Time to defend our constitution
The “gravy train” derails. Heather Scott once described to me at the Bonner County Fair the way politics functions in the state of Idaho. That, at Boise, there are two types of legislators, the ones who hop on the gravy train and the ones who don’t. Heather Scott, remaining loyal to the people over Sen. Grow’s Payday Lender bosses, voted against SB 1159 leaving the House State Affairs committee, with a “do pass” recommendation. For those of you who do not know SB 1159, it is the undemocratic anti-initiative bill that Sen. Grow introduced on behalf of the exploitative payday loans industry. The industry fears a ballot initiative that would cap their exorbitant average interest rate of 652 percent, as Colorado did in Initiative 126, capping interest rates to 38 percent.
As a result, John Sheldon, a lobbyist for the payday lender Money Trees worked directly with Grow to write a bill that would raise the percentage of registered voters whose signatures need to be collected from 6 percent statewide to 10 percent statewide, the amount of districts to be qualified from 18 of 35 to 32 of 35, and decreased the time to do so from 18 months to 180 days.
They became afraid of “we, the people” following the victory of Prop 2, to expand Medicaid to over 60,000 working Idahoans. This people’s victory seems to have scared big money. Indeed, they are forcing through undemocratic SB 1159 to a vote tomorrow. Big money is afraid — not the Legislature. The “gravy train” is about to derail. Come 2020, voters will look at this vote as a litmus test to determine which of their legislators are committed to the popular will, and which seek to undermine it for the sake of big industry. These attempts to repress Idaho’s rising tide only speak to its — and to our — strengths.
Unfortunately, enough senators betrayed Idaho’s common interest and after a slim victory of 18 to 17, the bill passed the Senate, went to the House State Affairs committee. It is essential that we defeat this bill and send a clear message to our senators and representatives, now and at the polls, that regardless of their donors, they serve everyday Idahoans, and must respect their access to power.
It is telling how the Legislature never did a thing for the tens of thousands of working Idahoans who need access to health care. It is more telling how, after we directly prompted our government to act on Idaho’s healthcare crisis, the Legislature now not only seeks to boggle, derail, and bureaucratize Medicaid expansion’s roll out. They presume to render inaccessible the means by which small money, grass roots movements comprised of “we, the people” were finally able to overcome our apathetic Legislature. Idaho’s political elite are attempting to make the requirements for initiatives to access the ballot something that only their donor class could possibly satisfy.
Please call the Idaho House at 208-332-1000 and urge a no vote on SB 1159.
Also, please call Gov. Brad Little at 208-334-2100 and urge a veto on SB 1159.
Daniel Radford, of Sandpoint, is a student at Emory University studying philosophy and history.