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Care needed to see true intent of proposed laws |
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January 29, 2018 |
By District 1 Representative Heather Scott
During the legislative session the halls and the
Rotunda are always full of citizens promoting
their ideas and agendas to legislators. It is a
great opportunity to learn how government works
and how legislation effects individuals and
groups. Last week was the deadline for personal
bill introductions in the House.
To date over 150 bills have been started in the
House or Senate. Just a quick reminder of how
the process works: bills must get voted out of
the appropriate committee, pass on the floor of
one body (House or Senate) and repeat the
process through the other body.
Only after a bill has been passed by both the
Senate and the House will it make it to the
Governor's desk for a final signature. Each year
about 300-400 bills are turned into law.
Recently, Idaho legislators and citizens have
been lobbied hard by a narrowly focused
out-of-state group to change to the Idaho State
Constitution concerning victims’ rights.
The proposed change, called “Marsy’s Law,”
originated from a California billionaire.
The attempt to push this legislation through
during the final few weeks of last year’s
session failed, and this year the group has
returned with renewed efforts. Legislators
expect to see a similar draft again this year.
Millions of dollars are being pumped into Idaho
for this endeavor and the group is resorting to
displaying the accompanying photo to bully those
legislators who have expressed concerns with the
language from last year.
There are usually lots of attempts to spread mis-information
during an election year, and it is an election
year.
The marketing tactics of this group are
disturbing! Playing on citizens' emotions and
not providing factual information about the pros
and cons of the wording of the law should make
us all question what the true agenda may be.
While the language in this year’s attempted
legislation has not been publicly released, last
year’s proposed legislation would have made a
constitutional change allowing government to
grant victim rights and potentially give
corporations and businesses victim rights
status. Idahoans should know that all rights
come from God --not government!
The South Dakota legislature, one of six states
to pass the amendment last year, is now
attempting to repeal the constitutional change
because of unintended consequences now coming to
light.
While I believe most legislators would strongly
support the individual rights of victims and
would be willing to strengthen existing victim
status in our current code, I believe allowing
government to define rights goes too far.
That is why I and other conservative legislators
have joined together and are planning to release
an alternative bill this week which will clearly
define how government should treat victims
instead of letting government grant rights to
victims. The Idaho version of this alternative
proposed legislation is called the Idaho Victim
Protection Act.
This language will offer real protection for
victims without trampling the rights of
individuals and advancing progressive
centralized government agendas. It is written by
Idahoans who want real pertinent laws providing
victims’ rights and proper treatment of victims
throughout the judicial process.
Please watch for the release of this legislation
next week and join us in supporting honest and
fair victim protection legislation here in
Idaho.
There will be lots of bills moving through
committees throughout the next few weeks. We
expect to see bills on Medicaid expansion, tax
reform, castle doctrine, CBD oil and more.
I will update you in my next newsletter on how
they are progressing. Thanks for reading and
staying informed with your state government. |
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