"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." --John Adams
How the American Rescue Plan Act Can Help Idaho
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021. The Legislative Services Office has put together a review of this law with in-depth information. At this time, it looks like Idaho may be able to access over $5 billion in direct payments, grants, and fiscal relief through this bill. Many of the provisions in ARPA apply to 2021 to 2025, but some will span even longer time periods.
Most of the funding will come from three federal agencies: 1) US Treasury Department, 2) US Department of Education, and 3) the US Department of Health and Human Services. These federal dollars are intended to help with a wide variety of needs including education, unemployment insurance, supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP), direct assistance to individuals, funding for cities and counties, rental assistance, and more. For example, Idaho public schools may receive an estimated total of $439,942,000, Idaho may receive up to $15,000,000 in rental assistance, and SNAP may receive up to $2,846,000.
The money comes with different requirements and constraints, including different time frames for expenditures. The legislature needs to spend some time understanding the law and ensuring that, where we have discretion, we make the best possible investments in Idaho's future.
Some of the ARPA funds do not need to be appropriated as they will go directly to individuals, local government, or lending institutions, however, much of the money does require legislative action. It is possible for Idaho to refuse allocated funds that need to go through the appropriations process.
At this point, I anticipate the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee will hold meetings to begin work on the funds related to this law during the current session, with some possible appropriation bills coming to the full Senate and House for approval, and that this work will continue in the 2022 legislative session and beyond. Some of the money does have relatively short time frames and will need to be dealt with expeditiously.
Voter Suppression
Much of this legislative session has been about power. Unfortunately, this includes taking power away from voters.
S1110 and S1150 both diminish Idahoan's constitutional right to the initiative. S1110 makes the requirements to put a measure on the ballot even more difficult by requiring signatures from 6% of registered voters in every one of the 35 legislative districts, allowing for one legislative district to have veto power. Of the states that have the initiative, Idaho already has among the most challenging requirements so adding to that difficulty would make it very unlikely that a citizens' group could get a measure, like the successful medicaid expansion, on the ballot in the future. S1110 has passed both the Senate and the House and as of this writing is before the Governor for his consideration. Former Idaho Supreme Court Justice Jim Jones delivered 16,000 signatures to the Governor calling for his veto on this bill on Thursday. Unfortunately, the bill passed both houses by margins big enough to override a veto. These restrictions on the initiative may ultimately be headed to court, where taxpayers would have to foot the bill to defend a law that diminishes their rights.
S1150 would further restrict the initiative process by requiring all signatures to be gathered in Idaho only, which would take away the initiative rights from those who are Idaho citizens and registered to vote, but are not physically in Idaho such as military service members stationed outside the state, business contractors working outside the state, and students studying abroad. S1150 is in committee in the House.
The Senate is considering H223. This bill is designed to criminalize people who deliver absentee ballots. As written it would make felons of those who take an absentee ballot to the mail box for an elderly neighbor or who work in an assisted living center and deliver absentee ballots for the residents. Felons lose their right to vote, their right to carry a gun, and often struggle to find housing and work. Making someone a felon for an act of kindness is unconscionable. The bill was passed by the House and has been sent to the amending order in the Senate. It is hard to see how amendments can fix this fundamentally flawed bill.
