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Legislative Round-Up: Week 3

Hello <<First Name>>,

Here’s what has been on my mind and happening in the Capitol this week.

I will send out regular updates throughout the session. Please follow along in this newsletter and on the Legislature's website.

Topics On My Mind

Idaho Broadband Advisory Board (IBAB)

This is the beginning of my second year on the Idaho Broadband Advisory Board (IBAB). It “is responsible for structuring, prioritizing and dispersing state and federal grants, which will enhance connectivity across the state and address equal access to economic development, telework, public safety, telehealth and education.” Broadband connectivity across Idaho is relatively poor compared to other states and “Idaho currently ranks 40th among states in BroadbandNow’s annual rankings of internet coverage, speed and availability.” This board aims to improve connectivity across Idaho so that everyone has access to the opportunities that come with broadband. We are particularly concerned with unserved and underserved areas.

Broadband connectivity provides many opportunities for Idaho, such as linking rural Idaho to a global marketplace, giving students and families the tools they need to succeed, connecting health care and first responders, and much more. This is extremely important work, and I hope to help connect more people to high-speed broadband across Idaho.

While some of the money used for this critical effort comes from the state, the vast majority of funding comes from the Biden administration through the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Biden administration seeks to connect everyone in America to affordable and high-speed Internet by 2030. I’m happy to help fulfill that vision.

Source: BroadbandNow

Hot-Button Issue

Joint Finance Appropriations Committee (JFAC)

As I began to address in last week’s newsletter, the Idaho GOP is breaking precedent when it comes to our state budgets. The Joint Finance Appropriations Committee (JFAC) has set a bare-bones budget for next year that will only be enough for the most basic of maintenance and operations for our state agencies, public schools and public universities. The decision to make this drastic change in our budgeting process was rushed and not sufficiently vetted. As explained by Clark Corbin at the Idaho Capital Sun, “The budget-setting committee essentially took a similar version of last year’s budget, which took nearly 80 days to set, and passed it in a single day this year.” This is a concerningly short amount of time to make such a large-scale change to the state’s budgeting process.

Whether intentional or not, I am concerned this will be used by certain legislators to unnecessarily cut budgets. When I served in the legislature during the Great Recession, we had to cut spending because revenues were drying up. I remember how damaging austerity measures were to our state agencies, public schools and public universities. We cut those budgets to the bone and then spent the next decade restoring funding.

Being careful and efficient with state taxpayer money is extremely important, but to cut state budgets when we have the needs and funds to properly finance government is just a bad way to do business. That is especially true when doing so will cost taxpayers more in the long run. Whether it’s schools or roads or bridges, the failure to address their needs now will almost always make it more expensive to fix later.

A Personal Note

Deep Fake Bill

I am excited about House Bill 407, the FAIR Election Act, which was introduced last week. I will be co-sponsoring this important piece of election legislation.

House Bill 407 would prohibit artificial intelligence generated deep fakes in electioneering. This means that a candidate’s speech, images or videos cannot be manipulated to create a fundamentally different understanding than the original source material. This bill is particularly important as we approach the 2024 election season. Technology has developed so much and so quickly that it is difficult to stay ahead of the deceptive ways in which it can be used in campaigns. As the Idaho Capital Sun reported, “AI generated images and videos have become sophisticated enough to mislead the public during election campaigns.” This bill will help protect all candidates and help ensure that we are all on an even playing field.

So far, this bill has bipartisan support. I hope you will speak up and ask all legislators to join me in supporting House Bill 407.

Social Media Highlights

I am proud to share that I was recently recognized as an "Ag All-Star" by the Food Producers of Idaho. ⭐️

The Food Producers of Idaho offers a united voice for the backbone of our state, our Idaho farmers and ranchers. The "Ag All-Star" award was first presented in 2000, and since then has been presented to leaders who support good ag policy and prioritize agro-economics.

Thank you for my plate, Food Producers of Idaho, in more ways than one!

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