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by Logan Finney, Idaho Reports
The state is poised to amend its arguments submitted by Attorney General Raúl Labrador in a high-profile lawsuit over a controversial state property sale on the edge of downtown Boise.
The Idaho Transportation Department vacated its historic Boise headquarters in January 2022, in a move that was accelerated after a flood damaged all three floors of the main building. The Idaho Transportation Board, a separate entity that oversees ITD, passed a resolution declaring the campus as surplus property in August 2022. The Board of Examiners then automatically took possession of the site, and the Department of Administration began disposal and sale procedures.
Three companies jointly submitted the winning bid for the property: Hawkins Companies, Pacific West Communities, and FJ Management. Earlier this year, the Legislature used language in two budget bills to revoke authority from ITD and the Department of Administration to dispose of the 44-acre campus after some lawmakers expressed concern that the sale did not bring in enough money to justify relocating ITD. The developers who sought to purchase the land then filed suit, calling the budgets unconstitutional.
Labrador filed a response for the state and the Board of Examiners arguing that passage of the budgets terminated the sale, and there is no justiciable issue for the court to consider. Gov. Brad Little then replaced Labrador with a private attorney representing the Department of Administration and the Idaho Transportation Department, who concedes the budget bills may be unconstitutional.
The Board of Examiners – a constitutional board made up of the Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General, with the State Controller acting as a non-voting board secretary – carries out administrative and financial matters for the state.
The board met in executive session twice to discuss the lawsuit in May but took no action then.
After about 40 minutes behind closed doors on Tuesday afternoon, Secretary of State Phil McGrane moved that the board “approve and proceed with the legal direction discussed by the board during the executive session, and that legal counsel file the appropriate documents drafted and presented with no changes made” by this Friday.
McGrane and Little voted in favor while Labrador voted against. The new documents are shielded by attorney-client privilege until they are publicly filed with the court.
Labrador has said he kept the other members of the board informed of his legal strategy to defend the state, while Little and McGrane contend they were not given a chance to review or approve of the final documents before Labrador submitted them to the Idaho Supreme Court on behalf of the full board.
“As the Governor’s Office stated previously, the Attorney General filed a brief and answer on behalf of the Board of Examiners in the lawsuit but the filings were neither presented to nor approved by the board prior to filing,” Emily Callihan, communications director for Little, said in a statement Tuesday evening. “With that in mind, the board took appropriate action today to clarify the very ministerial role of the board, and we look forward to the Attorney General filing documents with the court by Friday, as directed by the board.”
In a separate filing, House Speaker Mike Moyle has defended the constitutionality of the budgets, argued the campus was not legally put up for sale in the first place, and accused Little’s administration of colluding with the developers in the lawsuit. The Idaho Supreme Court is allowing ITD and the Department of Administration to respond to the Legislature’s claims, but those documents also have not been filed as of Tuesday.
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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.