Broadsword seeks new term

Sagle — The Legislature sent a message to Washington last session to take care of national problems and let Idaho focus on state issues.

Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, was among legislators to stamp the seal of approval on measures to limit the federal government’s influence in state policy.

Broadsword, a third-term Republican who serves on the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee and as vice chair of the Senate Health and Welfare committee, faces off against District 2 Republican candidate Dennis Engelhardt in next week’s primary election. 

Broadsword said unfunded federal mandates are detrimental to state budgets especially in lean financial periods, and legislators are obligated to make state issues a priority.

“We keep a balanced budget every year as mandated by the constitution,” Broadsword said. “The feds don’t have that mandate. They seem to be spending at a rate that is unsustainable.”

By supporting House Bill 391, as well as House Concurrent Resolutions 44 and 66, Broadsword voted against federally mandated health care, in support of a balanced federal budget that prevents unfunded mandates to states, and for limiting federal power under the 10th Amendment.

Overall, she said, the latest session was shadowed by the leanest fiscal year on recent record.

“The budget was the overriding issue, she said. “We were very careful not to pass any bills that had fiscal impact.”

Representatives past House Bill 67 that reigned in health districts statewide, she said.

“They’ve been out there developing rules with little oversight,” she said. “We had counties wanting to pull out of the health district.”

The bill requires any new rules be reviewed by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality before they are adopted by the district.

In addition, Broadsword pushed for increasing the maximum penalty in child injury cases from 10 to 20 years. The push came as a result of a St. Maries case in  which a 4-year-old was severely injured, sustaining lifelong debilitating injuries. The judge in the case admitted that he was bound by law when he sentenced the adult found guilty in the case, to a maximum 10 years in prison.

In the past, Broadsword crafted a bill that was passed requiring intrastate truckers to chain up on highways in Idaho when road conditions warrant it.

“We stopped having so many accidents on mountain passes on I-90,” she said. “We went from days and days of obstructed traffic to three accidents the entire season after starting the program.”

Broadsword said her motto in the Legislature is to listen to her constituents and vote how they ask her to vote.

“Their issues are my issues,” she said. “When they come in, I try to resolve it for them.”