'Wake up!' Idaho Legislature resumes with speech on House floor to defy federal power

Apr. 6—The Idaho Legislature began Tuesday with a bill against federal actions, an impassioned speech on the House floor against federal aid and public health orders over the coronavirus pandemic, and a vote in favor of an anti-abortion bill.

After a two-week recess due to a COVID-19 outbreak among House members, legislators returned to business criticizing the federal government, pushing forward with a bill to veto federal power and restrict abortions.

A bill intended to resist federal government actions or federal courts moved forward to the House floor on Tuesday.

House members approved the bill in the House State Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning. Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, who sponsored House Bill 322, told the committee he expects the legislation to be challenged in court, but said it would be "flexing our muscles as a state."

The bill would create a procedure process for the Legislature to declare a federal executive order or federal court ruling "of no force and effect." Here are some of the other highlights from the return of the legislative session.

Bills that died: Renters' fees, tobacco, and Department of Health and Welfare budget

House and Senate chambers continued to slog through bills in the late afternoon. And some bills couldn't muster enough support from the House to make it into law.

House members killed a bill, sponsored by Sen. Ali Rabe, D-Boise, that would have required property owners to spell out fees in rental leases and 30 days' notice for changes to those fees. Senate Bill 1088 had bipartisan support in the Senate and was supported by the Idaho Apartment Association and Idaho chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers. It died in a 28-40 vote.

Another bill to raise the legal age to buy tobacco products to 21 was rejected in the House in a 28-40 vote. The bill would have put Idaho in line with the federal smoking age. Former President Donald Trump signed the law to lift the age to 21 in 2019.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, a 16-18 vote narrowly killed a controversial bill that would have provided parents with $500 a year for every K-12 school student — whether in public or private school — to be used on educational expenses.

Legislators also have a long list of appropriation bills to approve — but one measure, Senate Bill 1163, died on Tuesday.

The House in a 27-42 vote killed a bill to approve the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's $199.7 million budget. The Senate had already approved it in a 24-9 vote.

Officials will need to start the process over again for the Legislature to approve a bill on the IDHW's budget. Legislators can't finish the session without approving a budget for every state department.

Rep. Ben Adams tells House members to 'wake up'

Rep. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, delivered a three-and-a-half minute speech on the House floor. He addressed other state legislators and angrily told them to "wake up." He widely criticized federal policies for the large national debt and urged House members to "push back" and "lay claim to our sovereignty as a state."

"Now in 2021, after a year that attempted to squelch out the remaining embers of liberty in this country, the winds of tyranny have blown on the remnant and ignited a flame that will not be put out!" Adams said. "The people are awake, eyes wide open, and they're watching you to see who will stand with them."

Adams said "vaccine passports," "indoctrinating our youth," and dam breaching are all on the agenda. He also appeared to refer to President Joe Biden's latest COVID-19 relief package for increasing the national debt — money the Legislature will have to approve this session.

Adams blasted the government for "borrowing on the credit of generations of Americans who have not even been born yet, chaining them to a lifetime of financial slavery."

"Either lead, follow or get the hell out of the way," Adams said. "Because you cannot spend the people's money and buy them with their own money forever."

Senators approve fetal heartbeat bill

Senators approved a bill that would prohibit abortions if a heartbeat on the fetus is detected. But the bill would only be triggered if any federal appeals court rules in favor of a restriction on aborting a fetus with a heartbeat.

Senate Bill 1183 was crafted by the Family Policy Alliance of Idaho and sponsored by Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston. It passed in a 28-7 vote.

"A woman's life is valuable, and if they're in a traumatic situation we need to reach out to them with our love and support," Lodge said on the Senate floor, saying that women have resources available to them.

Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said she opposed the bill because of its lack of exemption in cases of rape. The bill would require that rape and incest survivors report the crime to the police and provide a copy of the police report to the physician performing an abortion.

Experts and studies have said sexual assaults remain one of the most under-reported crimes. An analysis by the U.S. Department of Justice of violent crime in 2015 and 2016 showed nearly 80% of rapes and sexual assaults went unreported.

Wintrow urged senators to oppose the bill and "to not put people through this" or jeopardize services the state provides.

Sen. Regina Bayer, R-Meridian, said the bill doesn't go far enough. Women shouldn't have the right to choose to commit "murder," Bayer said.

"Abortion is murder," she said.

Sen. Mark Nye, D-Pocatello, said the bill "is not the Idaho way" and said it was pushed by outside influences. He warned senators that it has serious consequences, both in possibly losing Medicaid funding and costing the state to defend the bill. Sen. Ali Rabe, D-Boise, also warned senators that passing this bill would set the Legislature up for future litigation.

Sen. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, said the women he's spoken to who have gotten an abortion are haunted by their decision "for the rest of their lives."

"This is not about money. This is about a right to life," Grow said.

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