Idaho legislative committee eyes federal lands, education

A panel of lawmakers formed to monitor how federal laws affect Idaho’s sovereignty and report back to the Legislature has created three subcommittees to examine federal lands, education, and health and welfare.

Republican Rep. Jason Monks, co-chair of the Committee on Federalism, said Thursday the federal lands subcommittee is not a repeat of an interim committee from several years ago that ran up big attorney fees while trying to find a way for the state to take control of federal lands.

He says the purpose of the Committee on Federalism created by the Legislature earlier this year is to find ways for the state to work more effectively with the federal government, and the breadth of that challenge is better met by forming subcommittees.