In tough budget year, your input wanted

We are now at the end of the second week of the legislative session. It was an interesting week.

The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee met jointly with the germane House and Senate committees to hear the Health and Welfare and Education budget presentations and finished the week with a listening session on the public schools budget. It was a good opportunity for those on the germane committees to see the budgets and how the decisions they will make in those committees will affect that budget.

The listening session allowed citizens to share their thoughts and concerns over the public schools budget. It was good for those on JFAC to hear from the citizens. JFAC has not taken public testimony in the past, although public testimony is always heard in the germane committees.

As we heard of the deep budget hole the Department of Health and Welfare is in, I resolved to focus on making the necessary cuts to balance our state budget while doing the least harm to those most vulnerable among us. In this tight economy with so many Idahoans out of work raising taxes would be difficult. So we must focus on finding efficiencies in the system to preserve services central to government’s proper purpose: giving people a hand up, not just a handout.

This coming Friday, Jan. 28, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee will be holding a second public hearing on Idaho’s Health and Welfare budget in the Capitol Auditorium from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Boise is a long trip from northern Idaho, but even if you can’t make it down you can still participate. The hearing will be streamed online at http://www.idahoptv.org/leglive/ and written testimony can be sent to JFACtestimony@LSO.Idaho.gov. (Remember that there is a time change from Boise to North Idaho so the hearings will start at 7 a.m. our time).

Ideas about how we can best, within our means, deliver Health and Welfare services would be particularly helpful.

As the vice-chair of the Idaho Senate Health & Welfare Committee I have consistently found Federal regulations and requirements – no matter how well meaning – have made it more difficult to do the right thing for Idaho. The federal government often stands in the way of real reform and the much-needed revolution in how we conduct the people’s business. It is a constant balancing act to do what we as Idahoans feel is important without running afoul of the federal rules and regulations.

As a member of both the Joint Finance-Appropriations and Senate Health and Welfare committees, I work diligently to hear to all sides of the issues so in the end I can make informed decisions on Idaho’s budget. As always, I appreciate any suggestions and comments from you, my constituents, about how to best create an efficient state government. I can be reached during the session at 1 (800)-626-0471 or by e-mail at jbroadsword@senate.idaho.gov.