....
Thanks to all District 14 legislators and supporters for your work this session.