House State Affairs Committee Minutes 2007 MINUTES HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE DATE: January 10, 2007 TIME: 10:00 a.m. PLACE: Room 412 MEMBERS: Chairman Loertscher, Vice Chairman Edmunson, Representatives Stevenson, Black, Ring, Snodgrass, Anderson, Andrus, Bilbao, Crane, Labrador, Luker, Mathews, Shepherd(2), Smith(30), Pasley-Stuart, Rusche, King ABSENT/ Representative Crane EXCUSED: GUESTS: Please see attached guest list. Chairman Loertscher called the meeting to order at 10:00 a. m. with a quorum present. Roll call was taken. The page, Mr. Mike Jones, from Pocatello, Idaho was introduced to the committee. Vice Chair Edmunson who would be chairing the subcommittee on rules named the eight members who had been selected to sit on the committee. They are Representatives Ring, Bilbao, Snodgrass, Pasley-Stuart, Crane, Luker, Labrador and King. He asked the four returning representatives to assist the four Freshman on procedures for reviewing administrative rules, in order to be better prepared when the rules are reviewed in the subcommittee. Time and date of the first meeting would be announced as soon as it has been determined. Chairman Loertscher said that the committee will be meeting daily as more legislation to be considered becomes available to the committee. Committee protocol was discussed. The Chairman expressed the importance of starting the meetings on time in an effort not to waste anyone’s time and in consideration of those who wish to testify and interested parties who may have to travel. The members were given the opportunity to select their own seat assignments based on seniority. The Vice Chair announced that there would be a brief subcommittee meeting on the rules review directly following adjournment. ADJOURN: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:22 a.m. Representative Tom Loertscher Jennifer O’Kief Chairman Secretary MINUTES HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE DATE: January 11, 2007 TIME: 10:00 A. M. PLACE: Room 412 MEMBERS: Chairman Loertscher, Vice Chairman Edmunson, Representatives Stevenson, Ring, Snodgrass, Anderson, Andrus, Bilbao, Crane, Luker, Mathews, Smith(30), Pasley-Stuart, Rusche, King ABSENT/ Representatives Black, Labrador and Shepherd(2) EXCUSED: GUESTS: Please see attached sign-in sheet. Chairman Loertscher called the meeting to order at 10:00 A.M. with a quorum present. The first order of business was to review the minutes of Wednesday, January 10, 2007. MOTION: Representative Pasley-Stuart moved to accept the minutes of Wednesday, January 10, 2007 as written. The motion carried by voice vote. RS16538 Oliver Chase, Management Assistant, Idaho Division of Veterans Services introduced RS 16538. He explained that this legislation is a proposal to change the State Veterans Cemetery Director position from a classified position to a nonclassified, exempt position. Currently all other administrator positions in the Division are nonclassified exempt employees who serve at the pleasure of the Division Administrator. These include the Office of Veterans Home administrators. Reclassifying the State Veterans Cemetery Director position would place it in line with the other management positions in the Division. There were no comments from the committee. MOTION: Representative Ring moved to introduce RS 16538. The motion was carried by voice vote. RS16646 Representative Jaquet introduced RS 16646. She explained that this legislation establishes a day of statewide recognition for Idaho’s nonprofit organizations. This would acknowledge the nonprofit sector’s proud history of service, innovation, and social change. This legislation would establish January 18, 2007 as “Idaho Nonprofit Day.” Some of the highlights of the bill are that Idaho nonprofit organizations significantly contribute to the economy with expenditures of more than $1.7 billion in 2004. They have increased by fourteen percent between 2002 and 2004 which is faster than Idaho’s population is growing. Idahoans have one of the highest rates of volunteerism in the nation. Some of the nonprofit organizations in the state are the American Cancer Society, Diabetes Association, Heart Association, Womens and Childrens Alliance, March of Dimes and the Ronald McDonald House to name a few. Representative Jaquet requested that RS 16646 be introduced and placed on the second reading calendar in order for it to be back from the Senate in time for the press conference on the steps of the Capitol January 18, 2007. There were no comments from the committee. MOTION: Representative Edmunson moved to introduce RS 16646 and send it to the second reading calendar. The motion was carried by voice vote. Representative Jaquet will sponsor the bill and Representative Black will be the co-sponsor. Dyke Nally, Superintendent, Idaho State Liquor Dispensary introduced RS 16545 to the committee. He explained that the current law has not been updated since it became law in1939. The Idaho State Liquor Dispensary is one of a very few agencies whose officers and employees are prohibited from engaging in certain political activities. Idaho Code prohibits any officer or employee of the Dispensary from serving on or being a member of any committee of any political party or actively engaging in or contributing to partisan primary or election campaigns. The Dispensary proposes that Idaho Code 23-213 be repealed to provide Dispensary officers and employees the same rights and privileges as the vast majority of other state officers and employees. The language in the current statute is more restrictive than the other agencies are held to. The Liquor Dispensary is asking to repeal the law to be consistent with all other state agencies. The law should be changed to be uniform for all Idaho state employees. The agency has 170 classified employees and 160 stores throughout the state as well as employees in the central office and temporary workers who work as little as two hours per week who cannot put up a yard sign. He offered to make available copies of the statute from the Idaho Department of Transportation for their review, which the agency is considering. Representative Pasley-Stuart commented that she thought any information made available for the committee to review would be helpful in defending the rationale as to why the need to engage in partisan politics. Mr. Nally agreed to provide the statutes from both the Idaho Department of Transportation and the Personnel Commission which he thinks are more consistent and realistic. Representative Rusche asked that if this bill simply repeals the current statute, are there other sections of code that would be applicable to liquor dispensary employees or would there be another bill forthcoming? Mr. Nally said that this repeal would automatically fall under the guidelines of the Personnel Commission statute. In response to a question, Mr. Nally said that after conducting some research, the Department of Insurance is one of the more restrictive of the agencies. Representative Anderson commented that if the desire is to find consistency with everyone as we move forward then we should fix this problem for everyone. HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS January 11, 2007 - Minutes - Page 2 Representative Pasley-Stuart commented that it sounds like not only does this liquor dispensary issue needs to be fixed, but policies for what is or is not appropriate for all state employees. This needs to be addressed so that there is not a question, given that employees move among different agencies. Mr. Nally agreed and added that the statute for the Personnel Commission epitomizes consistency and could be used as a model as they proceed. MOTION: Representative Stevenson moved to introduce RS 16545. Representative Mathews commented that if there is an awareness that some of the other agency policies need to be fixed, then perhaps taking action on this legislation should be delayed until a review of the other agencies could be conducted. Representative Loertscher suggested that through the hearing process, there would be more information and knowledge that would come to the committee about these policies. The motion carried on a voice vote. Representative Edmunson announced that the subcommittee on rules would meet Tuesday, January 16 at 9:00 A.M. The committee would not meet Friday, January 12 or Monday, January 15. ADJOURN: The Chairman adjourned the meeting at 10:22 A. M. Representative Thomas Loertscher Jennifer O’Kief Chairman Secretary HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS January 11, 2007 - Minutes - Page 3 MINUTES HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS RULES SUBCOMMITTEE DATE: January 16, 2007 TIME: 9:03 A.M. PLACE: Room 412 MEMBERS: Chairman Edmunson, Representatives Ring, Snodgrass, Bilbao, Crane, Labrador, Luker, Pasley-Stuart, King ABSENT/ None EXCUSED: GUESTS: Paul Kjellander, Commissioner, Public Utilities Commission, PUC; Joanna Guilfoy, Deputy Attorney General and Tim Mason, Administrator, Division of Public Works; Eugene Baker, Executive Director, Idaho State Racing Commission. Please see attached sign-in sheet for complete guest list. The meeting was called to order at 9:03 A.M. Chairman Edmunson requested that the rules to be introduced for the Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Administration be moved to the top of the agenda. Docket No. Paul Kjellander, Commissioner, PUC, introduced Docket 31-1101-0601 31-1101-0601 noting that this rule is essentially changing a “2" to “7". The Commissions Safety and Accident Reporting Rules occasionally adopt by reference several national safety codes and federal safety regulations. Currently, Rule 101 adopts by