by Logan Finney, Idaho Reports

Despite the confusion swirling around the statehouse on Wednesday, the Idaho Legislature has nearly completed its work for the year and appears poised to block a controversial property sale.

Legislative leaders had hoped to complete business last Friday, until the Senate voted down an Idaho Transportation Department budget bill that contained language blocking the sale of the department’s old headquarters campus in Boise.

Lawmakers reconvened Tuesday and the budget committee put forward a near-identical budget.

House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, has actively pushed to stop the pending land sale.

Parliamentary punches

That second edition of the ITD budget, Senate Bill 1461, met an unusual fate Wednesday afternoon.

Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Winder, R-Boise, made a parliamentary inquiry into whether the legislation was in order under Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure. He supplied an analysis letter from the Secretary of the Senate, Jennifer Novak, which claimed it should be rejected.

Presiding over the chamber, Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke ruled that Winder’s objections were appropriate and the bill could not be considered.

Senate Majority Leader Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, moved to appeal the decision of the chair.

Upon a divided voice vote, Bedke declared the vote was in opposition and upheld his decision. A call to count the two sides was ruled too late, and the second budget bill died without a vote on the merits.

Committee reconvenes

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee quickly reconvened to draft a third ITD budget.

The new bill is a $200 change from the HB 723 budget that the Senate voted down last week. As in the previous two bills, the budget contains $32.5 million to renovate the old ITD headquarters. It also revokes the Department of Administration’s authority to dispose of the surplus property.

The war of attrition between Moyle and Winder over the ITD budget – specifically the language to kill the State Street property sale – already extended the session past its scheduled March adjournment date.

“What I’m hearing loud and clear from the Senate is they’re asking us to negotiate,” said Rep. Brooke Green, D-Boise. “I do not believe the proposal before us is negotiating in good faith.”

Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, joined the Democrats on the joint committee in opposing the move.

“I’m going to be opposing this language that is the reason why this budget has already failed once,” Adams said. “Here we are, ramming a piece of policy into a budget.”

Longstanding debates echoed once again over whether the budgeting committee is overstepping into decisions that ought to be reserved for the policy committees.

“How do you just give people money and not say what it’s being used for?” argued JFAC co-chair Sen. Scott Grow. “We are not making new programs. We are appropriating money, and giving language as to how that money should be spent or not spent.”

House heads home

The House quickly passed the newly revised budget, House Bill 770, without debate in a 37-31 vote.

“I think it gives the best value to the taxpayers of Idaho for their dollars spent,” said floor sponsor Rep. Clay Handy, R-Burley.

The House passed that final bill and recessed until next week.

However, it was then discovered that a section of intent language in HB 770 does not match what was approved by the committee that afternoon.

The Idaho Capital Sun reported a similar issue with language earlier this year in a related budget.

Idaho Reports showed Green and House Minority Caucus Chair Ned Burns, D-Bellevue, the mismatched language in HB 770. They weren’t surprised at another drafting error, they said, when the legislation was introduced in committee and passed off the House floor within just a few hours.

“Next thing you know, we’re voting on things and making mistakes,” Green said.

Senate stays long

The Senate GOP was in a lengthy caucus meeting when the HB 770 discrepancy was publicized. After questions from reporters, Senate leaders acknowledged the issue in the newest ITD budget.

“What apparently happened during the committee was that during the process, the wrong slide was put up as the bill was being drafted,” Anthon said of HB 770. “But in that process, it was reviewed before it got to the House. It was deemed to be a correct representation of the committee’s will.”

In summary, the issue was the language shown to the budget writers, not the language in the bill.

“Had it been the other way around, we would have had to send it back,” Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, told Idaho Reports.

The Senate took up the third ITD budget bill for a vote without debate.

“We’ve talked about it and pushed it around,” said bill sponsor Sen. Kevin Cook, R-Idaho Falls.

The Senate passed the budget in an 18-17 vote. Anthon and Sen. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home, had voted against the first budget but voted in favor of the third and final budget.

“I didn’t have any vested interest with my constituency. I didn’t think anything was unconstitutional, and it didn’t shock my conscience. And so, when the majority of the majority takes action, I try to support them,” Anthon told reporters after the vote. “The first round we all voted kind of what we were thinking at the time. But as the issues develop and as the caucus speaks its will, the majority leader is a little different. Majority leader tries to stick with the majority, and that’s what I did today.”

Senators finally approved a House resolution to recess without pay until April 10, when both chambers will reconvene to take up any possible vetoes from Gov. Brad Little.

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