Rep. Steve Berch Newsletter - There oughta be a law . . . NOT

This newsletter is a “catch up” for selected bills that were voted on in the House of Representatives from February 18^th through the 28^th.  The status of each bill, however, is current as of this writing. Most all of the bills discussed below originated in the House of Representatives. Most bills that originated in the Senate didn’t reach the floor of the House for a vote during this period of time. More Senate bills should start appearing in my subsequent newsletters.
 
As always, please feel free to contact me anytime for any reason. My contact information appears at the end of this newsletter.

Much of the early batch of bills discussed below are about masks, vaccines, voter suppression and guns. Absent are bills addressing the issues that profoundly affect the daily lives of most Idahoans:  property tax relief, unaffordable housing, education funding, consumer protection, good-paying jobs, infrastructure, healthcare (especially mental health services), and access to public lands – to name a few.
 
You may notice that nearly all of the bills discussed below are “in the Senate.”  While some of them might advance, many of them will likely die there. This reflects on the poorly written and sometimes head-scratching legislation coming out of the House. In fact, many bills are written knowing they will never pass in the Senate. The goal for some of them isn’t to actually pass, but rather to make a political statement to a targeted voter base in advance of the May primary election.
 
The risk to any politician, of course, is voting against a bad bill the sounds good on the surface. Bills often have great sounding titles that hide not-so-great things within them (such as a recent “Hope and Opportunity” bill). In fact, some bills are actually written by outside political forces to “trap” discerning legislators into voting against bad legislation that sounds good, and use their vote against them in the primary or general election.
 

My job is to vote for good bills and vote against bad bills, no matter how much lipstick is applied to them. That’s why I explain not only how I vote, but why I vote the way I do in my newsletters – which is one way I try to show respect for my constituents, even if we don’t always agree.

Unfortunately, I wound up having to vote against most of the bills discussed below.

 

Voter suppression
 
Shorten time for unaffiliated voters to change their party affiliation (H439 – passed the House, in the Senate). Currently, unaffiliated voters can change their affiliation to the Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or Constitution Party by the primary election (mid-May). This bill shortens the time allowed to do so, coinciding with the candidate filing deadline (mid-March).
 
I voted AGAINST this voter suppression bill. It denies unaffiliated voters the ability to register as Republicans if they want to vote in the Republican Party before they know who all the Republican candidates are (many candidates file on the last day for filing). This is only a Republican Party issue because their primary elections are the only “closed” primary in Idaho (restricted to only registered Republicans).
 
But there’s more behind this bill. I’ve met hundreds of Republicans at the door who chose to register as “unaffiliated” because they were upset with a 2012 law pushed by the majority party requiring them to publicly reveal their personal political preference in order to vote in any election.  This bill suppresses the vote of those unaffiliated Republican voters who might want to re-register as a Republican after all the candidates are known, in order to express their support or concern about certain candidates that might appear on the primary ballot in May.

Criminalize the act of helping a neighbor turn in their absentee ballot (H547 – passed the House, in the Senate). This mean-spirited voter suppression bill turns an act of kindness into a crime and turns a Good Samaritan into a criminal. It would make it a crime for you to help your elderly, disabled neighbor deliver their legal, signed and sealed absentee ballot to the county elections office so their vote can be counted. Not one example of voter fraud associated with the current absentee ballot process in Idaho was presented as evidence to justify the need for this bill. I voted AGAINST this most un-American of bills that is based on fiction and fear-mongering.


COVID-related
 
Forever prohibit the mandating of masks to prevent or slow the spread of a contagious or infectious disease (H631 – passed the House, in the Senate). This bill ignores over a century of proven science by eliminating the option for a mask mandate (by government entities) to prevent or slow the spread of any disease (not just COVID) regardless as to how deadly it may be – including a virus or disease with a 5%, 10%, 20% or greater mortality rate. Government facilities (including schools) would be forced to shut down as the only means to protect its employees and patrons. I voted AGAINST this poorly crafted short-sighted bill designed to energize a certain segment of primary election voters.  It may be a good way for some to win votes in the short term, but a bad way to legislate public safety over the long term.

Limit a business owner’s ability to manage workplace safety (H581 – passed the House, in the Senate).  This bill imposes the heavy hand of government regulation over 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. The bill further imposes a fine on the employer if they try to require employees to get vaccinated, or for even asking 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.
 
The sponsor’s solution for employers who want to protect other workers from unvaccinated employees is for them to shut down their business and put everyone out of work (yes, he really said that).
 
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. Bills need to make sense not just in the moment, but in the future as well. I voted AGAINST this bill, which fails to pass that test.
 
CLICK HERE to watch my debate against this bill in the Business Committee.

Allow unvaccinated guests enter any residential care or assisted living facility (H601 – passed the House, in the Senate). This bill ensures that any unvaccinated person can expose themselves to anyone in a residential care or assisted living facility when visiting a resident, even if another resident doesn’t want to be exposed to an unvaccinated person for health or personal reasons. I voted AGAINST this bill which effectively says that an individual can be forcibly exposed to unvaccinated strangers against their will, even if that individual is immune-compromised. It is yet another bill that says the rights of any one individual supersedes the rights of every other member of the community.


Education
 
Self-directed learners (S1238 – signed into law).  This bill provides flexibility for innovative methods of learning that are not dependent solely on sitting in a classroom.  School districts can adopt criteria for designating a “self-directed learner”, and participation requires both parent and teacher approval.  While one can imagine questionable scenarios, this bill addresses certain practices that are already taking place in some schools. I voted FOR this bill, which passed unanimously in both the House and Senate.

Mandate the creation of a curricular materials adoption committee in every school district (H650 – passed the House, in the Senate). This bill is problematic for several reasons. Current law already enables the creation of such committees, which exist throughout the state. This bill mandates the creation of these committees, ordering them to have exactly 12 members that must include six parents. Several school district personnel testified in committee about the difficulty they have in getting even one or two parents to participate, especially in rural school districts. This is one of several bills whose purpose appears to be more about creating artificial “parental control” talking points. I voted AGAINST this unnecessary bill that doesn’t solve or even identify a real, existing problem – and may create new ones.


Other bills
 
Keep the Power Ball lottery in Idaho (H607 – passed the House and Senate – to the Governor). This bill enables Idahoans to continue playing the Power Ball lottery should it expand its availability into Australia and the United Kingdom. What was most surprising about this bill was that 25 Representatives and 11 Senators voted against it, knowing that it could take millions of dollars away from public education. It’s hard to know how many legislators voted “no” based on the crazy notion that Australia is a communist country due to its handling of COVID (which was an argument made in opposition of this bill).  I voted FOR this bill, which benefits education and provides an offering the public overwhelmingly supports.

Taxing Idahoans for gasoline imported into Idaho from Washington State (HJM5 – adopted by both the House and Senate).  This House Joint Memorial is a statement from the Idaho Legislature to the governor of Washington State demanding that he does not implement this proposed tax on Idahoans for gasoline that it exports into Idaho. I normally don’t write about memorials since they have no force of law – they are just statements. However, this potential action by Washington State was particularly egregious and could trigger a mutually damaging trade war. I voted FOR this Memorial, and the State of Washington eventually chose not to move forward with this action.

Forbid municipalities from entering into long term leases to build jails and courthouses (H575 – passed the House, in the Senate). This bill would require a municipality to put the funding for jails and courthouses up to a simple majority vote if they wanted to enter into a lease that lasted longer than five years. I had mixed feelings about this bill: I liked reducing the margin of passage from two-thirds to 50% (one person, one vote), and I value letting the people have a direct voice on certain decisions. On the other hand, long-term leasing is a very common practice throughout Idaho that has not shown to be a problem or create an undue financial burden on municipalities. It is also very difficult (even with a simple majority vote) to get voter approval for the funding of essential government facilities that the vast majority of them will never use – such as jails and courthouses. I decided to vote AGAINST this bill because there was no clear problem being solved, while the consequences could make it very difficult or nearly impossible for municipalities to make necessary investments in their community. I support extending a measure of trust to the people we elect, which is consistent with the belief that government is best when it is closest to the people.

Allow any armed, unregulated private militia group to operate in public anywhere at any time (H475 – passed the House, in the Senate). This bill, which was presented as a simple “clean-up” bill, can create a public safety concern in a time of heightened social tensions and careless, inflammatory rhetoric from people in leadership positions. It essentially allows any group of people of any size to function in public as a paramilitary unit with little or no government oversight, supervision or regulation. It doesn’t help when one of my legislative colleagues publicly suggested that using guns against public officials with whom they disagreed was a “reasonable question to ask.”
 
I support the Second Amendment. I do not support the exercising of any right in a manner that denies other people their rights. When a group of unarmed protesters is confronted by scores of counter-protesters with military assault weapons on a public street – that becomes an act of intimidation. It effectively denies others their right to peaceful assembly (as has recently happened in Boise and Coeur d’Alene). I voted AGAINST this bill whose constitutionality has be questioned and whose only real purpose appears to be the creation of election year talking points for a specific segment of primary election voters.

 

I’m catching up on a backlog of bills that have been voted on in the House of Representatives. This section will be updated when I’m caught up.