Pocatello legislators hold town hall
Legislators in Pocatello say they aren’t done until a transportation bill is passed this session.
The three democratic legislators, Roy Lacey, Mark Nye and Elaine Smith, organized a town hall Saturday to discuss how things are going in the legislature. They also addressed questions from constituents about other topics.
The legislators say the one of big issues is transportation. Idaho’s roads are in dire need of repair. About 400 bridges across the state are more than 50 years old.
“That means they’re beyond their useful life,” said Nye, District 29 representative in seat A. “In some cases, their useful safe life. Hopefully it doesn’t need a tragedy to get people doing what they should have done years ago.”
The legislators say they could be in session for another two weeks or a few days, depending on how the transportation funding bill progresses. They said the $80 million-proposed is not enough to fix Idaho’s roads. The cost is estimated at $242 million.
State senator Roy Lacey in District 29 said there is some resistance to raising taxes, including the gas tax. But everyone who uses the roads needs to pay for the maintenance, Lacey said.
“I just drove over Gould Street coming over here,” said Lacey. “Oh my gosh, that’s getting so bad. Part of the gas tax goes to the cities to repair their roads.”
Education was another major topic the legislators discussed. A bill has already been passed to increase teacher pay and provides other incentives to educators who go above and beyond.
They spoke about the work done to increase teacher pay by about 8 percent, with part of the work including bringing in about 50 teachers across the state to fill in staff shortages.
The legislators also said they were able to add back two and a half days of professional development and save money on Internet access, allowing more money to go to salaries.
The legislators say there is still a ways to go to pay teachers what they’re worth.
“Teachers are terribly, terribly burdened. Some are still paying to bring materials to classrooms,” Nye said. “Class size could be much smaller and more effective. So this is an ongoing need that has to be addressed.”
The legislators said listening to the voters has been very helpful. They said they are grateful to hear about what issues are important to their constituents.
“It’s so divergent, what they want,” Lacey said. “Everybody has their own idea, but it gives us ideas where they’re coming from so we can better represent them. I don’t think you can represent your constituents if you’re not hearing from them.”
