Legislature tackles agriculture, gun bills

We ended Day 54 of this legislative session on Friday, Feb. 28, and we are more than halfway through the session if we adjourn on March 21 as scheduled.

Legislative proposals that have been addressed and approved by the appropriate committees are coming to the House and Senate floors in increasing numbers and both bodies are putting in additional hours on the floor to address these legislative proposals. In order to meet the scheduled adjournment both houses are attempting to schedule their own legislation first in order to get those bills to the other body then addressing the other body’s bills secondly since they have already been passed by the other body.

There are exceptions, however, especially with controversial legislation, and one of these was Senate Bill 1337 (SB1337), the so-called “ag-gag bill” written “to protect agriculture production facilities from interference by wrongful conduct by providing penalties for such conduct and restitution to an injured agricultural producer.”

SB 1337 is legislation in reaction to an instance that occurred on a dairy operation in Wendell. An individual who was a member of an animal rights group gained access to a dairy operation by misrepresenting his need to be at the facility. The individual apparently filmed abuses conducted against the dairy cows by another individual or individuals and then used the film as a means to attack the dairy owner’s operation. There remains a question as to whether the cruelty to the animals was done purposely to facilitate the filming.

In any event the owner of the dairy, when informed of mistreatment of his animals, worked with the Idaho State Department of Agriculture to identify the persons involved and subsequently terminated their employment and assisted in their ultimate prosecution.

SB 1337 does not punish an individual for reporting any illegal, unethical or unsafe activities in the agricultural industry; it merely provides, in part, that “you cannot mislead, lie or deceive in an effort to damage an agriculture production facility.”

The public attacks against the dairy did not take place until months after the dairy operator helped identify the perpetrators and worked with the Department of Agriculture to investigate the accusation and help prosecute those involved in treating the animals in a cruel and unacceptable manner. The dairy owner stated that before making the accusations public the activist group attempted to destroy his business by not only attacking his operation but also the businesses that associated with the dairy.

There is obviously more to this incident then what has been described in the media, but the concern of the industry was that one or more persons could obtain entrance to a business, misrepresent the operation of that business and then proceed to destroy that business with adverse publicity or false accusations. This concern was of such magnitude that SB 1337 passed both houses with large majorities and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter.

Another bill of interest addresses the issue of legislators and other state officials having the authority to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. This legislation is the result of a former Idaho state representative being allowed to carry a concealed weapon, even though his permit had been revoked. House Bill 514 (HB514) removes the special treatment that has been provided for elected officials in relation to Second Amendment rights. HB515 provides that with the exception of law enforcement officials, criminal investigators and other exempted personnel, the previous exemption for “any publicly elected official” is removed and persons under that definition have to obtain a permit for a concealed weapon. There are other clarifications in HB514 but the major objective is to remove the exemption that allows a “publicly elected official” to have a concealed weapon without a permit.

HB514 was passed by the House on a 62-7 majority and is expected to pass in the Senate as well.

As always I encourage you to provide me and other members of your District 1 legislative team your thoughts on legislative issues. Because of time constraints we may not be able to respond directly to your input but be assured we read your emails, letters and phone messages that you provide as we consider the legislative issues that come before us.

George Eskridge, R-Dover, represents legislative District 1B in the Idaho House of Representatives.