by Logan Finney, Idaho Reports
After taking three weeks to review the bill ahead of its hearing, the Senate Commerce and Human Resources Committee sidelined the governor’s Idaho Launch proposal on Tuesday. Lawmakers decided to send House Bill 24 to for amendments with 45 minutes of constituent testimony and promises of a trailer bill to be introduced tomorrow.
The Idaho Launch program would provide an $8,500 grant to Idaho high school graduates to pursue education or training for in-demand careers, as defined by the Idaho Department of Labor and the state’s Workforce Development Council. It is based in part on the $80 million set aside for workforce training as part of the September 2022 special session.
A trailer bill is a piece of legislation that ‘follows’ and amends another piece of legislation.
Senators could prepare amendments to HB 24 if they think that legislation tomorrow doesn’t go far enough, “or it can sit there while the trailer bill catches up,” said Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon.
“In the special session we made a pretty strong signal, expressed a pretty strong intent,” Guthrie said. “It seems today we have a difference of opinion on how we get there, and it’s understandable.”
Education Committee Chairman Sen. Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls, is the Senate sponsor for the bill, one of the governor’s headline policy priorities. He said that one year after the existing Idaho Launch training programs already overseen by the Workforce Development Council, participants’ annual pay increased $16,000 on average and the state would recover its training investment in about two to five years’ worth of income taxes.
“More importantly, we’ve provided an opportunity for an Idaho citizen to become self-reliant,” Lent said – if the bill passes.
R-Idaho Falls
He said the trailer bill will make some changes like requiring the recipients to pay at least 10% of the cost of their program, and no longer covering room and board. A member of the joint budget committee, Lent added it will also add more performance reporting requirements for lawmakers to review each year.
“It has to live or die based on its own performance,” he said of any future appropriations.
“As we move into this time that we’re in, of rapid change, we see that the needs of education have changed,” Lent said. “We have an education system that’s primary based on going to college.”
Industry and education representatives for nurses, dental hygienists, and linemen joined him in support.
“The food industry is on a very strong growth curve right now,” Elizabeth Criner said on behalf of Food Northwest. “HB 24 is a visionary investment in Idaho’s future growth and economy.”
More conservative lawmakers on the panel were skeptical.
“The workforce resides mostly in the private sector, and the private sector should develop jobs for the people in that workforce,” said Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Viola. “Is that part of government’s charter now?”
Other testifiers like Ron Nate with the Idaho Freedom Foundation accused the bill of being cronyism and a giveaway to political allies of Gov. Brad Little and the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry business lobby.
Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, agreed with some testifiers that the government choosing certain jobs to support training was reminiscent of economic central planning. He also pointed out the bill takes money from other existing scholarship programs along with the $80 million from the special session.
Some said they didn’t want the state picking winners and losers in the job market, while others said Idaho needs to offer more support to its students.
“I think we’re picking all winners,” said Sen. Linda Wright Hartgen, R-Twin Falls. “I must go with what my community wants, and that’s what I’m hearing.”
Sen. Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg, said he was concerned that the bill had passed the House without a majority of Republicans supporting it.
Foreman moved with a second from Lenney to kill the bill, which Guthrie countered with a second from Hartgen to send it for amendments.
Sen. Todd Lakey, R-Nampa, Ricks, Foreman and Lenney said would prefer to see direct amendments to the bill on the floor and they were opposed to a trailer bill.
Sens. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, and Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, “reluctantly” supported the substitution motion but said they do not want to see the bill itself amended.
The Governor’s Office will respond to Idaho Reports with comment.
Logan Finney | Associate Producer
Logan Finney is a North Idaho native with a passion for media production and boring government meetings. He grew up skiing, hunting and hiking in the mountains of Bonner County and has maintained a lifelong interest in the state’s geography, history and politics. Logan joined the Idaho Reports team in 2020 as a legislative session intern and stayed to cover the COVID-19 pandemic. He was hired as an associate producer in 2021 and they haven’t been able to get rid of him since.
