BOISE, Idaho — Here we are, the precipice of the 2023 Idaho legislative session. 2022 was full of elections, and now those elected are set to take action. Boise State Politics expert Dr. Stephanie Witt sets the tone, this new legislature has a very different dynamic.
“Well, a lot of new faces and you don't know what the new people are going to be like until you see them in action," Witt said. "So that's a big question and of course, we have many new committee chairs, and the committee chairs hold a lot of power in terms of which bills get into the process and what are considered. So those are a couple of things I think that we're looking at right off the bat.”
Lawmakers and political experts agree, education in Idaho will be a major legislative topic.
“It is, of course, the special session allocated $410 million for education, but it did not specify exactly how that should be spent and on what kinds of issues. So that's a topic the legislature will have to pick up. Of course, the legislature does not have to honor that. They can change their mind, change the dollar amount, change the focus. So that's all yet to be seen,” Witt said.
Assistant Minority Leader, Democrat Rep. Lauren Necochea, said Democrats are following the GOP sentiment mentioned in the last session of ‘fund students not systems’ closely.
“I'm very concerned about all of this talk about school vouchers, which would siphon funds away from public schools to private schools where there's no accountability and no oversight. And we can't, as taxpayers make sure that those children are getting what they need to succeed. And I'm even more concerned in this era where our public and charter schools we fund with public dollars aren't getting the funds they need. So there's no there are no extra dollars to take away from them,” Necochea said.
Majority Leader, Republican Representative Megan Blanksma, says GOP members of the House are focused on education options for Idahoans.
“I think what our focus on education is going to be is less on the facilities and current systems and more on workforce development. I think that's where we're finding shortcomings and we had done some town halls around the state earlier or at the end of last year to try to figure out what businesses needed for a workforce. And so I would look for some more targeted education investment when it comes to workforce development. I think that that is going to be more of a focus this year,” Blanksma said.
Property tax is another major issue Idahoans have spoken up on. They have called on leaders around Idaho to fix the reality of booming property tax rates.
“Democrats have consistently advocated for reindexing our homeowner's exemption. So it goes up with home prices in 2016 when the Republicans cap that homeowner's exemption instead of letting it go up with home prices. Every Democrat voted against it because we predicted exactly the scenario that we see today where homeowners are seeing their property taxes going up year after year after year,” Necochea said.
Blanksma said lawmakers want to do what they can to address property tax issues, but the reality is, local government needs to make changes.
“The state does not levy property tax. The state does not collect property tax and the state does not spend property tax. And I understand people are hurting based upon their property tax bills, but this is a very serious local problem. Property tax goes to your local entities. We have I think Representative Harris said it best last year. We have a whole lot of levers with the taxes that we collect on a state level, but we have very few to address property tax. Now I know we're looking at ways to shift money to try to give some property tax relief as best we can. But what people really need to focus on are those local budgets,” Blanksma said.
So with a lot of new faces and big battles to debate, how will this legislature operate?
“We just have to wait and see what happens. You know, the make up of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee is different. The committee chairs are different. We have a new speaker. All of that, you know, we won't know how it works till they're all in the room together and we see how well they play together,” Witt said.
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