The orchestrated circus has begun

One would like to think that in the 132 years since Idaho became a state, the annual meeting of the Legislature would become an orderly spirited process where open minds come together to debate what’s best for Idaho citizens.

But instead, in this legislator’s opinion it has become an orchestrated circus. Right on queue, Act 1 sets the stage when the night before the 2022 session started, a tent city appeared on the lawn across from the Capitol. Why? That is unclear but it is interesting that local news outlets suddenly all began parroting the housing problems statewide. There is obviously a legislative agenda by someone or some group, but they have not made that known to date. One wonders if these are paid “campers” or real homeless people. 

While I can’t imagine any legislator at the capitol who doesn’t have compassion or a heart for the homeless, the tactics used by the agenda-driven special interest groups are often pathetic if not shameful. These types of tactics drive agendas that frequently create rushed and poorly drafted legislation based on emotion, not facts or financial prudence, yet legislators who vote against these bad bills are be labeled homeless haters.

Act 2 features the cast made up of the governor and his cronies, lots of federal money and the pittance for the average Joe. Most citizens don’t realize the Idaho government is flush with cash from tax revenue to the tune of an extra $1.9 billion.

On the first day of session, Governor Brad Little shared his legislative and budget plans in the annual State of the State address. In summary, there is a $1.9 billion in surplus, 40% more money than was expected. The governor wants the majority of this money to be spent to grow government by 17%, mainly in the areas of education and infrastructure. A pittance would be returned to the people in the form of small income/corporate tax relief. There was no mention of ending mask or vaccine mandates, property or grocery tax relief, or stopping the critical race theory agendas being implemented through Idaho schools.

The governor also failed to mention that the Friday before session, (January 7th) he proclaimed another emergency order, extending the emergency now to over 680 days! This is in order to continue to take money that will federalize our state completely.

The Idaho Legislature has the opportunity to create and pass their own budget. Unfortunately, the chances of that are slim. Remember, the funding of every bad or good policy has to be voted on by the Legislature. Sadly, the majority of legislators usually vote to fund most everything on the executive office’s wish list. The governor gets what he wants, and the circus continues. This is not how the check and balance of our three branches of government is intended to work.

Act 3 should be a real eye opener for Idaho citizens as it reveals the dark world of the corporate lobbying. Your senators and representatives (legislators) are supposed to be working for you, for your interests and what is best for the individual citizen. That is clearly not happening based legislator voting and campaigning funding Its critical you spend some time researching who is giving elected officials large donations to try to influence the decisions they will be making over the next three months. Is the bulk of their contributions coming from constituents or a variety of special interests’ groups?  Several good question you may want to ask yourself include “are my legislators interested in my concerns and do I rank equally important as the lobbyists and big campaign donations?”  You can view all campaign donations at the Secretary of State’s website under the Elections Division.

If you are not aware yet, you soon will be as there is a bit of the “Great Reset” agenda going on right now in Idaho with efforts being put forth to shut down mom-and-pop businesses, destroy families, and to facilitate the “teaming” of large corporations and government in legislative policies for the “betterment of society and greater good for all.” They are pushing a global agenda. No one bothers to ask or care what the citizens or small businesses want. Many will be forced into compliance and foot the bill for it. Please educate yourself before it is too late.

This brings us to the final Act, 4, the Legislature. Even though the first three weeks of session were slow due to the annual cold and flu season sweeping the capitol, there were a few bad bills introduced and some good bills denied to be heard. House Bill 441authorizes county clerks to send authorized designees to help residents of nursing or assisted living facilities complete their absentee ballot. This bill violates the constitution and enacts a form of state-sponsored ballot harvesting by sending government volunteers to these facilities. House Bill 436 passed the House on a mostly (all but 1) party line vote. It will reduce Idaho's personal and corporate income tax rates and also provide for a one-time tax rebate check to taxpayers. It creates four income tax brackets (instead of five) and lowers the top bracket from 6.5% to 6%. 

When a single committee chairman (who usually does not represent your district) makes a decision to not put a bill idea on their agenda, the only other way your representative has to share that bill idea is to run it as “personal bill” to get a bill number. The Speaker of the House diverts all personal bills to his “kill committee” (Ways and Means). As you view bill ideas throughout the session, please take note what committee they are being put in. “W/M” means it will most likely never see the light of day.

House Bill 448, along with over 20 others, was one of those bills diverted to the kill committee. This legislation would repeal the sales tax on food sold for human consumption, excluding prepared food. To offset the reduction in sales tax revenue sharing amount to local units of government, the bill increases the revenue sharing percentage to the units and saves $13 million which would have been transferred to transportation in revenue sharing. While this bill would benefit all Idahoans, the Speaker of the House diverted it to his magical committee that makes bills disappear!

I will end here with some personal thoughts. While I tried to make light of the plight of our state with the circus theme in my newsletter, this is no laughing matter. My position offers me a lot of access to information and plans that most don’t get to see and this has caused a heaviness on my heart for Idahoans and the direction we are headed as a state. The toll on our state that the continued state of emergency as proclaimed by Governor Little every 30 days for the past 679 days and counting, has been devastating. The ongoing detrimental effects on our citizens are mounting. Small businesses have closed, elderly citizens are dying alone, government run school curriculums are out-of-control, suicide rates are up, hospitals are refusing treatment, citizens are depressed, drugs and alcohol use is rampant and sexual abuse on children is up 85+%. Our state is now “living on” more federal money than state money. If we do not put an end to this madness soon, we are doomed as a free Idaho society. 

Some legislators are doing all they can to promote the will of the individual but they are outnumbered, ignored and attacked. A group of over 30 legislators have united around a conservative agenda and are hopeful that some relief will make it through the system to help the citizens. The problem is, that is not enough to kill bad bills or pass good legislation to help citizens. I encourage you to monitor closely what your legislators are doing while in Boise and while in your district and please get involved in your government.

Rep. Heather Scott represents Bonner and Boundary counties in the Idaho Legislature in District 1A. She can be reached at hscott@house.idaho.gov.