A Violent Start to Day 1 of the Special Session

Power Grab in the House on Day 2

On Day 2, the House took three hours to debate on a resolution that wasn’t even constitutional to bring up because it operated outside of the Governor’s Proclamation for the special session. According to state law, the Governor selects the topics for the special session to ensure that there is a specific purpose so we don’t operate outside of our scope nor waste taxpayer dollars. For this special session, the Governor chose civil liability and elections issues. 
 
Rep. Harris and most of the GOP decided they wanted to pass a resolution to end the state of emergency and usurp the Governor’s ability to allocate federal dollars to Idahoans during the pandemic. By ending the declaration, it would mean that we could no longer access 117 million dollars through FEMA to help Idahoans get back on their feet and all the medical PPE and other supplies would go out the window. There are dozens of emergency declarations that are current in our state and the Governor makes these frequently when we experience fires, floods, and other disasters. That money is available to all states to draw upon when an emergency exists, which helps agriculture and counties to a large extent.  

State of Emergency As I See It

I think that some people are grasping onto misguided rhetoric that the Governor is operating outside his authority, but he is NOT. He is operating according to the Idaho Constitution and Idaho Law; the problem is that many of my conservative colleagues don’t believe in spending the federal dollars and some believe that it is redistribution of wealth, in that we should not be helping folks, who are struggling due to a global health pandemic, out of poverty. Most importantly, it became very evident how many of my GOP colleagues believe that the pandemic is a hoax or the effects of covid-19 are no worse than a common cold. Tell that to the nurses I’m getting emails from or the teachers afraid to return to work or the thousands of people who have lost loved ones to coronavirus. 
 
It became clear to me last week that no matter how safe I tried to be, if others wouldn’t respect my right in physically to distance, I can’t participate safely in public settings. 

Arrests Made on Day 2 and Day 3

On Day 2 of the session, I had resolved myself to return to the committee since there were fewer people in the audience, albeit still unmasked. However, just as I was rejoining the committee, the crowd started yelling and rushing towards the front; the chair made a reasonable request of a participant to move out of the press corps seating and she refused. ISP was called to escort her outside the room.  The crowd erupted in anger and no one would leave which led to the arrest of domestic terrorist, Ammon Bundy, who is best known for taking over a federal wildlife reserve. 
 
After that arrest, we went to a smaller committee room to hear testimony with appropriate physical distancing where most of the public waited outside in other rooms to listen to testimony until they were called into the room.  This is what should have happened in the first place, but the Speaker would not mandate safety guidelines during the Special Session. Finally, we could actually hear the testimony and make decisions on the proposed legislation. 

Day 3 Ends: Do You Know What "Gaslighting" Is?

As I noted on social media, the entire Special Session seemed to be a major Gaslighting Session where a majority of the GOP denied the pandemic was legitimate that Covid 19 was not worse than a common cold.  One very conservative legislator even professed that he didn’t want to vote for the immunity bill because then he would be admitting that coronavirus existed and was even a problem. 
 
I don’t think I have ever felt so unsafe serving my community. 
 
The atmosphere in the Statehouse was more of a barroom brawl than a seat of government where issues are discussed and civilly considered. I have never experienced the amount of violence, yelling, and “demand barking” as I experienced in this special session. 
 
Even so, after a few days off to fish and camp, I feel rejuvenated and ready to continue to represent our district in this state with poise, strength, and pride. 

What Was Accomplished?

The Legislature voted on eight bills and three resolutions focusing on changes in the law that addressed the voting processes in November as well as civic liability surrounding COVID-19. 
 
List of the Bills

• H0001: Election, in-person voting
• H0002, H0003, H0004, H0005: All discuss civic liability. 
• H0006: Coronavirus limited immunity
• HCR001: State of emergency, termination
• HR001: Poll workers 
• S1001a: Elections, absentee ballots 
• S1002: Elections, procedures, vote centers
• SR101: State of Emergency

 Three pieces of the proposed legislation passed through the statehouse and were sent to the governor's office.

H0001 provides voters with the guaranteed opportunity to vote in person regardless of emergency orders.  This doesn’t limit mail-in voting, but many people wanted assurances that we wouldn’t give up voting in person. While I think that an all mail in voting process is working well in many other states, I have been contacted by constituents on both sides and with the recent shenanigans with the U.S. Postal Service, many people wanted to send a statement that we should have options.  
 
H0006, known as the “Immunity Bill” changes liability laws to guard businesses, schools and certain government agencies from lawsuits by citizens who are exposed to COVID-19. While I think some people think they are helping, they are really hamstringing individual citizens who seek redress of their rights. This bill basically says that if a business or school district acts with negligence or “gross negligence” and exposes someone to coronavirus, they are immune from liability and the citizen who has been harmed cannot sue for damages or injury. 
 
The narrative about this bill is that there will be thousands of frivolous lawsuits so we need to allow business and gov’t off the hook if they don’t act reasonably. This is a familiar narrative that Idaho has approached repeatedly, whittling down a plaintiff’s rights to file a suit against someone who may be harming them. We have the most restrictive laws in the country on this issue and the bar has been set very high to file a complaint already. 
 
After researching all cases filed in Idaho, there is NOT ONE suit that is related to an individual suing for damages related to being exposed to coronavirus. In committee, it was stated that 9 out of 10 entities will do what’s right, but why would we allow one bad actor to get off the hook? If someone is truly harmed, what if they have no way to seek recourse of their rights when they are harmed?
 
S1001 will allow for an extended amount of time to process the larger influx of mail-in ballots during the November election. The bill will give county election officials a little extra time to process absentee ballots. 
 
H0001, H0006 and S1001 were sent to the governor’s office where one of three options will occur. The governor has five days to sign a bill into law or veto it.  If he chooses to do neither, the bill will become law automatically. 

In Closing and Thank You

Idaho legislators came to the State House to perform their civic and elected duties last Monday during an unprecedented time in history. The lack of health precautions was greatly disappointing, to the extent I felt I had to politely and quickly excuse myself from the committee on Monday after a group of unmasked protestors forced entry into the gallery. The First Amendment gives every citizen the right to peacefully protest and petition the government. Thank you to those who appropriately exercised those rights during the special session. The Statehouse welcomes the petition of citizens within law abiding practices. The actions of those who pushed past law enforcement, damaged state property, ignored social distancing guidelines, heckled and threatened members of the legislature is disappointing and against the law. 
 
Thanks to the officers who helped to ensure the safety of the participants in the extraordinary session.  And thanks to so many of you who provided words of support and encouragement to me each day.