Elected Officials Take Lead on Next Legislative Session

Just because the legislative session is out for the summer, doesn’t mean local lawmakers in eastern Idaho are taking a break.

On Tuesday, elected officials across the region swapped seats for a day in the Bannock County Courthouse.

County commissioners, prosecuting attorneys, and state representatives made it a point to discuss the biggest issues facing the communities, in an effort to get ahead of the curve.

Idaho’s state Senator Jim Guthrie (Inkom), explained why this meeting was so important.

“Once the session starts for us, it’s hard to get in contact with local, elected officials, and by doing this early, we’ll understand what’s on their mind, what we see coming, and that way they can start thinking about what’s important in terms of their agenda and what they wan to see relative to policy in the state,” Guthrie said.

He said this is also a great opportunity for local elected officials and lawmakers to better get to know each other so everyone is more inclined to work together.

“It’s a better way to relate to them and discuss the issues while getting a feel for how to move forward with policy that benefits the counties and the state,” he added.

Guthrie said, one pressing issue discussed at Tuesday’s meeting that will come up again during this upcoming 2018 legislative session is on the lawsuit surrounding the public defenders in Idaho.

There are claims the state is not adequately representing people needing that service, and Guthrie predicts this will be a big topic because this could end up costing the counties even more.

He also touched upon the recent announcement from Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter, claiming Idaho finished this past fiscal year with a higher tax revenue than predicted.

Fiscal year 2017, which ended June 30, showed the state took in almost $3.45 billion compared with the predicted $3.35 billion.

Earlier this year, lawmakers extended the state’s so-called surplus eliminator, a policy that diverts leftover state revenue funds into both rainy-day funds and transportation projects. The state is projecting the rainy-day account now hovers around $318.7 million.

“With the revenue surplus that exceeded expectations, that’s going to put more pressure on lawmakers to do some sort of tax relief,” Guthrie said. “But, what will that look like? Personal property tax relief has some broad, and sometimes very negative implications for counties, so, they can now start thinking about that tax relief and getting behind something that causes the least amount of harm for local jurisdictions.”