HB96 tells us Bonners Ferry can’t fly Canadian flag

By Mike Weland

North Idaho legislators Mark Sauter in the House and Jim Woodward in the Senate saw this coming, sounded warnings in their respective chamber floors and voted against HB96, a bill “to allow government entities to only display certain types of flags,” but it passed and the governor signed it. And Bonners Ferry is hit with the impact of unintended consequences.

The Bonners Ferry City Council will meet in regular session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, in council chambers at city hall, and an item on the agenda will be consideration of an order from the Idaho Attorney General’s office to immediately take down the Canadian flag flown on city property or else.

After House Bill 96 became Idaho Code 67-2303A — Flags, Proper Protocol, and went into effect April 3, a deputy Idaho attorney general called Mayor Rick Alonzo and City Administrator Mike Klaus and informed them that the Canadian flag needed to be removed immediately under threat of suit, specifically a writ of mandamus, a court order commanding a public official or entity to perform a specific action that they are legally required to do, or to refrain from doing something they are legally forbidden from doing.

It’s considered an extraordinary remedy, but Boundary County isn’t the first municipality to become embroiled in the new law; Boise Mayor Lauren McLean made national headlinese when she refused to take down a flag that was actually the bill’s target, the rainbow flag used as as symbol of pride by the LGBTQ community,

“We believe HB96 is legally defective and unenforceable as written, and plan to challenge HB96 on a variety of legal bases,” McLean wrote in a letter to Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador. “The legislature knowingly failed to include and civil or criminal penalties. Further, given the true purpose of HB96 we anticipate that, if enforced, HB96 will be enforced in an improper, selective manner. In fact, we’ve already seen that selective approach from your office.”

Mayor Alonzo requested city attorney Andrakay Pluid provide legal options for the city council to consider.

“As I understand it,” she wrote, “the display of the Canadian flag has historically been a sign of friendship by the City of Bonners Ferry towards our neighbors as well as because of the city’s participation in the International Selkirk Loop, and in recognition of Canadian travelers, and visitors’ positive impact on our local economy. It is my opinion that the Council has three options to consider.

Those options are:

Continue to display the Canadian flag in contradiction of the statute. This will likely result in litigation through a writ of mandamus and I do not recommend this given the possible financial requirements of litigation as well as the burden on staff unnecessarily.

Discontinue displaying the Canadian flag.

Section (g) contemplates that flags of other countries can be flown to commemorate “special occasions.” The City Council is empowered with wide latitude of self governance through Idaho Code 50-301. It is common for cities across the state to commemorate local holidays or days of celebration through resolution.

“It is my opinion that the City Council could adopt a resolution commemorating certain days or even 365 days a year a ‘special occasion’ in Bonners Ferry, recognizing our relationship or friendship with our Canadian neighbors.”

She didn’t recommend any of the options, but did note that option 3 “would empower the city to fly the Canadian flag if it chose to while not running afoul of the plain language of the statute. ”

Senator Woodward hopes the council picks option 3.

“This was a poorly-written piece of legislation,” he said. “Now we have he City of Boise spending taxpayer money on culture wars and the City of Bonners Ferry contending with the unintended consequences of this unfortunate and ridiculous bill.

HB96 was introduced in the House by Heather Scott, Blanchard, and in the Senate by Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene. Cornel Rasor, House seat 1B, voted for the legislation.