Greetings from Boise

By Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Sandpoint Reader Contributor

March 24 is in the rear-view mirror. However, there is much to wrap up before we finish here in Boise. There are many bills to finalize and more than a few won’t be voted on.

The property tax bill (House Bill 292) I wrote about last week was vetoed by Gov. Brad Little on March 27. He explained he had issues with a few bill flaws and couldn’t live with it [editor’s note: see more on Page 7]. The governor’s veto set off a chain-reaction of responses.

Senators took it upon themselves to rewrite the tax bill and sent their version to the House. The House drew up a trailer bill to address the flaws the governor pointed out, and sent it to the Senate.

I still believe we will get somewhere with tax reform this session, but it’s going to take some more work this week — and maybe next week.

In other news, I joined several representatives earlier this week to meet with a pro-life advocate. We are trying to draft a better (and more comprehensive) bill than those that were introduced and stalled out recently. Frustration is building. Many of us don’t want to end the session without some improvements to our abortion statutes. The Senate is rumored to have a new bill to introduce, as well.

North Idaho College remains another issue that needs attention. Many say the college is a gem of North Idaho, producing thousands of graduates, preparing many for good jobs and serving the community well. The problem is the NIC board governance system is not meeting accreditation standards.

NIC has been warned for months about this. Losing accreditation would jeopardize federal funding and tuition loans. College staff members have left, multiple lawsuits have been filed and court rulings have not been in the favor of NIC. Enrollment has been dropping the last few years, too.

Despite introducing several bills (HBs 226, 315, 320 and 321), we have not held a public hearing on any of them. The introduced bills all deal with issues including governance, property and levy authority that NIC will face if it loses accreditation and is not able to remedy the situation in a timely manner — that is, two years.

It is not that we haven’t been trying. The speaker of the House controls the hearings and has stood in the way (so far) of any public action. A representative from Lewiston and I continue to pursue this issue. I’ve spent considerable time talking with the Idaho State Board of Education, the NIC president, other representatives, the House speaker, the governor and his staff, and many members of the public trying to get something done.

Most of those I speak with relay their concerns that “NIC hasn’t