The 2019 Idaho Legislative session officially wrapped up Thursday, but some of the most controversial parts of this past session might live on when lawmakers return in 2020.
Earlier this month, Gov. Brad Little (R) vetoed two bills that critics say would’ve made it practically impossible for anyone to get an initiative on the ballot in Idaho.
Republican backers of those proposals, like Rep. Jason Monks (R-Nampa), say they listened to the hundreds of people who packed committee rooms and the hallways of the Idaho Capitol to protest the bills by slightly rolling back some of the toughest provisions.
“Ultimately, though, our responsibility is to be the policy makers and we sometimes have to make decisions that are not popular and that’s okay. If that’s our core beliefs, then that’s what we need to stand on,” Monks said.
But Little’s veto stamp was much like Hercules’s sword cutting off the Hydra’s head. Four new initiative restrictions bills grew in their place just a few days later.
They were never approved, but supporters of the bills seem eager to take up the issue next year.
Another unresolved flashpoint came from a measure that would have taken away Democratic power in redrawing Idaho’s legislative district lines after the upcoming census.
That proposed constitutional amendment died in committee, but Democrats say they’re worried it’ll be revived in 2020.
Copyright 2019 Boise State Public Radio
