At the heart of the conflict is our Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee. The committee’s recent departure from our decades-old budget-setting process consolidates power in the hands of a few people. The committee co-chairs are ramming through skeletal budgets they constructed without study and input from other committee members. Skeletal budgets leave out critical investments like raises earned by educators through Idaho’s teacher career ladder, the LAUNCH scholarships propelling young Idahoans to in-demand careers, and certain transportation funds. While the co-chairs claim they will go back and plug budget holes, services are now at risk.

The first House vote on a skeletal budget was a test case. The bill passed 38-31 (with all 11 Democrats opposed), showing many Republicans objected to the new budget-setting scheme.

That’s when the hammer came down.

The next day saw an unprecedented vote on the House Floor in support of Speaker Moyle. The motion “to retain the speaker” received unanimous “yes” votes because no one was willing to fall into the trap of expressing disloyalty publicly. The Legislative Services Office couldn’t find any other instances of such a motion in state history.

Immediately after, in a private caucus, House Republicans ousted the first female majority leader because she was among those opposing the new budgeting scheme. Research turned up only one other instance of a leadership change in the middle of a session, which occurred when a Senate leader was battling cancer.

By making a historic example of the majority leader, the speaker sent a chilling message about the consequences of dissent. Skeletal budgets for different agencies are now zooming across the House Floor. Almost all pass on party-line votes, signaling Republicans are under immense pressure to toe the line.

This budget scheme has given Speaker Moyle the singular power to block second-round funding bills that plug budget holes. It won’t matter what the Legislature as a whole wants because he can prevent votes from even taking place. And the speaker is on the record opposing LAUNCH scholarships, Medicaid services, and other crucial investments that make life better for Idahoans.

The stakes are high, and the need for a government that faithfully represents the people is more crucial than ever. Idaho Democrats will continue to vote our conscience and defend a strong, transparent democracy.

House Bill 447 would start as a $50 million proposal to siphon public tax dollars to private, religious, and even for-profit institutions with zero accountability. What is particularly concerning is that the bulk of the money has no limits on eligibility. That means a working family in rural Idaho could subsidize private school tuition for millionaires in Boise. Data in states like Iowa back this up, showing voucher programs most often serve students from well-off families already enrolled in private schools. This not only creates a new budgetary obligation but also jeopardizes public school funding in future budgets.

Additionally, voucher costs have a frightening propensity to explode, absorbing larger portions of the state budget. A recent analysis of vouchers in seven states between 2008 and 2019 revealed hundreds of millions of dollars being redirected to fund vouchers at the expense of local schools, despite a rise in public school enrollment. In Arizona, where only 8% of kids receive a voucher, the program is projected to cost a staggering $950 million next year, $320 million of which is unbudgeted. Utah’s original voucher bill had a $42 million price tag. Less than a year later, vouchers are projected to cost $150 million.

Vouchers are too costly on their own. They are unfathomable in the context of our limited budget and the investments we’re failing to make in our children. Idaho already ranks last in the nation for per-pupil spending. Schools are struggling to retain qualified staff and we have over $1 billion in neglected facility needs.
We’re also ignoring opportunities proven to boost student success. For example, almost every other state invests in preschool because every $1 invested returns up to $16 to the economy, and kids are more likely to enter kindergarten ready to learn. Today, 47% of Idaho’s children enter kindergarten already behind according to our Idaho Reading Indicator.

Preschool is just one example of a proven investment that would increase student success. Vouchers, on the other hand, cut funding available to schools without generating any new educational services.

HB 447 would largely serve as a giveaway to families who need it the least. We don’t have a dime to spare, let alone $50 million for a voucher subsidy scheme. For the sake of our children, our schools, and our future, Idaho must reject vouchers.

Today, school districts can require ongoing active shooter drills where employees test their ability to quickly distinguish between kids and assailants or mandate participation in meetings with local law enforcement to develop safety and incident response plans. School leaders can also use criteria to revoke privileges for staff who are not well-suited to the responsibility of carrying a firearm around children.

In contrast, HB 415 circumvents local control and gives blanket permission to employees and volunteers who have taken a one-time concealed carry course and shot 98 rounds. Schools must allow them to carry firearms regardless of shooting skill, temperament, mental state, visual acuity, length of time since they took a course, or other factors.

A major alarm bell should be that law enforcement does not support this approach. The Idaho Association of School Resource Officers and Idaho Sheriffs’ Association both oppose HB 415. It’s no wonder since experts have maintained that it is harder for police to respond to active shooters when unknown, untrained people are also engaging.

Opening the door to an untrackable number of firearms means new liability for schools. The Idaho State University professor who shot himself in the foot during class and the Utah teacher who accidentally shot herself in a school bathroom are two recent examples of the risks. At least one Idaho school district has already been notified that its insurance company will drop it if this bill is enacted. We can only imagine that costs will rise for insurance companies that continue to provide coverage.

Finally, this bill subverts the rights of teachers and parents who have come out in full force against this legislation. Parents won’t be able to ask whether their child’s teacher is armed, let alone demand more rigorous training requirements. One hundred Idahoans came out in opposition during the committee hearing. Only five individuals supported the bill, including the out-of-state lobbyist who brought the legislation.

Homegrown Idaho solutions and evidence-based safety measures are better than a one-size-fits-all approach from special interests. As this bill moves across the rotunda, I hope the Senate will see the wisdom in rejecting it.

The 2024 Idaho Public Policy Survey finds newcomers are 11 percentage points more likely to identify as Republicans and 10 percentage points less likely to identify as Independents than Idahoans who have lived here for more than 10 years. One would expect the increasingly Republican voting population to align tightly with the Republican supermajority in power, but that is not the case. In fact, the polling shows that Idahoans overwhelmingly agree with Democrats on the major issues of our day.

A majority of Idahoans oppose the abortion ban the GOP enacted. Nearly 70% of voters trust their libraries to make decisions about the content they make available, while Republican lawmakers bring bills threatening librarians with jail time and expensive lawsuits. As GOP legislators push for school vouchers, only 49% of Idahoans approve, and support drops when respondents consider the diminished school funding they will cause.

For the first time in the survey’s history, more voters thought Idaho was moving in the wrong direction compared to 40% who think Idaho is on the right track.

A different poll showed strong opposition to Medicaid cuts and strong support for leaving Medicaid expansion in place, while the Republican supermajority seeks to slash Medicaid and repeal Medicaid expansion. Yet another poll revealed very strong support for investing in our dilapidated school facilities, an issue Republican lawmakers have refused to act on for years.

These discrepancies underscore a stark contrast between the policy preferences of regular Idahoans and the legislation pursued by the dominant political party.

To long-time Republicans who have been left behind by their party, I invite you to take a closer look at Idaho Democrats. For newcomers to Idaho who voted Republican in their former states, I invite you to get to know your Idaho Democratic candidates and our local issues. And every Idahoan should read the Idaho Democratic Party platform and compare it to the Idaho Republican Party platform, which is squarely outside the mainstream.

For representative democracy to function well, voters need to stay engaged, research candidates, and provide accountability when politicians ignore their views.

If you, like a majority of Idahoans, support adequate school funding and safe facilities, oppose costly voucher schemes with zero accountability, support our libraries, or want the restoration of our reproductive freedoms, a vote for Idaho Democrats is your best bet.

The integrity of our nationally-lauded budgeting process started eroding last year. GOP leaders knocked House Democrats down to just one member on the budget committee, taking away our proportional representation. This month, Republican co-chairs ushered in new procedures, beginning negotiations by cramming skeletal budgets through at the outset instead of studying funding needs first.

The speed-budgeting spent about $2 billion per hour. This meant many omissions and errors, including one that nearly slashed annual teacher pay by $6,359. My Democratic colleagues rightfully voted against this careless approach.

The skeletal budgets leave critical initiatives unfunded such as the LAUNCH scholarships for in-demand job training, interventions for the dangerous quagga mussels threatening our water, and upgrades to bridges that pose a safety risk. Small in scope, but still important, are items like guardian ad litem programs, which advocate for children as they navigate foster care.

Budget committee leaders claim they will add funding, but they have backed Idaho into a devastating default budget. And they made it difficult to resolve harmful cuts. Once a budget is passed, rules require that two-thirds of the committee vote to reopen it, or seven of the ten members from the House and Senate. This threshold means a “no” vote counts more than twice as much as a “yes” vote. A few fringe legislators have the power to keep slash-and-burn budgets in place.

What is the supermajority’s motivation? It appears to be about power. Traditionally, House leaders will hold off on approving one budget bill to prevent the Senate from adjourning, before they get something they want, and vice versa. The new process yielded a default skeletal budget to fall back on, creating a “hostage” legislative leaders may be willing to shoot, with harmful repercussions for Idahoans.

Additionally, the house speaker can unilaterally hold any bill, including bills that correct budget holes. It’s reminiscent of the power House Republicans in Congress gave each member to recall Speaker McCarthy. Matt Gaetz used it to leave our nation with a non-functioning government for weeks while Republicans haggled over who would become the next speaker.

These changes put undue power into the hands of a few who can manufacture budget space for their personal agenda items, such as the school voucher scheme that both budget committee chairs have endorsed.

Idahoans deserve a budget that goes through a fair process and is responsive to constituents. It’s more important than ever that Idahoans speak up about their budget priorities.

In his State of the State address, Governor Little touted a long-overdue investment in facilities that made headlines. But when we read the fine print, we see he is largely continuing to kick the can down the road. In the coming year, as schools face over $1.3 billion in facilities needs, they would receive just $200 million. And that’s if this proposal can make its way through the Republican supermajority, which has the same terrible track record in supporting school infrastructure.

In addition to increased state investment, there are two obvious policy solutions GOP lawmakers have rejected that would put schools on firmer ground. First, we must allow school districts to charge impact fees on new developments. Local governments regularly charge developers for the new roads, sewer lines, and other infrastructure that new housing developments necessitate. By making the same allowance for school infrastructure, growth can pay for itself instead of asking existing taxpayers to foot the bill.

Second, we need to end the two-thirds majority requirement for passing school bonds. This has tripped up desperate school districts like Boundary where recent bonds garnered a clear majority of the vote, but fell short of the threshold. The state is letting a minority of voters deny our students safe school buildings. Even a threshold of 55% or 60% of the vote would ensure that more projects with strong public support can proceed.

How we got here is a lesson Idahoans cannot afford to forget. As our schools have gone long underfunded, Little and his GOP colleagues have bragged about record budget surpluses, manufactured by the neglect of our core duties. They repeatedly doled out enormous rebates and permanent revenue cuts to the wealthiest while schools crumbled. His overdue acknowledgment of the problem is a small step towards redemption, but it’s no cause for a victory lap. For over twenty years, Little has held office in the Republican supermajority that created this crisis.

Idaho Democrats have tirelessly fought for increased investments in Idaho schools while the GOP underpaid our educators and let our schools fall into disrepair. Little is right when he says we can do better. It is a shame that it took him more than two decades in public office to realize this.

First, we are committed to thriving Main Streets with economic opportunity in towns big and small. A fundamental building block of a strong economy is education. Democrats will work to protect the new LAUNCH scholarships that are opening pathways to in-demand careers with family-sustaining wages and building the skilled workforce that industries need.

We must finally address the $1 billion backlog in school facilities needs so that children aren’t contending with overcrowded classrooms, leaky roofs, or unsafe situations, such as the electrical issues that led to a severe fire in a Pocatello school.

Idaho Democrats want to correct last year’s funding methodology shift that shortchanged schools by $162 million. And we will again defend against voucher schemes that divert precious public dollars away from public schools and into private, religious, and for-profit institutions with zero accountability.

Second, we will be a voice for Idaho’s working families when it comes to revenue collection. Idaho’s upside down tax code gets worse every year. Today, an Idaho mom pays a higher tax rate on essentials like food and diapers than corporations pay on their profits. It’s past time we eliminate the sales tax on groceries, a move supported by 82% of Idahoans but consistently blocked by the Republican supermajority. We should have a meaningful child tax credit to help make it affordable to raise the next generation and finally establish a state earned income tax credit to avoid taxing working families into poverty.

Third, we should act on the principle that affordable healthcare is a necessity. We will work to properly fund Medicaid, a lifeline for children, seniors, and Idahoans with disabilities, and to extend coverage for postpartum mothers. We’ll oppose the repeal of Medicaid expansion, which would take healthcare away from tens of thousands.

What Idahoans don’t need is more extremism. Whether it comes to your most intimate medical decisions, the books you read, or who you love, it’s time for GOP politicians to stop interfering in your private life.

While Democrats are underdogs in the Legislature, we stand behind an agenda that is broadly supported by voters. We hope Republican lawmakers will meet us here so that we can govern to make life better for Idahoans.

To advance our shared priorities, we need the voices of Idahoans to resonate in the People’s House, demanding policies that truly reflect your values. I hope to see you there.

Idaho Democrats are rolling up their sleeves to repair our political system by rebuilding our party. This year, we established local Democratic committees in all 44 counties and won 73% of the 65 local races where Democrats made endorsements and deployed campaign tactics. Focused candidate recruitment has positioned us to contest more races in 2024 than we have in years.

Idaho’s Democratic lawmakers are also making an impact. We delivered critical wins by blocking school vouchers, stopping a bill creating bounties on libraries, protecting Medicaid expansion, enacting scholarships for in-demand careers, creating incentives for nurses serving rural Idaho, and safeguarding voting rights. Nevertheless, many votes were too close for comfort.

It’s critical we elect more Democrats to make life better for Idahoans and combat political dysfunction. I will never forget the words of a very conservative colleague who congratulated me on becoming chair of the Idaho Democratic Party. In spite of our policy disagreements, the legislator sincerely wished me luck and, motioning to the House Chamber, declared, “Because this isn’t healthy.”

Indeed, when one party holds 82% of the seats, there is little accountability and compromise, which are necessary for a healthy democracy.

In the absence of accountability, the extremists who once operated at the fringes of the Idaho Republican Party have taken the helm. Local party tribunals are pushing GOP politicians deeper into extremism by punishing those who stray from their platform — a platform that ranges from dangerous fringe ideas that would destabilize our financial system, like returning to gold and silver standards, to outright cruelty, like murder charges for abortion even when the patient faces certain death.

In 2024, Democrats will be reaching out to voters, offering an alternative to this extreme agenda. We hope to have openhearted conversations about the central issues that unite us. Voters who get to know their local Democratic candidates will find ample common ground. Polling confirms that voters agree with Idaho Democrats on the issues that affect you daily: tax policies should be fair to regular Idahoans rather than heaping more benefits onto the wealthy and well-connected, public dollars belong in public schools, Medicaid should be strong, politicians shouldn’t interfere in our most intimate decisions, and life must be affordable for working families.

As we welcome 2024, I’m hopeful Idahaoans can come together to reject GOP extremism and build the future people deserve.

In 2017, Republicans took control of both chambers in Congress and the White House. As they seized power, repealing the Affordable Care Act was their top priority. Frighteningly, they had no replacement plan to prevent millions of Americans from losing coverage. As advocates in Idaho, we had to pause our work to expand healthcare access and try to block this serious attempt to take healthcare away. Months of nerve wracking negotiations culminated in Senator John McCain’s iconic and dramatic thumbs-down vote on the Senate floor. Fortunately, McCain joined two Republican U.S. Senators and every single Democrat to kill the repeal effort.

Recalling this barely averted disaster makes it all the more startling to hear every Republican presidential candidate vow to repeal the ACA. Again, they have no coherent replacement.

The renewed threat to working families and small business owners is staggering. ACA repeal would mean protections for up to 259,000 Idahoans with preexisting conditions would vanish, allowing insurance companies to deny coverage or hike costs for people with previous cancer diagnoses, high blood pressure, asthma, and other conditions. Medicaid expansion, which finally passed by a decisive majority of Idaho voters through an initiative, would end. Tax credits to purchase coverage, which assist 80% of individuals on the market, would disappear. Young adults would no longer be able to stay on their parents’ insurance. Insurance companies could again impose lifetime caps on coverage.

Idahoans are already losing healthcare access, thanks to Republican politicians. From passing one of the most extreme abortion bans in the country to criminalizing doctors and nurses, Republican politicians continue attacking our freedoms and making Idaho a hostile place for providers. Idaho ranks last in the nation for physicians and hospital beds per capita and more than 70% of Idahoans live in mental health shortage areas. This year, rural hospitals in Sandpoint and Emmett announced they can no longer provide labor and delivery services. More than 9,000 healthcare jobs in Idaho remain unfilled, according to Idaho Business for Education.

The ACA is a lifeline for Idahoans. Democrats will continue protecting the healthcare that is essential to the wellbeing of our families.

Last legislative session, parents, teachers, and community leaders came together to speak out against vouchers, which are deeply unpopular among Idaho voters according to a recent poll commissioned by the Idaho Education Association. Idaho held the line as other states fell to the pressure of the voucher lobby. In the House Education Committee, Democratic votes prevented legislation from advancing, but the threat remains.

Proponents of vouchers spare no expense when it comes to buying our elections and pressuring legislators. These out-of-state activists with deep pockets have flooded our political landscape, running baseless attack ads against leaders who support public education, propping up the most far-right extreme candidates, and building an army of lobbyists-for-hire.

In the face of defeat, the anti-public education lobby has come up with a new tactic, which is to bypass the House Education Committee that rejected vouchers. They plan to push vouchers via our tax code and force the bill through the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. But tax code vouchers bring the same problems: huge costs to the state with zero accountability. The primary beneficiaries of tax credit vouchers would be wealthy families with kids in private schools who will enjoy a cash subsidy paid by taxpayers. Rural families are unlikely to have private school “options.” What they will see is that their public schools receive fewer resources. Across the state, middle-class families and those who work paycheck-to-paycheck won’t be able to close the gap between the voucher credit and private tuition.

Other states illustrate the damaging consequences of these schemes. In Wisconsin, vouchers blew a hole in the state’s budget, forcing homeowners to shoulder a $577 million property tax hike. In Arizona, vouchers will cost the state $900 million this year while rural schools are shuttering. Between 75% and 90% of voucher users in states like Arizona, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin were already in private schools, forcing taxpayers to subsidize wealthy families. Voucher schemes also cause pandemic-sized drops in student outcomes – proving they will only hurt student success.

We must speak out during the 2024 session to defeat these schemes. Idaho Democrats remain committed to ensuring that all kids have the opportunity to receive an excellent education. This can only happen within the framework of strong, well-funded public schools that are accountable to Idahoans.

Together, we will protect our children and our shared future.