Slew of crazy bills shows Idaho legislators can’t be trusted to call special session

Idaho legislators want the power to be able to call themselves into an extra session whenever they feel like it.

Legislators want to ask voters to amend the Idaho Constitution to allow the Legislature to convene itself into an extraordinary session within 15 days of a written request of 60% each of the House and Senate membership.

Idaho would join 36 other states that allow legislatures to call themselves back in session in some form.

Currently, Idaho is one of only 14 states in which the governor, and only the governor, can call the legislature back into a special, or extra session.

On its face, it would seem that Idaho is simply following a trend among other states.

To this, we say, “No way.”

Unfortunately, we just don’t trust Idaho’s legislators to have this power.

First of all, while 60% may seem like a high threshold, we think it should be really, really difficult to call a special session, just like legislators think it should be really, really difficult to get a bond passed in this state. So, at the very least, it should require a two-thirds supermajority of legislators to get a special session.

At 60%, we simply don’t think there are enough reasonable legislators to put a stop to a superfluous special session.

Why do we think that?

We see year after year after year, when legislators come to the Capitol, while many have good intentions to pass meaningful and helpful legislation, many of them show up with these bizarre agendas that seem to come out of nowhere.

To wit, Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, introduced just this session a frivolous bill on allowing children to be free-range children, a solution in search of a problem. What a waste of legislators’ time.

Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, introduced a bill eliminating all crowd size limitations, arguing we all have to just get back to normal, as if the coronavirus pandemic weren’t still spreading and killing Idahoans.

Rep. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, introduced a constitutional amendment prohibiting the legalization of any psychoactive drug in the future, ostensibly a preemptive strike on marijuana.

And that’s just in the first couple of weeks of the session.

We can’t trust that 40% of our legislators would be reasonable enough to reject a frivolous special session.

If you think even 41% of legislators would do the right thing and stop a ridiculous special session, consider what happened in the House on Friday morning.

Rep. Muffy Davis, D-Ketchum, requested a suspension of rules so she and other members could vote remotely due to being at increased risk of serious illness or death from the coronavirus.

Davis is paralyzed from a skiing accident that she says has resulted in compromised lung function. Legislators and other guests can be seen frequently not wearing masks, putting other people at risk of catching the coronavirus and coming down with COVID-19.

Representatives voted, 49-11, against Davis’ request. A total of 82% of House members voted against the health and safety of a fellow House member.

We also don’t buy the argument that legislators just don’t have enough authority.

Give us a break.

Legislators every year review administrative rules, putting yet another check on the executive branch.

Idaho’s legislators come to Boise each year and propose bills telling cities how to vote, how they can raise money, telling school districts how and when they can ask for bonds and levies.

Last session, against the requests of Idaho’s largest employers, legislators passed legislation limiting the freedoms of transgender residents.

In a one-party state in which Republicans control a supermajority of House and Senate seats, no, you already have plenty of power, thank you very much. We see every year the amount of damage you’re able to exact with barely a check and balance on your powers.

You can wait until January, if you must, to do your damage.

We know that this is in response to Gov. Brad Little’s emergency orders last year.

But if there’s ever a good example of why legislators shouldn’t have this power, it’s what legislators did during the special session that was called by the governor.

House representatives discussed — and approved — a resolution to declare an end to the emergency — in the middle of an emergency. Fortunately, the Senate shot it down.

Not only would it have been stupid to declare an end to the emergency, passing that resolution was a violation of the Idaho Constitution.

Article IV, Section 9, which establishes the extra session parameters, states, “when so convened (the legislature) shall have no power to legislate on any subjects other than those specified in the (governor’s) proclamation.”

Ending the emergency wasn’t in the governor’s proclamation.

No, they cannot be trusted to call themselves into session.

Even now, legislators are still trying to call an end to the coronavirus pandemic emergency, when it could mean a $24 million hit to the budget in federal aid.

We don’t want legislators calling themselves back into session just any old time they’d like. We don’t want a full-time legislature.

The system of allowing only the governor to call an extra session works as it is now.

Gov. Little called the Legislature back into session in August to handle the election and liability, and it worked.

If legislators start calling themselves back into session every time they get a bee in their bonnet, they’ll never leave Boise.

And none of us wants that.

This story was originally published January 19, 2021 at 9:52 AM.