Way too easy for Idaho Legislature to skirt the Constitution, come back into session

Monday’s reconvened session of the Idaho Legislature sets a terrible precedent for a year-round Legislature and upsets the system of checks and balances with the executive branch envisioned in the Idaho Constitution.

Not to mention that it’s completely unnecessary.

You might recall that the Idaho Legislature in May went into recess — but the House did not adjourn sine die.

That meant legislators could come back to the Capitol to conduct business without being called back by the governor, which is what would have happened if they had adjourned.

In a special session, the Idaho Constitution limits the topics of debate to those outlined by the governor.

The thinking is that legislators need to be held in check, otherwise they’d just bring themselves back to the Statehouse and discuss any number of issues they feel compelled to address.

We can clearly see the wisdom in that thinking, and we now have a perfect example.

Keep in mind that the reason legislators went into recess and did not adjourn back in May was because they were concerned about redistricting and funds that might come from the federal government.

But lo and behold, six months later, legislators are meeting to try to fight federal rules requiring employees of large companies to either be vaccinated against COVID-19, or masked and regularly tested.

But there’s talk, as well, of broadening the vaccine discussion to include banning any business from making its workplace safe by requiring a vaccine.

In other words, the federal government is overreaching by interfering with business when it comes to vaccine mandates. Only state Republicans may interfere with business when it comes to vaccine mandates.

No fewer than 29 bills are on the agenda Monday morning.

We don’t know yet what’s in all those bills, but just from the titles — “Employee Medical Information Protection Act,” “Compensation for vaccine injuries,” “Rejecting Admin. Rules on ID Content Standards,” “Mask mandate prohibition” — we know legislators are looking at more than just President Joe Biden’s workplace rule.

Any bill that passes will be clouded by legal uncertainty since the Senate has already adjourned. While it is reasonable to think that the Senate must reconvene if the House does, it is legally untested, and so the ground will be fertile for lawsuits.

We’re not arguing that a challenge to Biden’s workplace rule isn’t reasonable. We have our own reservations about it, and no doubt there are valid legal concerns.

In fact, several states have signed up to challenge the rule, including Idaho.

But that’s in the judicial branch — not the legislative branch.

Further, that rule will get tied up in the courts certainly for months, calling into question why the Idaho Legislature needs to go back into session now rather than wait until January.

House Speaker Scott Bedke told the Idaho Statesman editorial board that if the Legislature only approves a fund to pay for the legal challenge, that would be a good outcome.

But, again, we ask, why can’t that wait until January?

No, it is clear to us that coming out of recess is for political appearances, to allow Republican lawmakers to look like they’re tough on what they consider federal overreach ahead of an election year.

The legislators did this on shaky constitutional grounds, and yet you see how easily they did it? It really shouldn’t be this easy to stay open for business 12 months out of the year.

On the first day of the regular legislative session in January, the Legislature should consider resolutions changing House and Senate rules to set a hard-and-fast end date for the session, sometime in late April.

If legislators want more time, two-thirds of the members of the House must vote to extend the session every two weeks.

We hope most legislators don’t want to become a “full-time Legislature,” but you can see how easy it is to slide down that slippery slope.

When the Legislature comes back into town on Monday to conduct business that wasn’t even on the agenda in May, it only proves that legislators shouldn’t have this ability to begin with.