Gov. Little sets date for Legislature’s special session — but only for these specific issues
Idaho Gov. Brad Little officially announced Wednesday that there will be a special legislative session starting Monday, Aug. 24.
Members of the state’s House and Senate, as well as Little and legislative leaders, will head to Boise to discuss two main topics: the coronavirus pandemic and the November election. More specifically, the Legislature will discuss liability reform during emergencies, like the one Idaho is facing regarding the pandemic.
The three bills posed by Little during the session — two regarding the election and the other on liability reforms for handling the coronavirus — were outlined in the governor’s proclamation, which was made public on Wednesday.
“Special legislative sessions by their very nature are intended to deal with time-sensitive issues that require immediate legislative action and cannot wait until the general session in January,” Little said in a press release.
Idaho’s governor opted not to include two legislative proposals in his proclamation, one regarding the authority of public health districts and the other on education funding. Little omitted the two topics because the issues “do not require immediate action by the Legislature at this time,” according to a news release from the governor’s office.
The announcement was met with support from the House and Senate Republican caucuses, who hold a supermajority, and condemnation from Idaho Democrats, who said they are concerned about safety precautions, among other things.
“On behalf of our members, I would like to commend the governor’s decision to hold a special legislative session. The proposals we will debate come from the various interim working groups set in motion by Speaker of the House Scott Bedke and President Pro Tempore Brent Hill,” Majority Caucus Chairman Sen. Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, said in a statement.
Majority Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Megan Blanksma, R-Hammett, said in a statement that members of the House are ready to get to work on providing safeguards for the November election.
“It is our duty to protect the votes of every Idahoan, and that is exactly what will happen. We are also ready to work on options for protecting Idaho’s schools and businesses,” Blanksma said in a statement.
In a statement released by the Democratic caucus Wednesday evening, Rep. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said the governor “bent to the will” of Republican legislators.
“Many Idaho legislators are trying to politicize a virus and use it to increase their legislative power,” Wintrow said. “The coronavirus knows no political party. Republican legislators have pressured the governor to act against the best interest of Idahoans ... (and) the result is an unnecessary and dangerous political show in the form of a special session.”
Wintrow said a special session “could have been a valuable tool early on in the coronavirus pandemic. However, the proposed legislation does not address many of the serious challenges that our state is currently facing.”
She said that since the session was going to be called, it could have addressed many key issues: shortages in statewide testing during the pandemic, low education funding and a lack of property tax relief.
“I appreciate that we may take steps to make voting in the upcoming election safer,” Wintrow said, “but it’s disappointing that we are leaving everything else off the table.”
The special session is set to be held at the Capitol in Boise, with no mask requirement in place. Many Republican legislators have railed against face-covering mandates and other safety measures that have been put in place to try to slow the spread of the virus and protect Idahoans’ health.
“Health experts in Idaho and across the world have made it abundantly clear that large meetings indoors are one of the quickest ways to spread coronavirus,” Wintrow said.
Little first said on Aug. 5 that he would call a special session to take place later in the month, following calls from fellow lawmakers to call the session.
Earlier this month, the State Affairs Working Group met to discuss the upcoming elections. County clerks from Ada and Canyon addressed legislators and presented draft legislation to help with the elections, noting that the bills would make changes only to this year’s voting.
The draft bills would allow counties to consolidate polling centers, as officials anticipate fewer people will sign up to work the polls or want to vote in person because of the pandemic. Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane said during the meeting that he believes around 75% of voters will request absentee ballots instead of going to polling places.
In late July, members of the House and Senate judiciary committees recommended a bill regarding liability issues that would protect schools from lawsuits if a coronavirus outbreak would occur on school grounds.
More recently, Republican members of the Education Working Group suggested lawmakers push to take away a health district’s ability to close schools. Little did not list this for the special session, and that did not sit well with Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who wrote a post on Facebook shortly after Little’s announcement.
“Unfortunately, the proposals that will be considered do not include any action on reining in the overreach of public health districts or dealing with education funding,” wrote McGeachin, who has often been at odds with Little.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 11:11 AM.
