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Water top issue at legislative breakfast |
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Friday, 25 January 2008 |
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By Emily Hone BLACKFOOT — Bingham County state legislators expressed disappointment during their weekly visit with Blackfoot residents Thursday over the first decision to come out of the water rights administrative hearings being conducted in Boise by the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
Morning News — Emily Hone
People attending Thursday's Blackfoot Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast at Stan's Restaurant included Kathy Tauscher, second from right, and her son, Nate. At left is chamber Executive Director Stephanie Govatos and at right Tammy Ketterman. The no-host breakfasts take place on Thursdays at 7 a.m. to give local residents a chance to visit with their state legislators.
"I think we were all disappointed in the ruling," Sen. Steve Bair said, adding there is a good chance legislation may be drafted that will take care of some of the "minor issues."
The comments came following a question from Terry Hopkins during the Blackfoot Chamber of Commerce's legislative breakfast at Stan's Restaurant on a story about the hearing she read in The Morning News.
Bair referred to the recommendation by retired Idaho Supreme Court Justice Schroeder that the pumpers must provide Thousand Springs area trout farms with spring water to fulfill their surface water rights.
The legislators said they saw no conflict in the fact Schroeder is being paid by DWR to preside at the hearings and make recommendations to the department.
Rep. Jim Marriott said people who want to know about the decision can read the 12 page summary of it on the Internet so they won't have to rely on what they read in the newspaper.
About a dozen people showed up to visit with their legislators during the 7 a.m. breakfast.
Bair and Rep. Dennis Lake said there's not much action on bills in the Legislature to this point, and they've mainly been attending committee meetings and working on rules changes for the various agencies.
However, Lake said a bill on election consolidation has gone to print and will be assigned to committee for consideration.
Lake said the Idaho State School Board is opposed to election consolidation, but some of the local boards across the state have split with them on the issue.
He said the purpose of consolidation is to prevent special taxing districts from scheduling elections for things like bond issues and supplemental levies on dates when they know there won't be a big voter turnout.
Lake told Blackfoot Mayor Mike Virtue he's part of a group working on a bill that will allow local jurisdictions like cities and counties more flexibility in incurring large amounts of indebtedness.
"I think the bill is just about ready to print," Lake said.
Local government officials across Idaho have complained that an Idaho Supreme Court ruling preventing them from incurring more indebtedness than they can retire in 12 months hampers their ability to function.
Among the other things discussed were Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna's iStars program, tax exemptions, interim committees, removal of the personal property tax for businesses, welfare fraud, and the lack of signals on agricultural equipment moving on public roads.
Bair said he thinks removing business personal property from the tax rolls would be a good thing, but doubted it will happen this year in light of the monthly economic downturns the state is seeing.
In response to a question on whether the expense of having interim committees working on various issues outside the legislative session is justified, Lake said such committees "can be the best of the best or the worst of the worst."
He said the purpose of a committee working on tax exemptions last summer was for it to see whether they are still valid, but it might not have done the work it should have to get it to the Germane Committee.
"When it was presented they said "this is not something we want to talk about."
In response to a question on whether he thinks all large equipment being hauled on public roads should be flagged for safety reasons, Lake said because of its nature, the agriculture industry has been allowed the freedom of moving equipment largely unrestricted.
Chamber President Butch Hulse reiterated a question in that regard asked at last week's breakfast about requiring farm equipment to have visible turn signals.
Lake said it's generally large equipment being moved and he would hope the driving public would slow down when they see it.
Hulse replied it's the sudden turns that drivers have no clue are coming that pose the greatest threat. "We need something that lets people know they're going to make a turn," he said.
Cal Percy asked the legislators what is being done with the proceeds from the annual $25 fee that was initially being taken from child support payments collected by the state.
Bair said $8 of each $25 goes to the state to pay for administrating the collection system and the remainder goes to the federal government. He said the $25 is no longer being taken from the payment to the custodial parent, but is required from the non-custodial parent.
Percy said it's an unfair assessment, and the federal government is using the money to help retire the national debt.
Bair replied that the state is required to collect the money. "It's a federal mandate and there's not a thing we can do about it. We had no choice but to collect the money."
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 January 2008 )
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