BOISE, Idaho — Legislation requiring cities, towns and schools to get permission from the Legislature to change the historic names of streets and parks or remove monuments or memorials has been approved by the House and is headed to the Senate.
The House voted 51-19 Tuesday to approve the measure backers say is needed to prevent the altering of history through obliterating historic though imperfect figures.
Opponents say the proposed law is an affront in a state that prizes local control.
Republican Rep. Doug Okuniewicz says the entire state should have a say in things such as renaming streets or removing monuments, not just the people who live near them.
Late Tuesday, Idaho's attorney general Lawrence Wasden warned this bill, should it pass, would be unconstitutional and unenforceable.
In an opinion requested by Idaho House Minority Leader Rep. Ilana Rubel (D-Boise), Assistant Chief Deputy Brian Kane said Article 3, Section 19 of Idaho's constitution prohibits the legislature from passing "local or special laws" concerning "changing the names of persons or places" and regulating county and township business.
It would be unenforceable because it overstates the legal authority of concurrent resolutions, according to Kane. He also called the wording vague: the terms "proper measures" and "proper means" are undefined and likely left open to be challenged on First Amendment grounds.
Okuniewicz is working with Kane to improve what he called a "popular and important effort to protect history in Idaho."
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