Area legislators update public at town hall

“We usually get around 30 people at these things,” the woman said. “I’m surprised that so many showed up today. There must be a hundred people here.”

As more and more chairs were brought in, attendees to the Town Hall Meeting at the VFW on Saturday were given a briefing about the current legislative session and some of the issues that affect citizens of Idaho and more specifically Bonner County.

Senator Jim Woodward and Representatives Sage Dixon and Heather Scott described the work they’re trying to accomplish and intend to complete in their respective committees this year.

Woodward who sits on the Education and Finance committees talked about how his first year was centered on understanding the routine of state government but that this year he is concentrating more on content.

“We’re taking the opportunity to review every rule,” Dixon, who is on the Business, Education and Transportation and Defense committees said. “Many rules are archaic and redundant. Focusing on rules is important. There’s some wrestling between the legislative and executive side. For instance, if the legislature passes a law to hang a flag, the executive branch can decide what the flag looks like. We want to execute laws with the intent we had in mind. So, we’re going line by line so we can answer to you.”

Scott who sits on the Environment, Energy, Technology; Judiciary, Rules and Administration, and State Affairs committees said that she puts her attention on the needs of the citizens of North Idaho. She got the biggest whoop and applause when she talked about the bill she’s sponsoring to ban abortions in the state.

When asked if the two men supported Scott’s bill, they both said in theory they did, but that neither of them had scrutinized the actual bill itself and would need to do so before making a judgment to support that particular legislation. The bill is currently in Ways and Means committee.

Hot topics included repealing or modifying the grocery tax credit, eliminating property taxes, changing how education dollars are allocated, transportation related issues and plans for prisoners to be transitioned into North Idaho specifically Kootenai county.

“Let’s start with grocery tax,” Woodward said. “The fundamental question is should we tax food? Or, if we keep the tax credit, is that number right? And, then define what’s food?”

He said that now, when tourists buy groceries, the money goes into the state coffers to the tune of around $25 million. A removal of that tax would, naturally, eliminate those dollars.

“I lean toward keeping but increasing the tax credit, and bills I’ve seen so far support that,” he said. Dixon agreed that amending the tax credit “seemed to be the direction the House is going now.”

However, Scott said that she’s leaning towards repealing the grocery tax. “Some people get the tax credit without buying groceries, people on food stamps for instance. And, you have the state holding all this money and then at the end of the year you get it back. As for out-of-staters it comes down to the list of foods that wouldn’t be taxed.”

On the property tax question, Woodward explained that residential properties are growing faster than commercial properties and that some homeowners are forced to sell because they can’t afford to pay the increased taxes.

Scott told attendees that there is an idea out there to eliminate property tax, but increase sales tax to 11 percent. “People say it will ‘never happen’ but they’re getting the idea out there. I don’t see it happening this year. But, power is in the people, it’s easy for you to drive us.”

Dixon said there were bills in the house regarding the distribution of sales tax. He pointed out the example that Ponderay raises high sales tax dollars, but receives fewer of them because they have a lower population. Sandpoint, on the other hand, is the opposite, there are more people and fewer tax dollars collected.

On a different subject, Dixon talked about “surprise hospital billing” and the bills that are being proposed in the House which would force doctors to work with insurance companies so all the expenses associated with a procedure be billed at the same time.

“Some people have seen $300 bills turn into $3,000 bills because of fines incurred because they received a bill from an anesthesiologist, for instance, and thought it had already been paid when it wasn’t,” he said.

On the matter of education dollars disbursement, Woodward said that there is talk about changing from average daily attendance allocated by classroom to allocating by enrollment. In other words, the dollars would follow the student, i.e. allowing for home schoolers who attend some public school classes.

He also addressed the discussion about Standards of Education or what the Federal government calls Common Core. “It’s time to look at the standards, we don’t want to pull the plug out of them all but we want to make some recommendations.”

Former Idaho Rep. George Eskridge told how he has experienced a problem with canceling insurance on his classic cars during the months they’re garaged and then not being able to renew their registration.

Others in the audience voiced agreement and told of communication issues between the state and insurance companies. The current law, in an effort to reduce the number of uninsured vehicles, requires the owner of an unused vehicle to fill out a form and then trust that it’s filed correctly with Idaho Transportation Department.

“The best answer is to have a plan that when you tell your insurance agent that your car is parked for six months they tell ITD. No forms to be filled out,” Woodward said. “There are 110,000 vehicles without insurance. I don’t know if this law makes a dent on those. If you don’t care about insurance do you care about registration?”

All three legislators encouraged attendees to talk to them after the meeting, or to get in touch with them via email or by phone to discuss in more detail the subjects touched on at this meeting.