St. Paddy's week busy for Senate
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March 18, 2014 |
By Senator Shawn Keough
This week – the week of St. Patrick’s Day - the
pace of the Legislature is hectic as we work to
meet our target completion date of Friday, March
21.
I have been working hard on an issue that is
important to our area and I am pleased to report
progress. The Safe Boating bill has passed the
House. If the Governor allows this bill to
become law, enforcement, prosecutors and the
judiciary will have a refreshed tool to use to
hold reckless and careless boat operators
accountable and allow victims to recover
damages.
Other work this past week included the following
bills:
The Senate voted unanimously to send a strong
message to President Obama and Secretary of
State Kerry through Senate Joint Memorial 106.
The memorial implores Obama and Kerry to use
every opportunity and resource to end the unjust
imprisonment and secure the immediate release of
U.S. Citizen and Ada County resident, Pastor
Saeed Abedini.
His wife, Naghmeh Abedini, was in the gallery
for the reading and debate of SJM106. Abedini
was visiting his parents in Iran when he was
arrested, imprisoned and continues to be
tortured because of his Christian faith.
The Senate helped Senator Fred Martin fulfill a
promise to the Parrish family. A unanimous
Senate vote approved SCR 145, which urges all
Idaho residents to protect their homes and
families by educating themselves about the risks
and symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning and by
installing carbon monoxide detectors in their
homes.
SCR 145 was requested by Jensen and Ian Parrish,
whose parents and siblings recently died of
carbon monoxide poisoning in Pocatello. Here in
our area we have also lost friends and neighbors
to this problem and others have nearly lost
their lives, being rescued at the last moment by
neighbors or emergency responders. It only costs
about $50 for a detector – if you don’t have one
please get one today.
The Senate has been working through budgets for
state departments and divisions this week. For a
complete rundown we encourage you to check out
www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2014/minidata.htm.
The Senate unanimously agreed on S1374, which
would allow low risk prison inmates to volunteer
to work harvesting fruit and do other
agricultural labor if there’s a shortage of
workers.
The inmates would be paid about $12 an hour
which can be used to pay off fines and
restitution before they are released. Last
season’s pears and apples went unpicked in
Sunnyslope orchards because of a labor shortage.
The entire Senate agreed on the need to protect
student data. It unanimously passed S1372 which
clarifies what constitutes a student record and
what information they can and cannot keep as a
student record.
S1373 passed by a vote of 34-1. The bill
provides legislative direction for the
implementation of innovations in attaining and
maintaining water quality in Idaho water bodies.
The Senate passed S1273 by a vote of 28-8. The
bill would change worker’s compensation for
fulltime firefighters. Firefighters are
regularly exposed to burning chemicals in fires.
The law states that specific cancers and
diseases would be presumed to be occupationally
related unless medical evidence shows otherwise,
thus making it possible to collect worker’s
compensation in those instances.
The bill is now in the House, where rumor has it
that it will not get a hearing this year.
Firefighters will come back next session and try
again. These folks rush into burning structures
to save lives and property at great risk to
their well being. Where medical evidence shows
that cancers and diseases are directly related
to this courageous work, we should take care of
their expenses.
The Senate voted 21-13 in favor of payday
lending legislation, S1341. The bill would allow
people who can’t repay their payday loans an
option to get an extended payment plan with no
additional fees or interest. The bill would
limit loans to 25% of the borrower’s monthly
income.
I’ve worked on the issue of payday lending for
several years and while this does not go as far
as I believe we should, it is a step in the
right direction, in my view.
The Senate passed S1408, to double the cap on
the Budget Stabilization Fund, the state’s main
rainy-day savings account, from five percent of
the budget to 10 percent. The vote was 30-5.
This is a fiscally prudent and actuarially sound
step to insure we have reserves in place for the
next economic downturn.
The Senate passed a change to the video
voyeurism law in Idaho.
By a vote of 33-2 they passed H460 which
addresses the use of pictures or videos of an
intimate or private nature shared without
consent for other such as revenge, extortion or
humiliation. The bill is now awaiting action by
the Governor.
The House passed the following Senate bills
which now go to the governor’s desk for his
decision:
Like the Senate before it, the House voted
unanimously in favor of S1357 for Justice
Reinvestment. The goal is to reduce the
recidivism rate, promote public safety and save
hundreds of millions of dollars by investing $33
million into probation and parole reforms over
the next five years.
The House has passed S1277 which authorizes land
exchanges with state-owned cottage sites at
Priest and Payette lakes that are part of the
state’s land endowment. Exchanges were halted
earlier this year after legal questions were
raised about whether the state could legally
trade the sites for land that wasn’t “similar.”
This is one of the bills I co-sponsored this
year and worked hard to get it passed. I am
hopeful the Governor allows it to become law and
that the Land Board utilizes it to resolve the
issues surrounding the Priest Lake state cottage
site leases.
Child Advocacy Centers provide child forensic
interviews when there is suspicion of child
abuse. S1221 defines and recognizes them in
state code, which may allow the centers to
receive more federal funds. This bill passed the
House by a vote of 49-16.
The House passed S1352 in a vote of 53-14. The
bill would establish three behavioral health
community crisis centers around the state.
Supporters say it will provide a better option
than jails or hospital emergency rooms for
people suffering from a mental health crisis and
who have not committed a crime. I strongly
believe this to be a good direction to go to
make certain that those who struggle with mental
illness are treated humanely and get the help
they need.
The House voted unanimously for S1350 which
would create a five-person State Treasurer
Investment Advisory Board and removes securities
lending agreements from the list of allowable
investments by the State Treasurer. I supported
this bill as a critical step in light of what
legislative auditors uncovered that showed that
inappropriate decisions were made on securities
lending and the resulting losses to taxpayers’
funds.
It was a unanimous House vote for S1275 which
enhances secondary agriculture and natural
resource programs currently offered in Idaho
Schools, and will provide start up grants for
schools wanting to offer those programs. This
bill will strengthen the program in Bonners
Ferry and help make it possible to start a
program in Sandpoint and perhaps Priest River.
By a vote of 61-1 S1310 passed the House. The
bill puts reasonable requirements in place to
protect home owners from arbitrary and
capricious actions by home owners associations.
It sets standards courts can use if there is a
dispute regarding the validity of fines.
As you may know, I serve on the Joint Finance
and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) and am
vice-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
Last week JFAC voted to transfer $24 million to
the state’s rainy-day savings account. We also
approved a $10 million transfer to the Public
Education Stabilization Fund and $2 million to
the Higher Education Stabilization Fund. During
the fiscal challenges of the last decade, it was
these reserves that kept us from having to raise
taxes and cut essential services even more than
we did.
There are many other bills in the works and the
complete list can be found at the web site
listed above.
Last Friday was the filing deadline for those
seeking election to offices including the
Legislature. I am honored to serve as the Idaho
State Senator for Legislative District One--
which includes much of Bonner County and all of
Boundary County. I have filed for reelection to
the Senate and hope that I have earned the
continued support of the voters in the district
including yours. Thank you for your
consideration!
While other states have raised taxes during the
recession, we made difficult decisions, actually
reduced Idahoan’s taxes and have begun to
restore education funding. I will continue my
efforts to help provide an efficient but
effective state government.
I am grateful that so many of you stay in touch
with me during the legislative session. As
always, I look forward to hearing from you about
your perspectives and opinions on the bills
before us.
Please continue to stay in touch! You can reach
me by email at
skeough@senate.idaho.gov or through our toll
free message center at 1-800-626-0471 until the
end of the session. You can also check out my
Facebook page for timely information at
www.facebook.com/senatorshawnkeough. |
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