Senator Melissa Wintrow
I wish I had better news to report; after an 18 day recess, the House advanced S1110 that makes it nearly impossible for citizens to hold gov't accountable through ballot initiatives and the Senate's first bill out of the gate was an abortion bill that made it impossible for rape and incest victims to get an abortion INSTEAD of addressing the real needs of Idahoans: property tax relief, housing affordability and burdens for renters, infrastructure, education...still no movement on Full Day Kindergarten.
My committees in the Senate:
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LET'S START WITH SOME GOOD NEWS
 Spousal Rape Repealed -- Long Overdue!
The House voted unanimously to pass my bill (S1089) to repeal an Idaho law that prevented an individual from being convicted of rape under circumstances that were otherwise criminal if you weren't married.
Marital rape laws are tied to British common law that viewed marriage as a contract that allowed the husband a “right to sex”—the wife having given consent for all time by entering the contract. This attitude persisted for centuries even as women protested and advocated for their rights. States throughout the country starting to address these laws in the 1970s, in response to the women’s and civil rights movements that emphasized women are not property and do not lose their rights just because we do marry. They also started to recognize same sex marriages and that men can be raped.
Interestingly enough, Idaho started to put laws on the book in 1977 when others were removing them. There were additions made in 1989, 2010 and 2016 each time making a little progress to what "counts as rape or not" if parties are married. We have repealed the last exceptions where 18-6107 prevents an individual from being convicted of rape with the person's spouse and include if the victim is mentally ill, has a mental or developmental disability, if the person is asleep or unconscious. Let that sink in. We were actually condoning rape of a spouse when sleeping or unconscious or having a mental or developmental disability. And we have tried to repeal/deal with this law in the past, but sexist and outdated attitudes in the legislature got in they way. Luckily, we finally got this through!
According to the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, "Researchers estimate that between 10 and 14% of married women experience rape in marriage...and that rape by intimates is common. In their study of Canadian women, Randall and Haskell (1995) found that 30% of women who were sexually assaulted as adults were assaulted by their intimate partners."
If you or someone you know needs help, there are resources available to help. And if you can't find answers, contact me (mwintrow@senate.idaho.gov) and I will help connect you.
Foster Care Supports Extended
H336 does a lot to help foster youth, but most importantly extends care for youth aging out of the foster care system.
Currently, when kids turn 18, they are practically given a backpack of supplies and a few resources and sent on their way. Ivy Smith testified to her experience when she graduated high school at age 17 and then had to fight to get housing at Boise State University due to all the barriers, red tape and lack of resources that got in her way. She learned a lot, fought for her rights and her life and she graduated from Boise State. Some of you may recognize Ivy as she interned with me a few years ago! She came to committee to testify and helped get this important bill across the finish line.
Last year there were 83 youth who aged out. This bill will extend the services they can receive up to 21 years of age so they have a better and more supportive chance to succeed.
Sex Ed Bill and Public Art Approval Bill are Done!
The Senate Education committee killed Rep Ehardt's bill to require parents to "opt in" to allow their students to participate in courses which include content on human sexuality. Current law requires them to opt out.
And in the House, they sent back to the Revenue & Tax Committee a weird bill which would require municipalities to get a 60% approval from voters for any public art expenditure exceeding $25,000. So much for limited government. The bill is dead for this session.
H126 Hemp -- This bill would amend Idaho’s list of controlled substances to allow hemp production. This bill passed the House and the Senate.
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NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS ...
After an 18 day recess, the House advanced S1110 that makes it nearly impossible for citizens to hold gov't accountable through ballot initiatives and the Senate's first bill out of the gate was an abortion bill that made it impossible for rape and incest victims to get an abortion INSTEAD of addressing the real needs of Idahoans: property tax relief, housing affordability and burdens for renters, infrastructure, education...still no movement on Full Day Kindergarten.
 S1110 Ballot Initiatives -- this bill passed the Senate and the House, now making its way to the Governor’s desk. It makes the ballot initiative process nearly impossible by increasing the signature threshold to an unreachable amount so only big money special interest groups could get something on the ballot.
Justice Jim Jones delivered more than 16,000 signatures on a petition for the Governor to veto this legislation.
S1179 Higher Education -- The House killed the higher education budget AGAIN after advancing myth and propaganda coming right out of the Idaho Freedom Foundation playbook. I am so alarmed by the rhetoric that they are putting forward and how they are jeopardizing education economic growth.
I encourage you to add your voice to this issue and let the #IDLEG know that you won't stand for attacks on higher education nor their attempts to censor content. Write a letter to the editor. Write a letter to GOP legislators hanging on every word of the divisive and alt-right IFF. Make your voice heard for our students' sakes.
 SB1183 - 6 Week Abortion Ban -- despite objections in a 90 minute debate, this bill has passed the Senate and is on its way to be heard in the House. The bill is unconstitutional according to current law, so they put a trigger mechanism in it to go into effect if a higher court ruled against Roe V Wade. A similar bill was struck down 2 weeks ago in South Carolina.
The most egregious part of the bill is that it makes it nearly impossible for a rape victim to get an abortion.
The bill requires that a victim get a police report to take to a doctor to get the abortion; this is nearly impossible because police reports are protected under Idaho's disclosure from public records law to protect the integrity of police investigations. On top of that according to a study on the Idaho State Police website, the average time from report to arrest in a sexual assault case is almost 3 months. All these hoops to go through increases a victim's trauma. Imagine what someone is going through and now they have to track down a police report to try to take to a doctor like a permission slip to get an abortion after being raped by a family member, someone they know, or a stranger. Finally, the 2005 Violence Against Women Act predicated millions of victims services dollars on a requirement that states have a process for rape victims to do an anonymous sexual assault kit, protecting evidence and removing the requirement to report a rape to police. This bill is in direct opposition to criminal justice processes and flies in the face of victims. SHAMEFUL!
SB1136 and H135 - Emergency Powers of the Governor. These bills would limit the Governor’s powers during declared emergencies while increasing the power of the Legislature. Passed the Senate and House and on to the Governor.
H220 - seeking to halt all public funding, from all levels of government, to Planned Parenthood or any other entity that provides abortions or abortion counseling, or any person or entity affiliated with them, for any purpose. This passed the House, was read in the Senate and send to the 14th amending order.
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HOUSE GOP VOTES AGAINST TENANTS -- AGAIN!
SB 1088- requires that fees charged to tenants would be disclosed up-front in the lease. This bill, one of the first addressed after an 18 day recess, failed in the House.
“As a renter in Idaho I don't think I have ever received my security deposit back.”
“I am a landlord and I think these bills are about fairness. I support them.”
“My daughter rents. I worry monthly about the rental housing situation.”
I took these direct quotes from a few of the hundreds of emails I received last year when the House killed my bill that would merely require a landlord to "share their figures and charges" before taking someone's security deposit, along with a simple walk through of the rental property to document the condition. I'm still shocked that bill was struck down.
Over 30% of Idahoans are renters and finding a place to live can be very stressful, especially in the market we are experiencing now. Boise's rent has grown by more than 15%, coupled with a pandemic, rising housing costs are becoming an unsurmountable burden to Idahoans.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 35% of low-income households in Idaho are burdened by the cost of their rent, meaning over 30% of their income goes straight to their monthly housing costs.
This session Senator Rabe introduced S1088 which would help with this problem and increase transparency in a lease; the bill merely required landlords to include late fee amounts in the contract. Basically, the landlord should share up front what they can charge you if you are late for your rent. That’s it. That seems more than fair. However, the House Republicans voted this down! The bill started out to also include that fees should be reasonable, but the Senate sent this bill to amending order and removed the condition of “reasonable fees" effectively disarming it and harming renters. What is worse, landlords were supporting the bill!
We must provide more protections for tenants like getting a security deposit back, limiting late fee charges, and requiring documentation of fees and other penalties, especially when we are in a housing shortage.
It is important to know your rights and responsibilities as a tenant so you have clear expectations and boundaries with your landlord. The relationship between tenant and landlord has the potential to be mutually beneficial and transparent.
Check out the Tenant Landlord Manual on the Attorney General's Website
Idaho Democrats are working hard to pass policies that make the tenant-landlord relationship equitable, transparent, and productive for both parties. Together, we will weed through the jargon and legalities to understand our current laws and how they affect you.
Please contact me if you have a personal story or need assistance.
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A FEW UPDATES
Taxes
Still no movement on Property Tax relief even though Democrats like Rep Necochea have been putting forward solutions; House GOP continues to block efforts to introduce bills to raise the homeowner's exemption and raise the income limits for the circuit breaker.
A Senate committee sent HB 332, the $389.4 million House-passed income tax cut and rebate bill, out for amendments. This is now on amending orders and people are submitting amendments. I would like to see this bill "radiator capped" and replaced with a grocery tax credit or child tax credit instead of a huge income tax cut for the wealthy. I'll keep you posted. You can read this analysis to better understand.
Transportation
Senate Transportation Committee will hear H362 on Monday; this bill skims money off sales tax to create a bond finance plan for transportation projects.
This bill currently falls short in my eyes because our state needs to develop a comprehensive and sustainable transportation funding plan that includes public transit. In a recent study, Boise was named as the “worst rush hour city in the U.S.” Urban areas could greatly benefit from public transit methods to get more cars off the roads as we build infrastructure where needed in other areas.
In the last 5 years, the legislature has increased transportation funding by 1.1 billion dollars, albeit through piecemeal approaches that are difficult to track and measure. In the interests of my constituents and Idaho, I will support a plan that creates a sustainable effort to fund comprehensive and sustainable methods of funding where all stakeholders pay their fair share to share the road.
There are many tools to consider in raising the required amount of resources that complement our unprecedented growth, including ways to make growth pay for itself instead of on the backs of long time residents. We should explore the use of impact and user fees in a way to generate what is needed along with other methods like local option taxes which Boise and Nampa could use to create more public transit. We haven’t increased registration fees for large commercial trucks in many years, while we have placed more burden on passenger vehicle registrations. I saw a recent bill introduced to double registration fees for electric vehicles! I will oppose such legislation if it makes it to our committee.
Our legislature needs to get serious and be honest with constituents about what is needed and how to pay for the services from which we all benefit. Instead of cutting taxes for the top earners year after year, we could have been investing in our future by creating a plan for excess revenue to invest in education, housing, transportation. We have been using the McGyver approach for too long.
One silver lining could be found in the federal aid package to increase infrastructure nationwide. The legislature should take advantage of the investments in infrastructure and jobs to address some of the backlogged projects by this new federal aid package.
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Democratic Debrief
After an abrupt two week recess, the statehouse has been busy the past week. See what the democratic team has to say about everything going on. View the weekly Democratic Debrief here.
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Idaho Breweries -- Strong Economic Drivers
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This week the Senate passed a bill to support our hops industry and local breweries by continuing to amend laws to respond to the growing industry.
April is the Idaho Craft Beer Month, meant to elevate breweries, restaurants, farmers and distributors who make Idaho’s beer accessible and delicious. The beer industry in Idaho creates 2,784 indirect jobs, 1,111 direct jobs and $366 million in economic impact. Although Idaho is famous for potatoes, we are also the second largest hops producer in the U.S, harvesting 6,993 acres in 2017. You can find a detailed map of the 75 breweries in the state at www.visitidaho.org/breweries. If you choose to celebrate the Idaho Craft Beer Month, don’t forget to share your adventures with #PintsUpIdaho.
Find a Brewery in D19
White Dog Brewing Co. 705 W Fulton St, Boise, ID 83702
Clairvoyant Brewing Company 2800 W Idaho St, Boise, ID 83702
Highlands Hollow Brewhouse 2455 N Harrison Hollow Ln, Boise, ID 83702
Cloud 9 Brewery 1750 W State St, Boise, ID 83702
Payette Brewing Company 733 S Pioneer St, Boise, ID 83702
Woodland Empire Ale Craft 1114 W Front St, Boise, ID 83702
Barbarian Brewing Downtown Tap Room 1022 W Main St (N. 11th St.), Boise, ID 83702
Lost Grove Brewing 1026 S La Pointe St, Boise, ID 83706
10 Barrel Brewing Boise 826 W Bannock St, Boise, ID 83702
Boise Brewing 521 W Broad St, Boise, ID 83702
Ram Restaurant & Brewery 709 E Park Blvd, Boise, ID 83712
Spring Creek Brewing Company 18651 N Streams Edge Way, Boise, ID 83714
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Updated Vaccine Distribution
Some exciting news! It is reported that about 28% of Idahoans have received the first dose of the vaccine and 18% have received both doses. The state has opened up distribution to everyone 16 years and up, in addition to the previously allowed priority groups.
There are a variety of additional resources available and I have listed some below:
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"Vaccine Passport"
Governor Little seems to have succumbed to pressure of the fear that "vaccine passports" were really a thing. However, to ease fears and possibly get the Idaho Freedom Foundation off his back, he issued a press release on Wednesday banning the government from instituting required “vaccine passports.” The order also prohibits agencies from releasing any kind of information about vaccine status of individuals, which they have never been able to do anyway, because that would be a violation of HIPPA.
There is so much misinformation being spread by certain organizations that leaders are having to make current laws more clear. I have received emails from people concerned that Idaho will mandate vaccines. However, current law already prohibits mandatory vaccines and provides a very easy process to exempt children and adults from vaccines.
We are receiving a good supply of vaccines, so I encourage everyone to get their free vaccination to beat back this virus so we can continue to get back to normal.
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