BOISE, Idaho — Idaho lawmakers have a target of being done for the year in a little more than two weeks. Leadership at the Idaho Statehouse aim at drawing to a close on March 24th.
Idaho Democrats are speaking out, saying late in the session real work needs to get done.
House Minority Leader, Democrat Ilana Rubel, believes Idaho lawmakers are taking cues on culture war legislation from voices outside of Idaho.
“This has been a two-month long Fox News fever dream,” Rubel said. “The legislation is being driven by national right wing talking points rather than the actual needs and wants of the people in this state. Tucker Carlson, Tucker Carlson's latest monologue is a far better predictor of what will appear on the agenda in this building than what actual Idahoans really want and need.”
Rubel identifies legislation on library content, regulating drag shows, and bringing back the firing squad as topics that Idahoans are not calling for prioritized action on. Dem leaders believe special interest groups and cable networks are impacting discussions on Idaho issues like property tax and infrastructure.
“We really want to bring that focus back to the people of Idaho, what they need. The kids are schools. The schools are kids are going to the money that's in their pockets, the property tax checks they have to pay, the things that will actually change their lives and not satisfy some headquarters smoking room somewhere out there in America that just wants to make a project are seeing how many states they can pass these things in,” Rubel said.
Democrats are calling on the heavy majority led GOP legislature to focus on issues Idahoans want taken care of. GOP leaders tell me, they are on top of it. House Majority Leader, Republican Megan Blanksma, responds to the comment that republicans are obsessed with dealing with social issues first.
“I don't think it's a fair comment because I don't know that we are just focused on social issues. We have some days where there are quite a few that come through and others that we don't. I think that probably what you're seeing is lack of knowledge of what's moving,” Blanksma said. “If you look at the board, what we're sitting there holding are appropriations bills, which means we're trying to clear out anything that has come through committee, through a policymaking committee before we move on to the appropriations bill. It's just a question of ordering. It has nothing to do with the bad set of priorities at all.”
Blanksma said the early action at the statehouse this session is simply based on what is fleshed out and ready to be discussed.
“I think it's just what was available and what we could move early in the session. There's been no effort to necessarily keep things from moving. And right now we're just in the process of ordering bills so that we can move the House bills into the Senate. And I would argue always that the Democrats priorities are not what the vast majority of Idahoans want for priorities as we are in the super majority as Republicans in the House,” Blanksma said.
Democrats pushed on that concept, saying important issues shouldn’t be held to the end.
“We have all these important issues and they're always left to the very end. And then we don't have proper time for the public to weigh in for us to really think it through. And then we have to make a decision based on haste and pressure. And that's not good governance,” said Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow.
Blanksma details the process lawmakers are working through.
“Unless you can get everything worked out at the very beginning. So we're going to run it in January and all parties are on board, then, Yeah, it takes time and it takes multiple drafts because you want people to concur and you want it to have a smooth path forward and that takes a lot of negotiation. So yeah, some of the larger things take some time to negotiate and you can't always do it in the off season,” Blanksma said.
Still, Democrats point to divisive social issues as topics that don’t need as much attention from lawmakers.
“We believe that the most important things, the things we prioritize the most, should be the first things addressed. They should not be left to get the scraps of what's left over after everything else has been dealt with,” Rubel said.
Blanksma added that lawmakers gauge interest from Idahoans, not cable news shows.
“What we're trying to do is address specific constituent concerns, and you'll see that in a lot of the legislation. I would be thrilled to show you my email, which comes from actual Idahoans, because they put their address on it and they tell me what their concerns are. So I think that the vast majority of issues that we're addressing are coming from concerns with constituents or concerns within state agencies on how to better address concerns that are within the greater state of Idaho. So I think that's what our focus is,” Blanksma said.
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