BOISE — Idaho's sputtering economy will curb the 2010 Legislature's enthusiasm for bills unrelated to balancing the battered state budget, though lawmakers say they won't devote all their energy to finances.
While the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee sets the budget, lawmakers will have time on their hands. And as Secretary of State Ben Ysursa sometimes reminds House and Senate committees, "Idle minds are the devil's workshop."
Among possible non-budget measures that may surface once the session starts Jan. 11: Measures to curb illegal immigration and employment; changes to Idaho foster-care rules; bicycle safety; a House GOP-led bill to cut individual and corporate income taxes; financial disclosure for elected officials; and voter ID cards.
A simple maxim will apply to all bills, said House Speaker Lawerence Denney.
"Anything that has a price tag probably won't even get a hearing," said Denney, R-Midvale.
After Idaho officials forecast the state budget deficit at $151 million by next July, agencies trimmed 4 percent from spending.
That left a $51 million hole, so lawmakers and Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter are considering further austerity: Scaling back education funding for a second year, trimming prison spending, cutting social programs and consolidating yet-to-be-named agencies, something Otter will detail in his Jan. 11 State of the State speech.
Last year's session was 117 days, a day shy of the 2003 record. Adjournment was delayed by a conflict over Otter's failed push to hike taxes to fix roads, as well as debate over spending the state's $1.4 billion federal stimulus share. Neither will be a factor this year.
Bike safety, however, could be, after three riders in Boise and another in Twin Falls were killed in separate accidents in 2009. Possible bills include requiring cars to stay three feet from bicycles when passing and making bicycle brakes mandatory, an issue that was the focus of an unlikely dispute in Oregon after messengers on fixed-gear bikes without stopping devices were slapped with fines.
"In light of the accidents and deaths we've had in this state, we're asking ourselves, 'Is there something that we should be looking at that might help the problem?' " said Sen. John McGee, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, is promoting a plan to cut Idaho's individual and corporate income tax rates to 4.9 percent over the next 10 years, down from nearly 8 percent now.
And last session, Moyle was among Republicans behind a bill to require Idaho voters to produce photo identification cards. It never got a hearing, but a similar measure could re-emerge in 2010, modeled after Indiana and Georgia statutes that survived court scrutiny.
"We've heard it may be coming back," said Dan Chadwick, a lobbyist for the Idaho Association of County Recorders and Clerks, which hasn't yet taken a formal position on the issue.
Minority Democrats oppose such measures, arguing they're an unnecessary hurdle to legal voting. Senate Minority Leader Kate Kelly, D-Boise, said she'll be watching for what she calls "hastily drafted, agenda-driven bills" that emerge with stealth while most attention is being directed toward the budget.
Also, Kelly suggests a plan due to take effect in 2011 to limit most Idaho elections to two days annually could be delayed because its $5.6 million cost, especially during a budget crisis, may be too much for Republicans who passed it.
Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, told The Associated Press she plans to dedicate time that's not focused on finances — Keough sits on the budget-setting panel — to change Idaho's foster care and adoption policies. A foster family in her northern Idaho district was forced to give up a 23-month-old boy it had cared for from infancy within just a few hours notice after the state found adoptive parents.
"It was a painful ordeal for everyone concerned," Keough said. "If they can't have the baby back with the foster family, they want the system changed."
Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, said several bills that suffered setbacks in previous sessions could re-emerge to a friendlier reception. For instance, a proposed constitutional amendment making it easier for local governments and publicly owned hospitals to take on debt if no taxpayer money is used for payments was beaten down in 2008 and 2009. The timing in 2010 could be right for a compromise, Davis said.
And he's optimistic a version of his good-government bill requiring disclosure of legislators' income sources will avoid its 2009 fate, when it passed the Senate but died in the House without a vote.