BOISE, Idaho — Halfway through the week, and Idaho lawmakers are deep into a variety of categories. Wednesday was a showcase for conversations on the content in Idaho libraries, the use of firing squads for execution, creating voter guides, and the display of the nation’s motto in state educational institutions.
Lawmakers in the House Education Committee got started bright and early with discussions on the content within libraries in schools and communities.
The house education committee kept one idea in committee and essentially let another idea go, ending the meeting with no vote on it.
Both pieces of legislation, House Bills 139 and 227, would have required public school and community libraries to take steps to restrict a child's access to material deemed 'obscene or harmful to minors' by the local community.
Each legislation went into definitions on that, sexual conduct, obscenity, nudity, things of that nature.
The first bill lawmakers heard, House bill 139, went into great detail on process and controlling content. For two hours there was debate and testimony on the bill, which includes a mechanism for families to bring civil actions against a school or library with a penalty of $10,000 for each instance a minor got access to harmful material.
Some lawmakers expressed concerns about the idea going too far, infringing on free speech rights by controlling content too aggressively.
Hours of public testimony, both for and against, ended with lawmakers voting down the first pitch of the day down. Some committee members and members of the public had an issue with the $10,000 possible penalty being too much.
The second piece of legislation, House Bill 227, was a broader proposal that put a lot of control locally on what to do with libraries in school and communities. Some lawmakers and members of the public said they didn't think the idea went far enough because, in-part, the legislation did not have a civil penalty included.
In kind of an odd way to end the meeting, as lawmakers were getting ready to vote on House Bill 227, a motion to end the meeting was made. That motion passed, ending the meeting with no action on HB 227. It’s possible the concept is brought back for future consideration, maybe in the form of a new draft.
Also, in committee on Wednesday, a proposal to add firing squads as another method of execution in Idaho. The default right now is lethal injection.
However, Idaho and many other states are having a hard time getting the drugs for lethal injection. Long story short, many manufacturers of the chemicals are no longer willing to sell for the purpose of their product being used for lethal injections, making the chemicals hard for states to get.
So, Idaho has death row inmates but no way to carry out the sentence of the death penalty.
The bill, House Bill 186, gives another way, firing squad. Some lawmakers debated that the legislation may be a quick reaction to an issue that needs more time. Rep. David Cannon explained his issue with the idea.
“One way we could do this is to wait and see if this problem that we have in terms of obtaining the drug corrects itself and maybe a supply for the drug becomes available. So, I don't think to me that it's necessary to react in a knee jerk way and maybe we can look at that," Cannon said.
Advocates for the idea say there needs to be a replacement idea for lethal injection, or else Idaho fails to carry out death sentences ruled through due and complete process.
A lawyer on the Idaho AG staff, LaMont Anderson, joined testimony with legal insight, he answered the major question: what about using new or other drugs than the ones difficult to get right now?
“We are unaware of the availability of any other drug that would allow us to complete an execution,” Anderson said.
The Deputy AG went on to detail that something like fentanyl is too dangerous to use as a substitute, and places like Texas are also seeing issues with acquiring needed drugs for executions.
Bill sponsor, Rep. Bruce Skaug of Nampa, said he believes the law is needed so penalties already determined by the judicial system in full can be fulfilled.
“This is our best chance to carry out what the law tells us we must do,” Skaug said. “A judge told us just the other night, some of us here, that retribution is one consideration that a judge must consider when doing any sentencing. That's punishment. This is the just punishment under our laws of our state."
In committee there was questions about how the firing squad will work and what process they will go through. Rep. Skaug was clear, this legislation does not dictate that. Per Idaho law, the Department of Corrections would be in charge of creating that. Of note, the bill does include a fiscal line that says There is an estimated $750,000 one-time cost for the Department of Correction to refurbish its facility to meet safety and execution requirements for the firing squad.
After debate and public testimony, the proposal passed and now heads to the full Idaho house.
Over to the Idaho Senate Floor, Lawmakers debated something Idahoans have asked for, for years. An official state voter guide sent out to all Idahoans by the Secretary of State's office.
Secretary of State Phil McGrane is pushing for this idea, he tells KTVB it's about educating voters and getting voters the info they continue to ask for ahead of primary and general elections.
The fiscal note on the legislation says there will be a $750,000 impact to the General Fund for the design, production, and dissemination of the voters' guide.
Some Senators saw issues with the idea on a few fronts, including the existence of other voter guides in the private sector, cost to taxpayers, and state involvement in the party primary system.
Senator Tammy Nichols of Middleton sees issues with funding the idea.
“I believe that this is not the proper role of government. And if we have $750,000 a year to be able to spend to send out these, then we should definitely have at least $750,000 or more just to give back to the taxpayers of Idaho,” Nichols said.
Other critics of the idea questioned if the state should be putting out candidate info that pertains to the party primary system. Senator Chuck Winder of Boise pushed back, endorsing the idea of a neutral, state funded voter guide.
"You've got all sorts of voter guides out there that are unofficial guides that represent the bias of that particular organization. I really think this is a way to just get out basic information to the voter. Help them be better prepared when they vote. And I don't want to see us get to the point where our party primaries are so private and so controlled that we no longer publicly fund those elections,” Winder said.
The proposal passed the full Idaho senate, it now heads to the house for consideration.
Finally for Wednesday, on the House Floor debate on displaying the national motto in Idaho educational institutions. The national motto is, ‘In God We Trust.’
The legislation says if and only if a private donation is made for the specific purpose of having a poster or framed image of the phrase ‘In God We Trust,’ then a school must put that up.
The bill’s sponsor said if a donation, the money needed to put up the motto, isn't made to an institution, no worries about putting the motto up. This is strictly paid for by private donations.
Minority Leader Ilana Rubel questioned if the motto sends a bad message to families that practice religion, or lack thereof, differently.
"I know in my district I have a lot of people who are not part of a monotheistic tradition, who are Hindus or Buddhists or atheists or any number of other things. They're working very hard. They're paying taxes. And I think they should be able to send their kid to a public school without having it rubbed in the kid's faces, that they're different and that they're religiously, you know, unlike the majority of kids there," Rubel said.
The proposal passed the full Idaho house, it now heads to the Senate.
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