By Kathryn Larson
Sagle
One of the only ways our North Idaho voices can be heard all the way down in Boise is through a Citizen’s Initiative. That’s how we got the Homeowner’s Property Tax Exemption.
A Citizen’s Initiative takes years to achieve. Volunteers across the state in every county have to collect signatures to get our requests put on the ballot for vote. In a representative government, we should not have to work that hard to be represented. Working through our elected officials is a much simpler process. But as the power and money have become concentrated in lobbying organizations like the Idaho Freedom Foundation and their caucuses, our voices are drowned out.
And in North Idaho, two of our representatives do actually listen, but they are outnumbered by the IFF loyalists at the Capitol. For recent bills, hundreds of people traveled to the capital to protest and law makers simply ignored them.
Now, Rep. Skaug, backed by the IFF, and others have presented multiple bills to eliminate the citizen’s initiative:
- Setting the high bar even higher (HB42).
- Giving the governor veto power to overrule a fair election result (HB 85).
- Giving the secretary of state the right to publish a fiscal impact statement that might be biased and influenced by lobbyists (SB 1047). (Dorothy Moon is running for Secretary of State.)
- Giving any one county in Idaho the power to kill a Citizen’s Initiative before it gets on the ballot (SJR101)
- Changing the language of the constitution which states “The people reserve to themselves the power to propose laws and enact the same at the polls independent of the legislature.” (to be published)
The legislature voted to make Citizen’s Initiatives virtually impossible a few years ago and the Idaho Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional. So now they want to change the constitution. Of course, this will lead to more lawsuits that we fund. Did you know that the only reason we have a Homeowners Property Tax is because the people did the work to pass a Citizen’s Initiative? And Medicaid Expansion was also passed using a CI. Medicaid Expansion helps nearly 100,000 families in Idaho AND it saves us money because health issues are prevented before they turn into costly ER visits that our local municipalities have to fund.
The Citizen’s Initiative is should not be our only method to be heard in Boise. But unfortunately, because of the power of money and out-of-state lobbyists, it is our only certain guarantee. Call your legislators. Make a fuss.
If they do succeed in passing this, it will end up in court and maybe on the ballot. The cost in time, money and noise will be enormous.