Senator Melissa Wintrow
We made it back from an 18 day recess on April 6, worked until April 13 and the Senate had to take ANOTHER three day recess while the House is supposed to be passing budgets and clear their calendar. However, watching it all, they just keep adding things! The latest bill drafts include ways to limit free speech in educational settings! We are really going backwards here.
|
|
|
LET'S START WITH SOME GOOD NEWS....
|
|
|
DISTRICT 19 FEATURE -- GIRL POWERFUL!!
District 19 residents Tedi and Sonya Surge are the founders of Girl Powerful, a youth empowerment non-profit organization dedicated to providing young women and girls with social and emotional learning tools to help strengthen their sense of self. Their holistic approach includes elements of evidence-based SEL practices in conjunction with other Girl Powerful curricula to build self-esteem, create a mind/body connection, and recognize the value in female unity. Programs like these are shown to increase academic success, sense of social well-being, and boost confidence. I was fortunate to speak to these two remarkable women about their work and how they are able to bring these valuable tools to the young women in out community. Thousands of young people have enjoyed the benefits of their program and I look forward to see the amazing work they will do in the future!
|
|
SOME DISAPPOINTING NEWS...
|
|
|
Governor Little signed S1110 into law today that makes it nearly impossible for voters to get an initiative on the ballot. The bill requires signatures from six-percent of registered voters in all 35 legislative districts in order to quality a measure for the ballot, an increase from the current 18 districts.
I think that any attempts to limit access of the people to the ballot is wrong. Our initiatives process is already hard enough. I'm at a loss at a Governor who is fighting for his own control and authority and then would go against the authority of the People he serves. I'm sure some deal was struck with the Legislative Republicans....
Good thing the Governor signed the bill into law to grant $4M to the legal defense fund, because this bill will wind up in court, which everyone knows. One more time we waste taxpayer dollars on politics.
|
|
Attacks on Idaho Education and Kids Continue by House GOP
The Senate is in recess awaiting the House passage of budget measures, but House Republicans keep knocking down bill after bill—in one instance a House sponsor even debated against their own budget! In the meantime over $600 million sits in the general fund while Idaho schools languish from legislative inaction.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUDGET VOTED DOWN BY HOUSE REPUBLICANS
A very vocal group in the House has taken aim at the curriculum taught at our institutions of higher education. The state university budgets are carefully considered in committee and, after negotiation, sent to each chamber for consideration. The first higher education budget passed in the Senate weeks ago and took $400K from BSU and moved it to Lewis-Clark State College as a way to "punish" them for embracing diversity and inclusion; then it was voted down by House Republicans. The legislature is now back to negotiations because of our constitutional duty to pass a budget, and because they want to punish BSU more.
House Republicans are talking about deep cuts in the millions of dollars to Boise State and ISU and UI both losing $500,000 each. Such drastic cuts will have a significant impact on the universities ability to invest in technology, maintain facilities, provide instruction, and it reduces the quality of public service among other negative effects.
More troubling are the demands being made by GOP legislative members that could result in the loss of accreditation to any impacted institution of higher learning. A major blow to Idaho students, families, business, and sports programs. No accreditation means no athletic teams including FOOTBALL!
WHO'S BEING DUPED by the IDAHO FREEDOM FOUNDATION?
Idaho Education News had the best summary on the attacks on Higher Education and the role of the IFF and Legislative Republicans that I have read so far.
Wayne Hoffman of the IFF has been trying to block state funds going to public schools for a long time, despite our constitutional obligation to do so. He said in an interview with the Idaho Press in 2019, "I don’t think government should be in the education business. It is the most virulent form of socialism (and indoctrination thereto) in America today.”
Public schools where most of us were educated? Public schools, where we said the pledge of allegiance every day, are a virulent form of socialism? The founders of our state wrote in our constitution, "The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of Idaho, to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools."
Thus, Mr Hoffman, who claims to respect the constitution and follow it to the letter, is defying it and wants to bankrupt public education. Hoffman has duped everyone. He is using "social justice" as a buzzword to hit a nerve, just like Trump did, to distract citizens and lawmakers and take money away from education. This is all a part of his plan to defund education as a whole.
I am hoping my colleagues wake up and see this just for what it is...a ploy to dismantle public funding of public schools. Our kids are not being indoctrinated, but the House Republicans want to introduce damaging legislation to ban the teaching of any social justice concepts or classes that refer to race. That's censorship; so we'll see how that goes in court.
I'm at a loss with my GOP colleagues who want to take control over everything including the Governor, the AG, Health districts, local school boards, and the latest news is the high school athletic association. Wow! The GOP has become the party of CONTROL while the Democrats are the party of local control, business, and education...
Click on this link to TAKE ACTION!
|
|
HOUSE GOP VOTES AGAINST TEACHER PAY
Our public school teachers have faced incredible challenges in educating our students this past year. The Idaho House REPUBLICANS have chosen to reward that unprecedented hard work by failing to pass a budget for teacher pay. House Bill 354 included funding for well-deserved and much-needed teacher salaries, but opponents raised unfounded fears of teachers “indoctrinating” students while failing to provide any evidence this happens in Idaho.
FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN STALLED IN HOUSE
Education is the bedrock for all communities, and I have fought to increase access to quality education my entire career. Senator Ward-Engleking and Rep. Nash worked diligently with other members of the legislature to introduce a bill to provide an optional full day kindergarten. Unfortunately, this bill failed to move through the House because of political games and some weird obsession with social justice. With all the distractions and a lack of focus on what matters most to the majority of Idahoans, my Democratic colleagues and I remain dedicated to return to the issue to provide this much needed services to the students and families of Idaho.
EARLY CHILDHOOD FUNDING BARELY PASSES SENATE & DOOMED TO FAIL IN THE HOUSE
After voting against accepting federal grant money approved by the previous administration the grant has been brought back to the legislature for re-consideration with some revised intent language and alterations in how it is administered. This would provide $6 million a year for three years to fund local cooperatives working to improve literacy outcomes for young Idahoans. Early literacy skills have significant long-term ramifications for successful educational outcomes and it is a travesty this barely passed the Senate by a single vote. This legislation is supported by many community members from student advocacy groups to some of the largest employers in Idaho. The community has spoken and the desire for these programs is clear—it’s now up to the House GOP to listen to the voice of Idahoans.
CHILDCARE GRANTS MAY ALSO BE VOTED DOWN
We received a great presentation in Senate and House Health and Welfare Committees about federal ARPA monies that can be used to support our child care programs to help families get back to work. According to a study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "Idaho’s economy loses an estimated $479 million annually because of child care issues, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation report released Friday. That number includes an estimated $65 million annual loss in tax revenue and an estimated $414 million annual loss to employers due to absences and employee turnover resulting from child care breakdowns."
This would be a great grant to tap into to help Idaho families get to work and pay the bills and would boost small child care businesses as well. This should be such an easy decision, but the House GOP hasn't supported the grants and now all those resources to help families and businesses may go untapped.
The Democrats are continuing to fight for our children, families and business despite challenges from conservatives at every turn.
|
|
The State of Transportation in Idaho
I hear often from constituents that the economy is one of their main concerns for the future. To grow a successful economy it’s imperative we invest in transportation and infrastructure to move people and products around the Treasure Valley and beyond. The legislature has had before it a number of transportation bills this session to address these needs:
H308: This provides cash transfers from the general fund to dedicated funds and provides an additional $19 million in funding for the Aeronautics Program, the Strategic Initiatives Program, and the Strategic Initiatives Local Program. According to the ITD, if the funds are transferred prior to March local jurisdictions will receive an additional $47 million divided according to the highway distribution allocation formula. This legislation has been signed into law by the governor.
H131: This bill amended existing law to allow for wider sidewalks or side paths where necessary. Local commissioners are now able to authorize sidewalks or side paths within a project or transportation corridor to be constructed wider than 8 feet. This bill was signed into law by the governor.
H362 passed out of committee last week. It will raise the amount of state sales tax revenues to shift from the general fund to roads and bridges from the current 1% to 4.5% but $80 million of the amount shifted would go now to the Idaho Transportation Department to bond for big projects. The remainder, and any growth, would then go to local jurisdictions. This bill is now awaiting a vote on the Senate floor.
While this legislative session has often felt like a rollercoaster, these measures to improve transportation in Idaho are steps in the right direction, but as I have said over and over to my colleagues, our state needs to develop a comprehensive and sustainable transportation funding plan that includes PUBLIC TRANSIT.
This bill provides bonding authority for big projects, and it's my hope that we use some of that funding for 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. 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 have not increased registration fees for large commercial trucks in many years, while we have placed more burden on passenger vehicle registrations. And just recently, a House Republican introduced a bill to double the registration fees on electric vehicles! That is not a fair way to go about this especially when we let commercial registration off the hook.
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, and transportation.
One silver lining could be found in the federal aid package to increase infrastructure nationwide. The legislature could take advantage of the investments in infrastructure and jobs to address some of the backlogged projects by this new federal aid package.
|
|
ARPA Update
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021. The Legislative Services Office has put together a review of this law with in-depth information. At this time, it looks like Idaho may be able to access over $5 billion in direct payments, grants, and fiscal relief through this bill. Many of the provisions in ARPA apply to 2021 to 2025, but some will span even longer time periods.
Most of the funding will come from three federal agencies: 1) US Treasury Department, 2) US Department of Education, and 3) the US Department of Health and Human Services. These federal dollars are intended to help with a wide variety of needs including education, unemployment insurance, supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP), direct assistance to individuals, funding for cities and counties, rental assistance, and more. For example, Idaho public schools may receive an estimated total of $439,942,000, Idaho may receive up to $15,000,000 in rental assistance, and SNAP may receive up to $2,846,000.
The money comes with different requirements and constraints, including different time frames for expenditures. The legislature needs to spend some time understanding the law and ensuring that, where we have discretion, we make the best possible investments in Idaho's future.
Some of the ARPA funds do not need to be appropriated as they will go directly to individuals, local government, or lending institutions, however, much of the money does require legislative action. It is possible for Idaho to refuse allocated funds that need to go through the appropriations process.
At this point, I anticipate the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee will hold meetings to work on the funds related to this law during the current session, with some possible appropriation bills coming to the full Senate and House for approval, and that this work will continue in the 2022 legislative session and beyond. Some of the money does have relatively short time frames and will need to be dealt with expeditiously.
|
|
Democratic Debrief: April 16, 2021
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
