Notes from Boise

By Senator Jim Woodward
Idaho District 1

I hope you are all enjoying some of that wonderful North Idaho spring sunshine. It’s exactly what I needed on my quick week-end trip home!

House Bill 93, the school choice bill that provides a tax credit for eligible education expenses, is signed into law. I did not support the bill. Nonetheless, I am hopeful it will create opportunities for Idaho children in education and life. I am skeptical it is the best solution to create those opportunities. I am fearful it will create yet another significant demand on our thinly spread tax dollars.

HB93 makes $50M dollars available for private school tuition and other expenses. Utah’s similar program started at $40 million and has quadrupled in a few years. Arizona started with a $60M dollar program that has ballooned to more than ten times that cost. All this with an accountability system that consists of a shoebox of receipts tucked in a closet somewhere.

As I’ve stated before, I am not opposed to supporting education in Idaho beyond our constitutionally mandated minimum. However, I think we should have a better answer than what we just put into law.

Senate Bill 1023 passed in the Senate last week. The intent of the bill is to prevent a person from being forced to take a vaccine for their job. I am fine with that. I believe in individual freedoms. Taking a job is a two-way street though. If a person doesn’t want to go to work at 5 am, but a private employer needs them at that time, it is a two-party contract and either one can step out of the contract.

The problem with this bill is that it creates a “Right to Employment.” Let’s keep government out of our business as much as we can.

We took a little time this week with Governor Little to celebrate the successes of the LAUNCH program. Hearing the stories straight from a few of our Idaho students working on their education at Idaho institutions was motivating.

The Joint Finance & Appropriations Committee heard the proposed budgets for Idaho’s community colleges this week. Our community colleges are successfully collaborating with Idaho employers to match program offerings with employment demands. However, a common theme with all four colleges was their student wait-lists for in-demand careers.

Governor Little has a $25M initiative to add capacity to our colleges and universities – $15M onetime expense for capacity building and $10M in ongoing expense to operate the expanded training sites. Close to home, this could result in more welding stations and more nursing training slots at North Idaho College.

Bills signed into law last week:

H15 Outfitter & Guide — Idaho accredited postsecondary schools are no longer required to be a licensed outfitter through the Idaho Outfitters and Guides. Federal and State permits on federal and state lands are still required.

H35 Cybersecurity — State agencies are required to implement and use multi factor authentication to increase cybersecurity on state devices.

H93 Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit — $5,000 tax credit for qualified educational expenses. Retroactive to January 1, 2025.

In the Hopper

This week I will be presenting Senate Bill 1124 in the Senate State Affairs Committee. The bill proposes defining a standard of care in wildfire prevention for electric utilities. The intent is to create a mechanism for determination of negligence or not if a wildfire is started by electric utility equipment. We all understand that storms cause damage, even to properly maintained equipment. I believe this is an Idaho approach to acknowledge that Mother Nature sometimes rules and that we don’t want to bankrupt an electric utility, serving all of us, for the benefit of a few.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or issues:

• (208) 332-1349 (office)
• (208) 946-7963 (home)
• jwoodward@senate.idaho.gov
• WoodwardForSenate.org

Until next week…