2011 Legislative Wrap Up

Idaho’s legislators called it quits Thursday with a couple of startling results.After killing a wind farm moratorium bill in committee and negotiating a compromise on the extension of the sales tax rebate for alternative energy in the final days, the House passed two bills on April 5 in favor of wind projects.

H347 would extend the rebate for those projects already in the works to December 31st. H348 would give the Idaho Public Utilities Commission jurisdiction over the avoided cost rates paid to PURPA solar and wind qualifying facilities. Only wind and solar projects producing 100 kW or less would continue to receive the standard avoided costs under PURPA but bigger projects would negotiate a purchase price.

When H347 failed by one vote in the Senate yesterday, the companion bill, H348, was returned to the State Affairs Committee at the request of Sen. Curt McKenzie.

An anti-degradation rule was negotiated this summer and fall. As with all rules it had to go by the legislature. In a rare move, the legislature chose to reject portions of the rule and replace them with H153. In doing so, legislators were acquiescing to a request by the industries involved and supported by the Department of Environmental Quality. They assured the legislators that this action will meet with EPA’s approval. Opponents may still proceed with a lawsuit to challenge the new rule and the statutory changes.

Under NOT SO STARTLING BUT IMPORTANT news: an amendment to Idaho’s current Right to Farm statute was challenged in committee hearings by several people whose concerns centered on dairies and confined animal feeding operations (CAFO). The amended law protects agricultural practices from nuisance lawsuits by adding an extensive list of standard agricultural practices. It does not add protection for negligent practices or change the current regulation of dairies or CAFOs. It also does not interfere with local planning and zoning authority. It passed the House and Senate and was signed by the Governor on April 6th.

Other Legislation That Made It:

H40: PROPANE FLAMING - There was a successful negotiated rulemaking to streamline the process for propane flaming of fields which is necessary for crops like mint but should not be regulated under the regular crop residue burning program. This bill changes the current law so that fees shall not apply to this practice.

H137a: ALTERATION OF CHANNELS OF STREAMS – This amends existing law relating to the alteration of channels of streams to provide that in specified situations, no permit shall be required by the state or any agency or political subdivision thereof from a water user or his agent.

H206: POULTRY – This adds to and amends existing law relating to poultry to provide for the Poultry Environmental Act; to provide for permits and registration of existing facilities; permits for expansions of operations; to provide for the design and construction of certain new and modified wastewater storage and containment facilities; to provide that the review and approval of plans by the Idaho Department of Agriculture shall supersede that of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

H270: AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT - RULEMAKING – This requires the director of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture to notify the public and the legislature in the event rules of the director are more stringent than federal law or regulations, or propose to regulate an activity not regulated by the federal government. It requires the director to use the best available science and apply well established risk assessment methods (The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality already has similar requirements).

H328: PUBLIC RECORDS – This amends existing law relating to public records to provide that public agencies may charge fees for the cost of filling requests for public records. This legislation was the result of records requests that were more like fishing expeditions and required a large commitment of staff time and copying thousands of pages.

HJR 2: NO MORE WILDERNESS - Idaho shall not support any wilderness designations without having used the public process, which includes the citizens of the state of Idaho, and urging our elected officials to defend this position whenever necessary with the full support of the citizens of the state.

S1001aa: SPECIALTY OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLES – This amends existing law relating to all-terrain vehicles, utility type vehicles, specialty off-highway vehicles or motorbikes to revise provisions relating to certain operators of all-terrain vehicles, utility type vehicles, specialty off-highway vehicles or motorbikes on certain roads, to provide that certain unlicensed operators on national forest roads must have completed a safety course, to provide that a certificate or proof of completion shall be in the possession of the unlicensed operator and shall be provided for inspection upon request. This came about as a result of Forest Service action to close roads to ATV use because of concern for the safety of children under the age of 16 operating ATVs.

SCR105: WILD LANDS – This urges the Secretary of Interior to abandon the "Wild Lands" wilderness re-inventory and request the United States Congress to honor the longstanding commitment to multiple use management of public lands in Idaho and the western United States....

And some legislation that did not:

H242aa: EMINENT DOMAIN – This would have amended existing law to provide that eminent domain shall not be used for trails, bike paths, walking paths, greenways, or other alternate or limited use transportation corridors, except where bike lanes, bike paths, sidewalks, walking paths, greenways or other alternate or limited use corridors are adjoining or adjacent to highways, roads, streets, permitted bridges, toll roads, byroads, plank and turnpike roads. This passed the House but was held in the Senate Local Government Committee.

H268: EMINENT DOMAIN – This would have amended existing law relating to eminent domain to provide that certain entities exercising the right of eminent domain in behalf of certain public uses shall demonstrate that such use materially serves the interests of the citizens of Idaho. This bill would have applied to a private company trying to use eminent domain to build a merchant power transmission line that did not serve the interests of Idaho citizens. It was also held in the Senate State Affairs Committee after passing the House.