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Session ends with progress made |
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April 9, 2017 |
By Idaho Representative Heather Scott
The 2017 session proved to be what I believe is
the beginning of real change in the Idaho
legislature as debates and conversations are
starting to shift in the right direction. More
legislators are beginning to question the
agendas and motives behind bills and policy in
an attempt to expose top down centralized
planning and crony capitalism at the expense of
citizen.
We started three years ago with a few liberty
legislators willing to speak out and stand up
for citizens freedoms on the House floor. By the
first week of the 2017 session that number had
tripled.
These liberty legislators have shown they are
more concerned about the citizens they represent
than pleasing leadership, their peers or getting
re-elected.
Some in the media continue to distract from and
distort the truth but they cannot change the
reality recently revealed by the Idaho Freedom
Foundation. There is a growing core of
legislators who are now voting in the 90%
percentile on bills promoting constitutional
principles and limiting government.
When the session ended last week, 24 Republican
legislators showed up for a freedom caucus
meeting. These legislators appear to be serious
about returning to real Republican principles
and values when enacting legislation.
While many new liberty legislators came to Boise
to pursue specific issues and make policy
changes, they too have determined that the
process is broken and needs fixed.
We spent much of the session exposing problems
related to the current committee system and
double standards. The chairmen and leadership’s
ultimate authority to control policy ideas and
suppress the voices of the citizens is a real
concern.
The best solution is more engaged citizen's
putting pressure on current incumbent
legislators who shun the constitution for their
own personal gain.
Toward the last day of session, several of our
bill ideas were unlocked from committee chairman
drawers and given print hearings. While this may
have appeased some, it is too little too late,
and an unacceptable way to develop legislation.
The current trend is to have a full committee
hearing on nearly every proposed government
agency or lobby bill while ignoring numerous
bills proposed by individual liberty
legislators.
The Speaker of the House realizes there is a
major problem with suppressing the voice of the
people. So much so, he showed up at our Freedom
Caucus meeting and, as quoted in the Post
Register saying, "in a conciliatory tone to the
Representatives present … 'I understand your
frustrations, and they’re real, and they’re
valid, and perhaps it’s time to re-examine the
level of control committee chairmen hold …'" |
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