Rep. Steve Berch Newsletter - Stop the crazy

Most of you know that I knock on doors – over 28,000 and counting. I always ask the voter, “What do you want me to get done, fix, or make better here in Idaho.” The response is almost always about education, wages, healthcare, infrastructure, taxes, access to public lands, and so on. 
 
But over the last six months I heard something new at the door from Republican, Democrat and independent voters alike; something I never heard before. It was one version or another of: “Stop the crazy!”
 
Sometimes a specific elected official is mentioned, or a recent bill is called out. It is truly startling to see so many people shake their head in disappointment or email me in disbelief at what people in the legislature are saying and doing.
 
And the crazy continues as bills that have begun to ooze out of committees. Expectations remain low going forward in this election year and redistricting year – a double whammy. And many observers suspect the governor has misplaced his “veto” pen.    
 
But perhaps there’s a silver lining. In a world where its assumed people have become numb to the atrocities of elected officials, Idaho voters are paying attention. And they don’t like what they see. 
 
That’s the first necessary step toward changing Idaho state government for the better – starting this November. 

------------------
As always, please feel free to contact me anytime for any reason. My contact information appears at the end of this newsletter.
 

On February 4, Governor Brad Little signed H436 into law.  This takes over $600 million of the estimated $1.9 billion state surplus and gives it away in the form of tax breaks and refunds, most of which will go to the very wealthy and well-connected.  Most people will get less than a $100 rebate.    

On January 31 – four days before the governor signed the bill – the Office of Performance Evaluations (OPE) issued a report revealing that the state would need to spend $847 million in maintenance to bring all its K-12 school buildings into “good” condition (up from “fair” and “poor”). It would take $1.3 billion (an additional $453 million) to bring them all up to “excellent” condition.

In 2005, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the state was constitutionally responsible to meet this financial obligation, not local school districts. Instead, you’re paying the bill, either through property taxes for annual bonds and levies forced by inadequate state funding, having to send your children to dilapidated school buildings (especially in rural Idaho), or both. (CLICK HERE to watch me question the governor’s office when OPE issued the report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee (JLOC, which oversees OPE).
 

The governor knew the state had at least an $847 million school building maintenance obligation before he signed the $600 million income tax break into law. Majority party leaders in the legislature are also to blame for this irresponsible spending of the so-called “surplus.”  They pushed H436 through early in the session to secure an election year talking point.  Had they used it to meet the state’s obligation to our kids, they could have paid off local school bonds and levies first, which would have also provided real property tax relief.
 
If you don’t pay your mortgage and utilities bills, you don’t have a “surplus” at the end of the year to spend on a vacation. What you have is a phony surplus and a mountain of debt.
 
The state doesn’t have a surplus if it doesn’t first meet its constitutionally mandated fiscal obligations. What the state does have is a debt of $847 million to $1.3 billion in the form of delayed and ignored maintenance across all of its K-12 school buildings.  And majority party leaders will continue forcing you to pay for this through school bonds and levies if they continue controlling state government. 
 
But hey, enjoy your $75 rebate check.
 

Education
 
Allow teachers to be covered by the state health insurance plan (H443 - Signed into law.) I voted FOR this important bill. It provides school districts the option to participate in the state medical and dental insurance coverage for its teachers and staff. This can significantly reduce monthly insurance premiums, which ultimately increases teacher take-home pay.

Self-directed learners (S1238 – Passed the House and Senate, sent to the Governor). This legislation sets up a structure where a greater degree of innovation can occur between teachers, students, and parents by focusing upon learning rather than seat time. Students that demonstrate they are self-directed learners can qualify for this added flexibility. I voted FOR this bill, which is already happening to a certain extent.

Provide a revolving loan fund for charter schools (H545. Passed the House, in the Senate). This well-intentioned bill shifts general fund dollars from local public schools to help charter schools pay for their choice to build new facilities. I fully support choice in education. What I don’t support is shifting money away from public schools to fund other choices, which is what this bill does and which is why I voted AGAINST it.


Local Government

Prohibit cities from enacting restrictions for rental fees or security deposits (H442 – Passed the House, in the Senate). The House decided that business owners are more important than consumers. This bill allows landlords and rental management companies to charge predatory and financially abusive fees – of any kind – without any city or local government oversight, no matter how outrageous the abuse. Laws should protect consumers from bad actors. This bill protects bad actors from consumers. I voted AGAINST it. (CLICK HERE to see my debate against this bill during the committee hearing.)

Remove local control over community monuments and memorials (H531 – Passed the house, in the Senate).  This bill would move local control over the placement of monuments and the naming of buildings from locally elected governments and give it to the Idaho Historical Society, whose membership comes from all over the state. If this becomes law, someone living in Custer County can have a say in deciding if Boise or Meridian can change the name of a high school or public memorial. I voted AGAINST this arrogant bill that violates the conservative principle that government is best when closest to the people. It injects the heavy hand of state government into what should clearly be a local decision.

Prohibit holding a bond election within 11 months of a failed bond election (H512 – Passed the House, in the Senate).  This bill is primarily an attempt to reduce property taxes by preventing school districts from floating bonds or levies more than once a year. There are two problems with this bill.  First, school districts often return to the voters with a lower cost bond or levy if the first attempt fails. Several examples were cited during floor debate where a bond failed the first time but passed the second time within the same year. (It’s important to remember that the deck is stacked against passage when a two-thirds majority is needed to pass; when every “no” vote counts twice.) 
 
The second reason is more serious. Many school bonds and levies wouldn’t even be needed if the legislature adequately funded education in the first place. School bonds and levies used to occur about once every 7-10 years. They used to be truly supplemental to adequate funding from the legislature. Now they’ve become annual operational bonds and levies to close the funding gap created by the legislature. They’ve become necessary just to keep class sizes under 40 students, keep the roof from falling on their heads, and attract and retain good teachers. I voted AGAINST this myopic bill that absolves the legislature from its fiscal responsibility, and which ultimately hurts students.


Tax and Fiscal Policy

Repeal the grocery tax (H448 – Stuck in the House Ways and Means committee).  This is one of several personal bills to repeal the grocery tax. All of them have been assigned to the Ways and Means committee, which is where bills usually get sent to die. Personal bills are primarily a way for legislators to make a political or policy statement, knowing their bill will not get a committee hearing.
 
However, there’s a parliamentary procedure to circumvent this dead-end. A motion can be made on the floor of the House to move any bill stuck in a committee directly to the floor of the House for a vote. I don’t like doing this because it does not allow for public testimony. However, this one issue is of such a high priority with so many constituents, that I SUPPORTED the motion to move the bill to the House floor for a vote. The motion failed. The sponsor tried three more times on three different days to do it again. I voted in favor of the move the next two times. However, on the last attempt it was clear the House would not approve the move and the sponsor began using parliamentary procedure for political grandstanding – which I do NOT SUPPORT. It appears that if you want the grocery tax to be repealed, you will have to replace the legislators in the majority party who continue to have you pay that tax.

Increase the annual grocery tax credit on your state income tax form by $20 (H509 – Passed the House, in the Senate). I voted AGAINST this bill whose only purpose is to fool citizens into thinking the legislature is doing something about the grocery tax, when in fact it is actually doing nothing. Here’s how absurd this bill is: If its becomes law, citizens wouldn’t actually get the $20 grocery tax credit increase until the year 2024 – and by then, inflation will have reduced its net value to about $12. This is both a joke and an insult to all Idahoans.

Reinstate property tax circuit breaker allowance for many homeowners (H481 – Passed the House, in the Senate). I voted FOR this bill which was made necessary by the horrendous tax cut bill passed last year (H389). That 26-page bill was passed last year in the eleventh hour with about a three-hour advance notice. One of the awful things it did was take away the circuit breaker allowance for about 2,000 homeowners who are disabled or living on a fixed income. I voted against H389 last year. Had it been defeated, this bill (H481) wouldn’t have been necessary. Note:  I have continually advocated for completely removing the $100,000 cap on the homeowner exemption. H389 raised the cap to $125,000.  However, if the cap had been entirely repealed, the homeowner exemption would have been $175,000 last year.

Ensure homeowners cannot claim an exemption for multiple properties (H564 – Passed the House, in the Senate). This bill enables the Tax Commission to disclose relevant information to county assessors to assure that residents of Idaho receive only one homeowner exemption. Some people claim a homeowner exemptions for multiple properties located in different counties, resulting in a substantial reduction in revenue for local governments and puts a greater tax burden on other homeowners. I voted FOR this bill, which closes a loop-hole that has existed for a long time.

Allow taxpayer dollars in the state treasury to be invested in gold and silver metal (H522. Passed the House, in the Senate). We saw this bill last year (H7), which also passed the House but died in the Senate. I voted AGAINST this frivolous bill that would primarily benefit a small group of outside interests that have pushed for this bill.


Business

Prevent a private business from protecting its employees in regard to vaccinations (H581. Passed committee, to the House floor).  This bill regulates privately owned businesses by forcing them to allow unvaccinated employee into the workplace – without any restriction or disclosure – where they could subsequently infect their co-workers with a coronavirus. The unvaccinated employee will bear no personal responsibility for the consequences, even if their spreading of the virus results in grave harm to a co-worker. The bill further imposes a fine on the employer if they try to require employees to get vaccinated, or even ask if they are vaccinated.
 
What makes this bill particularly short-sighted (and deadly) is that it applies for any future coronavirus (new or mutated), which could have a high mortality rate such as 20% or more - not just the current, milder Omicron variant.
 
The bill sponsor’s recommendation to private business owners who want to protect their workers from unvaccinated employees is to shut down their business and put everyone out of work (yes, he really said that). This bill makes no mention of an employee's freedom to seek work with a different employer more to his or her liking.
 
I believe in individual freedom. And like any freedom, it must be balanced with the rights and interests of others in the community. Allowing anyone to do anything they want, anywhere, at any time, without any responsibility or consequence for their actions is NOT freedom – its anarchy. The freedom of an employee who does not want to get vaccinated needs to be balanced with freedom of their co-workers to not be infected in the workplace by a highly contagious coronavirus with a high mortality rate.
 
Bills need to make sense not just in the moment, but in plausible future scenarios as well.  This bill fails to pass that test, which is why I voted AGAINST it in committee (CLICK HERE to see my debate against this bill).
 

H439. This bill moved the deadline for unaffiliated voters to change their party affiliation to the last day candidates can file for the primary election, which this year is March 11.  Currently, unaffiliated voters can change their party affiliation up until the day of the primary election, which this year is May 17.

H547. Criminalizes the act of helping a neighbor deliver their sealed absentee ballot to a county elections office.

H601. Prevents a residential care or assisted living facility from restricting visitor entry based on their vaccination status.

H607. Ensures Idaho’s continued participation in the Power Ball lottery.

H575. Prevents local municipalities from entering into long term leases for the purpose of building jails and courthouses without putting it up for a vote.