Democrats put forth their agenda; Republicans: Budget will be below Gov. recommendation
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The tiny Senate Democratic Caucus — seven members in all — met Thursday and decided to offer five bills as caucus bills this session. The caucus was open to the media.
The Senate Republican Caucus also met Thursday afternoon and we will be getting a report from Russ Fulcher later. The Republican caucus was much less of an agenda-setting meeting. See below for Fulcher's comments.
Among the Democrats' proposed legislation:
• Fair Elections Act: The bill would allow voluntary public funding in legislative elections as is the case in Arizona and Maine. The Democrats claim elected officials "would be holden to no one" and it would open the process for individuals of lower economic means to run for office. The bill would add a fee to court filings and fines to generate money for publicly financed elections and potential candidates would have to meet certain thresholds to qualify.
• Major energy facility siting: The bill calls for more deliberate planning of major energy facilities, such as coal and nuclear.
• Move homeowners' exemption to $150,000
• Sunset sales tax exemptions so that they can be reviewed by the Legislature: The Democrats said that tax exemptions are not reviewed by the Legislature after they are approved to find out if they are serving their purpose of "enhancing the economy." "Every exemption should be up for review," Elliot Werk said, adding that it did not mean the exemptions should be taken away only that they should be reviewed.
• Prohibiting campaign contributions to legislators while in session: Because the state's "bribery laws are toothless," Kate Kelly said, she is proposing a bill that would prohibit legislators from taking campaign contributions from registered lobbyists while in session. She said 28 states have similar laws. Kelly said the law "addresses the appearance of impropriety" and helps "start restoring the public trust in government" that has "eroded enormously" in recent years.
Werk said the bills "would be part of our agenda" if the Democrats had a majority in the Idaho Legislature.
The Senate has 28 Republicans and seven Democrats.
Republicans talk money
Russ Fulcher, the Senate majority caucus chair, said the Republican caucus spent most of its time getting updated on the status of the budget from JFAC co-chair Dean Cameron.
The dire economic news means that Senate Republicans are likely to set a budget target below Gov. Butch Otter's recommendations.
"We see that target getting set somewhere below where the governor has placed it," Fulcher said.
But Fulcher said the caucus did not settle on a number.
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You missed a big point here
Why didn't you call the Republicans to task for holding closed caucus meetings, They've done it for years, and lame reporters not only don't push them about it, they don't even point it out. Youwrote - "The tiny Senate Democratic Caucus — seven members in all — met Thursday and decided to offer five bills as caucus bills this session. The caucus was open to the media. then...., you wrote,
"The Senate Republican Caucus also met Thursday afternoon and we will be getting a report from Russ Fulcher later. The Republican caucus was much less of an agenda-setting meeting."
Why didn't you write, "the Senate Republican Caucus also met Thursday afternoon but their caucus was closed to the media."
I dareyou and the Spaceman to holler about this over and over and over. Transparency. Keep harassing them about it, keep getting comments from them, keep contrasting it with open Dem meetings. I bet you won't.
My dear, caucuses ARE MEANT to be closed, please understand.
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To read is wonderful. To comprehend art. Falling back to whatever you believed in is NORMAL.
It's not just the consumers
It's not just the consumers are struggling to live from paycheck to paycheck, and eventually find themselves getting a payday loan. The FDA are struggling too. The Federal Housing Authority purports to not have the resources to screen lenders, and shady lenders slipping through the net will lead to more of the same – widespread predatory lending and foreclosures. The FHA sounds like a good job to have. A person may not have to worry about getting a payday loan if they land that sort of job. Since the number one priority for the Obama administration is getting more jobs in the market, this would be a great place to start. To read more about the FHA, visit your payday loan source.
Above post is same clown spammer only bolder.
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To read is wonderful. To comprehend art. Falling back to whatever you believed in is NORMAL.
May be hijacking accounts too.
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To read is wonderful. To comprehend art. Falling back to whatever you believed in is NORMAL.
Fair Elections Act
"The bill would allow voluntary public funding in legislative elections...The bill would add a fee to court filings and fines to generate money for publicly financed elections..." Will those filing fees and fines be voluntary?
"The Democrats claim elected officials "would be holden to no one" and it would open the process for individuals of lower economic means to run for office." There is absolutely no evidence that publicly financed elections eliminate the influence of special interest groups on lawmakers. How does this work with the independently wealthy who can finance their own campaigns? As for opening the election process to people of lower economic means, only people in certain occupation groups can arrange an annual leave of absence to serve in our part-time legislature for 3-4 months. That's why our legislature is dominated by ranchers and lawyers.
You're full of it
THere's only one reason to close a caucus: When caucus members don't want the public to know what and how they are operating.
It's time for that crap to stop, total transparency in government has got to be the new normal, Look where secrecy got us with Bush.
When I'm paying the bills including the legislator's salaries I have a right to know every single thing they are doing on my behalf. The only place they should be unharrassed is in the bathroom. Other than that we have a right to know every single sylklable that leaves their mouths during legislative hours.
And mind you being EMPTY of it sucks.
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To read is wonderful. To comprehend art. Falling back to whatever you believed in is NORMAL.
Only thing I'm full of will keep future scientists wondering...
why I ate it.
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To read is wonderful. To comprehend art. Falling back to whatever you believed in is NORMAL.
Tax Exemptions
Reviewing exemptions is one thing, implimenting sunset provisions is another thing.
Sunset provisions are ridiculous for most exemptions. Sunset provisions are appropriate when there is a foreseen timeline for the policy, i.e. "Idaho wants to encourage wind energy for the next 5 years". But when the policy is "Idaho wants to encourage wind energy indefinitely" there is NO need for sunset provision and all that does is create uncertainty among users, and jams up committee agendas.
If it was good policy yesterday, it is likely to good policy today.
Imposing universal sunsets on ALL the exemptions is simply the legislators lazy way out.
Right now they're interested in energy where the sun DON'T shine
MOOOOOOOO
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To read is wonderful. To comprehend art. Falling back to whatever you believed in is NORMAL.