TWO BILLS ADVANCE TO LIMIT BOND ELECTIONS
BOISE — Last week the Idaho House approved a bill that would affect the frequency of local bond elections, and the House State Affairs Committee takes up a second one this week.
If passed into law, House Bill 347 would prohibit taxing districts from holding a bond election for eleven months after a failed bond on the same subject. Local units of government typically use bonds to finance projects such as new schools, jails or police stations.
According to sponsor Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, the proposal is meant to protect voters from what she calls aggressive taxing districts.
“The quote in the paper was ‘after three tries, we’re going to try again.’ They just keep running these bonds over and over, even after the people say no,” Scott said.
Most of Idaho elections are consolidated to take place on the third Tuesday in May—such as state office primary elections—and the first Tuesday in November.
School districts are also permitted to run bond and levy elections on dates in March—the date of the presidential primary—and August.
“Some of these taxing districts have four opportunities to run a levy,” Scott said. “Whenever they’re allowed to do their elections. This [bill] only says if a bond fails, they’re going to wait a year, and I truly think we’ll get better ballot questions. They’ll do their homework.”
Scott gave examples of other states with waiting periods after failed bond elections, ranging from a few months to several years. Opponents of the bill countered that other states require a simple majority to pass bonds, unlike the two-thirds supermajority required in Idaho.
Opponents also argued that relatively few bond issues come before voters repeatedly.
“It concerns me when you look at something that happens one percent of the time and we have to fix it. We’re a local control state, except when we’re not local control,” said Rep. Ryan Kerby, R-New Plymouth. “Big Brother just has to go in and fix something that a very small minority of the people are doing.”
Not all lawmakers agree that Scott’s proposal infringes upon local government control.
“I don’t think there’s any better manifestation of local control than a vote by the people,” said Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot. “This bill really is about protecting that voter process and respecting the voice of the people at the very most local level.”
After passing the House, the bill now awaits a hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee.
A second proposal on bond elections was printed Monday morning by the House State Affairs Committee. House Bill 393 by Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, and Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, would eliminate the March and August election dates for school bonds and levies.
The stated goal of the legislation is to improve voter turnout in school funding elections by holding them only in conjunction with May primaries and November general elections. The bill has not yet been scheduled for a public hearing.
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