Ford letter: Bills being held

Idaho’s legislative session will probably end soon. A lot of topics I wanted them to vote on have been stashed. Have the things important to you been voted on? Committee chairmen have set aside many proposed bills that the people would like to see come up for a vote. Legislators have told me they’re allowed to do this because of rules established by previous legislatures, and there’s nothing we can do about it. What kind of representation is that? Some bills that are being held back are Common Core and SBAC test repeal and privacy with regard to immunizations. A bill requiring subjects to be brought up for a vote if they had five sponsors from each party was denied a hearing by “leadership.”

There ought to be a way to change those rules to get our legislators representing the citizens. Or do legislators just represent themselves?

This story was originally published March 23, 2017 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Ford letter: Bills being held."