BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
The House Transportation and Defense Committee voted on Wednesday to send a bill that would reshape the Ada County Highway District’s commission to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation, despite overwhelming public opposition from entities like ACHD and Garden City’s mayor.
Rep. Josh Tanner, R-Eagle, brought the bill forward, saying he wanted to make representation on the commission better. Tanner said that ACHD, as the only countywide highway district in Idaho, could be a model for other counties.
“I always try to stay in my own lane,” Rep. Julie Yamamoto, R-Caldwell, said. “This seems like if it’s a really good idea that it will still be a good idea next year and I think we need to talk with those who do the doing.”
The proposed legislation would move the district from a five-commissioner board to a seven-commissioner board, make races for those seats partisan and remove commissioners whose terms currently extend beyond Jan. 1, 2025, from office at the end of this year.
Tanner said he looked at potentially turning the district over to the county commissioners but settled on increasing the number of commissioners to seven from five.
“We have six incorporated cities and then we also have unincorporated Ada County,” Tanner said. “So you’re currently at seven, in a sense.”
The bill’s language says that as much as possible, cities will be contained within a unique district with no population from another city.
Tanner said many county elections are partisan, but ACHD is nonpartisan. The bill also set lower salaries for the highway district commissioners.
Tanner said he had been “hammered” on this bill and said that he wasn’t doing this because of the types of people elected to the commission.
“I don’t know that we’ll have that drastic of change up on the board,” Tanner said. “... I think it does a lot, it gives a lot of good structure to a system that in my opinion, has had some issues and had some frustration.”
“So exactly what are we fixing?” Rep. Clay Handy, R-Burley, asked.
In response, Tanner said Boise dominates the population, “so the whole idea is to try to break it up to where we are getting a better representation across the area.”
In its current form, ACHD’s districts are sectioned into southeast Boise (district 1), west Boise and Garden City (district 2), north Boise, Eagle and Star (district 3), Kuna and south Ada County (district 4) and Meridian (district 5).
Rep. Ned Burns, D-Bellevue, asked whether Tanner reached out to ACHD before the bill was introduced. Tanner said he had not.
“What problem are we trying to solve by growing government, and adding additional unfunded mandates to local units of government?” Burns asked, before being told to rephrase the question and then being told the question has already been answered.
Public testimony was completely in opposition of the bill. Of the 12 people who testified, all 12 were opposed.
Ada County Highway District Commission President Alexis Pickering urged the committee to hold the bill.
“Each city and the unincorporated county has their unique needs, sure, but we all share certain needs from our road system, and those needs are nonpartisan,” Pickering said. “We all need our roads to be safe and maintained year after year.”
Pickering was asked why it would be a bad thing to have two more commissioners. She said it wouldn’t be more effective and would add more cooks in the kitchen. She said people are being well-represented as is.
John Evans, mayor of Garden City, expressed “profound disappointment” that local officials weren’t given the opportunity to weigh in.
“I’ve never been a fan of the current governance model,” Evans said. “Adding two commissioners, creating seven districts will not fundamentally change ACHD’s operation. My experience on numerous boards would lead me to believe that it would result in more power and influence from the staff. ... It will just make the malaise I referenced above worse.”
Ryan McGoldrick with Conservation Voters for Idaho said this bill isn’t being driven by local governments or voters.
“I can tell you that one thing I’ve never heard from voters, is that they wish that we could find better ways to inject partisan politics into the local elections,” McGoldrick said.
At the end, Tanner, the bill’s sponsor, said he appreciated the testimony.
“This is not a punishment bill,” Tanner said. “This is actually a good bill.”
Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, made a motion to send it to the House with a do-pass recommendation. Yamamoto made a substitute motion to hold it in committee. Yamamoto’s motion failed.
“This feels top down,” Rep. Greg Lanting, R-Twin Falls, said. “It feels like we’re trying to find a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist.”
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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