The Idaho Way: Do you trust Idaho legislators to call themselves into session?
.jpg "The Idaho Way: Increasing limits at high school sporting events, President Biden’s Idaho connections and Idaho legislators calling themselves into a special session.")
By Scott McIntosh, Opinion editor
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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.
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.
Your kid will survive if you’re not at his high school basketball game
For those of you who long for the good old days, those better, simpler times of, say, the 1950s, let me share a scene from that classic TV show, “Leave It To Beaver.”
The older son, Wally, comes home to find his parents, Ward and June Cleaver, sitting in the living room. His dad, of course, is reading a newspaper.
“Hey, son, how was the football game?” Ward asks Wally.
“Swell, Dad,” Wally replies. “I scored the game-winning touchdown.”
“Well, great,” Ward says, beaming with pride. “That’s just great, son.”
You see, Ward wasn’t at the football game. Neither was June. They didn’t need to be at every single game, school function or kindergarten graduation ceremony.
As a parent of a now-graduated high school student-athlete and a parent of a current high school student-athlete, I’ve attended many of my sons’ sporting events, and I am looking forward to doing so once again in the future — after the pandemic. I’m not planning on going to every single one, though. My boys still know I love them and I’m proud of them, even if I’m not there in person, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
With 400,000 Americans dead from COVID-19, including now more than 1,600 Idahoans, it’s a small sacrifice to pay in an effort to try to keep others safe.
President Biden’s Idaho connections
Soon after President-elect Joe Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972, his wife and young daughter were tragically killed in an automobile accident. Biden, then just 29 years old (he would turn 30 before his swearing in) was the youngest member of the U.S. Senate. Previously, that distinction belonged to Idaho’s Sen. Frank Church who was elected to the Senate in 1956 at age 32.
Frank and Bethine Church had mentored Biden in his campaign for the Senate. In fact, Church loaned several staff members to the Biden campaign who would later join Biden’s Senate staff. As Biden has said in his grief at the time, he did not want to be sworn in as a senator but needed to care for his two young sons. The Churches and other senators convinced Biden that he could do both, so he agreed to take his Senate seat. Famously, he commuted home on the train to his family Wilmington, Delaware, nearly every day of is 36-year Senate career.
Imagine Idaho aims to expand broadband in the Gem State
Community leaders from across Idaho have joined together to launch an effort called Imagine Idaho. This effort is aimed at increasing awareness of the importance of broadband internet throughout our state. The ultimate goal is to increase broadband access that allows all Idahoans to live, learn and work anywhere in the state. Imagine Idaho is committed to serving Idaho communities and its residents by helping promote policies that help their ability to deploy broadband-communications infrastructure in a pro-competitive way.
What you’re saying
This week, we’ve received letters on Boise State University canceling the event with Angela Davis, letters on Ada County commissioners appointing Raul Labrador to the Central District Health board and a letter on Bob Kustra’s column.
We’ve also received letters on safety at the Idaho Legislature, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and quickly approving President Biden’s Cabinet.
You can read all those letters and more by clicking here.
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