The Idaho Legislature is bloated with far too many bills. Time to adjourn, head home | Opinion

Too many bills in Legislature

The Idaho Legislature prepared 890 bills in this session. That is an average of about 8 bills per legislator.

Why do legislators think their job is solely to write bills? They brag about how many bills they proposed. They castigate their opponents during elections who proposed fewer bills. Idaho voters seem to measure the success of their Legislators by the number of new laws they create. Legislators seem obsessed with finding ways to create a new law so they can brag about it at home.

Instead, review how the existing laws have improved or worsened the lives of Idahoans. Do they need change or abolition?

Learn more about how tax dollars are used. Invite school district superintendents to talk about their schools and students and how the legislature can help them to be the best they can be. Take time to learn more about the State agencies and what they have done to achieve their mission. Learn how to help them be more efficient.

When someone comes to their legislator with a personal complaint, the answer shouldn’t be immediately: “There ought to be a law….”

Kathy Peter, Boise

‘Everyone is welcome here’

When did that become controversial? Was it the words? The images of hands?

Earlier CRT (critical race theory) was the hot-button issue of the times. Idaho had a task force to investigate. We paid for that.

Rumors flew. Moral panic ensured. The Idaho Freedom Foundation and other conflict entrepreneurs stirred the pot. Those who railed against this boogeyman of the year could not explain what it was. It ended as a big nothing burger.

Today, DEI is the root of all evil. What will the next three-letter combination of the alphabet bring?

Meanwhile, West Ada School District administrators, while under the DEI influence, are contorting the thinking part of their brain into pretzels by trying to explain “content-neutral” and how it relates to an innocuous sign.

Content-neutral? How does one raise children and teach being “content-neutral?” Are we content-neutral about stealing? Are we content-neutral about slavery or the Holocaust?

If a welcome sign is not content-neutral; then what is it?

Oh — and don’t get me started on the “content-neutralness” of posting the Ten Commandments and reading Bible verses in school!

Mary Ollie, Bonners Ferry

Federal layoffs are window dressing

Cutting back seems to apply only to the low-hanging fruit. I find it hard to take the federal cutback as heartfelt, when Donald Trump’s expenses to golf at Mar-a-Lago since his inauguration would equal 2,600 jobs of $50,000 each based on a yearly cost, or the cost of new Air Force one planes he ordered during his last term in office and is pushing so hard to ride in, for a cost $3.6 billion or 72,000 jobs per year. I guess the cutbacks don’t include the biggest pigs, only the easy pickings

Dennis McDowell, Boise

Simpson’s silence on USAID

I am an LDS woman involved in my neighborhood, children’s schools and city. I love that my children attend school with children from around the world because Boise has chosen to welcome refugees for decades. My husband’s family even came to Idaho over a hundred years ago as Volga German refugees from Russia.

Watching USAID get shut down was upsetting for me. I know their work with the poor and needy includes feeding the hungry, vaccinating at-risk children, teaching in refugee camps and rebuilding war-torn regions. I have volunteered with some of their faith-based partners, serving together with fellow Christians to offer relief to others.

I was incredibly concerned about the lack of pushback from Rep. Mike Simpson on the casual disbandment of USAID. Congress had already agreed to send aid to charities around the world to relieve the suffering of our brothers and sisters. But my elected representative said nothing publicly when hundreds of charities had to close when their grants were abruptly pulled.

Idahoans have a long history of offering Christian charity to our neighbors inside and outside of Idaho. Our desire to help others is one of the best parts of our state and it makes us stronger

Rebecca Bratsman, Boise

Trump already defying the courts

What happened recently with the plane load of immigrants being sent without due process was important because they were not allowed due process, but it was more important because Trump administration ignored a court order and broke Trump’s oath of office.

The Constitution was written that there are three equal branches of government — the equal part being very important. The presidency is one, Congress is one, and the courts are the other.

One of them can not enforce their power if they choose, which seems to be what our Congress has done. However, one branch cannot simply decide to ignore the other. This could lead to a constitutional crisis. The only way to solve this is for Congress to step up and start doing their job. The values America holds dearest, the right to free speech, the right to representation, the rights of the press and the right to beat arms are all in danger if the three branches of government do not hold each other accountable.

Jamie Draper, Fruitland

West Ada’s policy laughable

Just the other day I learned that a good way to create division or controversy in a classroom is to post signs that state “Everyone is welcome here,” and, “In this room, everyone is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued.”

Apparently, such statements “don’t allow people to express differing opinions.” I’ve been struggling to find the logic there, but so far I haven’t been able to figure out how welcoming everyone creates division or controversy, or how accepting, respecting, encouraging and valuing everyone keeps anyone from expressing any opinion—unless maybe that opinion is that no one is welcome or only certain people are welcome.

I’ve realized that I can’t find the logic there because there is no logic there, unless a statement like “you’re welcome” somehow keeps a person hearing it from feeling welcome. If school administrators think this makes sense — if they think it’s sound educational policy — then it’s easy to understand why American students rank lower on standardized tests than students from other countries all over the world. It’s also easy to figure out the simplest way to improve American education, and I don’t mean silencing the teachers.

Charles Yates, Boise