Larry Grant: Lawmakers should reduce government by firing themselves

Anyone who watched this year's circus at the Idaho Legislature has to wonder if it isn't time to change the way our state government does business. Times are tough and at an estimated cost of $30,000 per day, looking at ways to save money at the Legislature is certainly appropriate.

Many of our state legislators strongly champion less government. Now might be a good time to find out if they are willing to apply that principle to the Legislature itself.

We currently have 105 members in the Idaho Legislature. Do we really need that many? We elect three members from each legislative district. They all represent the same people for the same two-year term. That means we have three people doing a job that could just as easily be done by one.

Eliminating two thirds of our legislators could save $20,000 per day while the Legislature is in session. There would also be considerable benefits in utilization of office space, parking and other related activities.

At this point, given the contentious nature of the last legislative session, the state Senate would probably be more than happy to eliminate the state House of Representatives and the House would be overjoyed to eliminate the Senate. Of course, Gov. Butch Otter would prefer to get rid of both of them. None of these, of course, are viable options. But that doesn't mean we don't have alternatives.

One of the best ideas would be to establish a one-house Legislature. Nebraska has only one house in its Legislature and it seems to run its state government without any more problems than those states with both a house and a senate.

As for the number of members in the new Legislature, based on 2008 estimates, Idaho currently has one legislator for every 14,500 citizens. Thirty-nine states have more citizens per legislator with only 11 having fewer. California has the highest number at 306,000 and New Hampshire the lowest at 3,100. The overall average for all the states is about 41,000 citizens per legislator. Based on that number, Idaho could get along quite well with a total of 37 representatives. That number comes pretty close to the 35 we would have left if we eliminate two-thirds of our current legislators.

Of course, combining the two houses of our Legislature and cutting the number of representatives to 35 would require an amendment to the Idaho Constitution. That requires a two-thirds vote in both the state House of Representatives and the state Senate before going to a majority vote in a general election.

The timing of a constitutional amendment couldn't be better. If the Legislature were to pass it early in the 2010 session, then it could be on the ballot by that November. Passage would mean we could organize our new, one-house Legislature based on the 2010 census.

How many of our state legislators would be willing to put their "less government" philosophy into practice by voting to eliminate their own jobs? Hard to tell, but maybe it is time we put them to the test.

Larry Grant of Fruitland was the 2006 Democratic candidate for U.S. representative for Idaho's 1st Congressional District.