“The more philosophically we’re aligned, then certainly the easier it is,” said House Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale.

However, he said it remains to be seen whether the Senate will shift to the right.  “Until they actually get here, you don’t really know how conservative they’re going to be,” Denney told IdahoReporter.com.  “I suspect that if they are as conservative as they claim to be that there will be some change.”

Republican senators Mike Jorgenson of Hayden, Gary Schroeder of Moscow, Lee Heinrich of Cascade, and Charles Coiner of Twin Falls all fell to challengers in Tuesday’s Republican primary.  All those challengers offer specific legislation where they would vote more conservatively.

Steve Vick of Dalton Gardens, who beat Jorgenson, said he takes a different approach on tax issues.  “He had voted to raise the gas tax and the drivers’ license fee and supported putting a tax on Internet sales,” Vick said about Jorgenson.  “I would oppose all of those things.  I feel like we’re taxed enough, so we didn’t need more taxes.”  Vick is a former Montana lawmaker who served on that state’s appropriations committee.

Gresham Bouma of Troy, who beat Schroder, said several policy issues separate him from the more moderate Schroeder, including wolves.  “He wants to manage them,” Bouma said.  “I think they need to be eliminated.  I see them as an alien invasive species.”  Schroeder chaired the Senate Environment and Resources Committee, which dealt with hunting and wolf issues, and favored expanding Idaho’s wolf hunt.  Many of Bouma’s other campaign issues dealt with Idaho’s response to federal policy.  “Between the wolves, cap and trade, and Obamacare, we could be out of business in north Idaho.”  Bouma faces a Democratic challenger in the November election in a district that has elected a Democratic state representative, Shirley Ringo of Moscow.

Twin Falls City Councilman Lee Heider criticized some of Coiner’s votes in the Senate.  “I think a lot of people were unhappy with his voting record, and I represented conservative values,” he said.  “I think that’s what the Republican Party was looking for, was someone that had been more conservative than Mr. Coiner had been.”  Coiner was one of three senators to oppose legislation requiring the state to file a lawsuit against federal health care reforms, and also opposed a plan creating conscience rights for health care workers on certain issues including abortion and end-of-life care.

Heinrich lost to rancher and part-time school teacher Sheryl Nuxoll of Cottonwood.  On her website, Nuxoll criticized Heinrich for opposing a plan that would create a tax break for an airplane repair company in Boise.  “I would have voted for the rebate to attract business, but the incumbent voted to kill the bill in committee,” she said on her website.

House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, who backed the rebate for plane repairs, said the decisions by voters in some districts could validate House Republicans.  “It sounds like maybe the House was right,” he said.  “Maybe the people realize that we need to help business grow and not hamstring it.”

The potential shift in Senate Republicans could trigger a change in Senate leadership next year.  Most  of the winning challengers in Tuesday’s primary wouldn’t say whether they would vote to keep Senate President Pro Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs, in charge, though Nuxoll said she wants to see a change at the top of the Senate.  “I’m hoping for a more conservative leadership,” she told IdahoReporter.com.

Two House incumbents also lost re-election bids.  Rep. Steve Kren, R-Nampa, was defeated by Christy Perry of Nampa.  Denney said he was surprised by Perry’s margin of victory—she won with 56 percent of the vote—while Rep. Joe Palmer, R-Meridian said he was surprised Kren lost.  Rep. Rich Jarvis, R-Meridian, was beaten by former seat holder John Vander Woude of Nampa.

One of the more active state lawmakers in the arena of wolves and hunting is Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, who chairs the Senate Resources and Environment Committee and also owns an animal hide and fur store.  Schroeder told IdahoReporter.com that wolves are an important topic to ranchers, hunters, and animal conservationists, and that lawmakers this session worked to protect the interests of the state and its hunters.

Schroeder referred to a blog set up by one wolf hunter, Robert Millage of Kamiah, to document the positive and negative responses he’s gotten.   The Legislature approved both measures Schroeder discussed, encouraging cross-state discussion on wolf management and removing hunters’ licenses from the public record.

Schroeder said a decision by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy to put Idaho’s wolves back on the endangered species list would prevent the state from having a wolf hunt next fall and could also limit livestock producers’ ability to protect their animals from wolves.

Some of the 13 groups suing to put wolves back on the endangered species list have said they expect Judge Molloy to rule in their favor, and overturn a decision to delist wolves from the national endangered species list.  A decision is expected in the next few months.

Schroeder’s Senate committee also oversees the state parks system.  He was very critical of plans to close Dworshak State Park near Orofino, but says he supports the business-like reforms that are coming from Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation Director Nancy Merrill.

Schroeder said that, for the most part, his committee dealt with run-of-the-mill proposals.  “When you don’t have a lot of money, things are not as busy,” he said.  But he added that the most important piece of legislation that passed through his committee was a plan to create a fund for working lands, which would prevent development on lands used for farming or used by animals.

That proposal passed the Idaho Senate, but didn’t make it out of the House.  Schroeder said he’ll work on the working lands fund again next year.

The requirement would currently only apply to districts or charter schools with more than 300 students.  Several senators voiced concern that the program should apply to all school districts and also wondered why the legislation arrived in the Senate so late in the session.  “We can’t have transparency from part of the people but not the rest of them,” said Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, who helped move the legislation to the amending order.  “I don’t like the fact that we’re arbitrarily drawing the line at 300.”

Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, agreed with Schroeder that a requirement to post material to the Internet should apply to all districts and said the requirement would be harder for smaller districts.  “It will take a great deal of effort for some of our smaller schools,” Mortimer said.  He said that this year is a bad time for new requirements for districts, given the reduction in state funding.  “I don’t think that the time is this year.”  Mortimer told IdahoReporter.com after the committee vote that he doesn’t expect the legislation to pass this session, and that he wished the plan had come over to the Senate earlier this session.

The plan’s sponsor, Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, said the legislation would have increased transparency of school spending.  “We’re taking information that’s already a public record and making it more easily accessible by the public,” Hart said.  “In this age that we’re in with easy access to the Internet … we should be providing this kind of information out there to the public.”  He also said he added the 300-student limit so that only larger districts that already have websites would be required to post financial documents on the Internet.  He said those districts could easily meet the requirement.  “The amount of effort that it would take to comply … is very minimal,” he said.

Representatives for schools said it would be difficult for small districts to meet the Internet posting requirements.  “We’d probably like a little more time to work with [Hart] and be able to come up with a plan that works,” said Wayne Davis, director of the Idaho Association of School Administrators.

Idaho Freedom Foundation Executive Director Wayne Hoffman also testified at the committee meeting.  He said that transparency in public schools and other public agencies is being talked about more and more across the country.  “Folks want to be assured that the money that they’re already spending is being spent well,” he said.

Read IdahoReporter.com’s story on the House approval of Hart’s legislation here.

Note: Wayne Hoffman is the executive director of the Idaho Freedom Foundation.  IdahoReporter.com is a product of the Idaho Freedom Foundation

“Today, you go on Google and you have their phone number and address pretty quick,” said Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow.  “As a result, you can harass them quite easily.”  He said the legislation is designed to safeguard hunters from harassment.  “We have a responsibility to protect our citizens when they engage in a legal act and are threatened.”  Hunters and fishermen could still send letters to IDFG saying they would allow their hunting records to be made public, and law enforcement could still access records in certain situations.

During debate, Schroeder referred to a blog set up by one wolf hunter, Robert Millage of Kamiah, to document the positive and negative responses he’s gotten.  Senate President Pro Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs, said some of the comments were harassing.  “I’m somewhat appalled that people would say some of the things that they said, let alone put them in writing,” he said.  “This is a threat to people in our state that are doing something that is legal.”

Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise, was one of three Senators who opposed the plan.  He said it was an overreaction to remove all hunters’ records from the public record due to harassment from some wolf hunters.

The legislation now heads to the governor for his consideration.

The Mastery Advancement Pilot Program (MAPP) would let students take a test, or otherwise demonstrate the knowledge learned in a class, to skip a class or full year of school.  The six-year pilot program would be open to 21 school districts and three charter schools.

“This would provide school districts and students, particularly the bright and motivated students, a vehicle to move through the system a little bit faster,” said Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian.  “It is entirely voluntary.”  Students who graduate early could also receive a small scholarship to attend an Idaho public university or college.  “It’s a low-risk attempt to encourage the bright minds to accelerate and to stay in the great state of Idaho,” Fulcher said.

Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, was one of seven senators who opposed the plan.  He said he hoped the MAPP smoldered and died when Fulcher previously pulled it before a vote to add the six-year time limit.  He said the pilot project could be too risky.  “We experiment with lab animals, not with children,” he said.  Schroeder also said that too many provisions of the MAPP, including what tests students would take to pass a class, aren’t spelled out in the legislation.  Fulcher told Schroeder some of the specifics of the proposal would be decided by the state education department and local school districts.

The MAPP now heads back to the House, which needs to approve the pilot project as amended.  Read IdahoReporter.com‘s past coverage of the MAPP here. The text of the MAPP legislation is available here.

Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise, said BSU’s fourth place finish in the season-ending college football polls was impressive.  “It is really an amazing accomplishment for a very small school for competing in this realm,” he said.  Werk also said coach Chris Petersen’s 49-4 won-loss record at BSU is so impressive that it looks like a typographical error.

Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, who received his law degree from U of I, said that football is only part of the good work at the university in Moscow.  “We hope that they continue to have success in the football arena, but we know that they will continue to have great success in academics,” he said.  During debate, Davis also remarked that U of I awarded hundreds of doctorate degrees last year, while BSU awarded one.

Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, added praise for academics at U of I.  “We’re proud of all the fine lawyers that we’ve educated at the law school in Moscow,” he said.

Armstrong, a Boise resident, received praise from Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth.  “She was the first resident of Idaho to receive a gold medal in the Olympics,” he said.  He also called her a good role model.

Read IdahoReporter.com’s story on the House passage of the resolutions honoring the two college football teams here, and the Armstrong resolution here.

The legislation comes in the wake of the names of wolf hunters being publicized after they were obtained by a public records request.  The legislation would also bar anyone from harassing or threatening any hunters through personal contact or using e-mail or a website.

“I have not had an issue that has filled my e-mail up more than this,” said Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth.  “Privacy is one of the great issues of today.”  He said Idahoans assume that information on their hunting license would be private, which the legislation would bring.  “It does bring the protection to the state of Idaho that the people expect.”

“The right to hunt is one of those things that’s reserved to the people,” said Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, who will sponsor the legislation on the Senate floor.  He said people are using public records requests to harass people exercising their right to hunt.  “We have a responsibility to protect people from that.”  Schroeder also said during the meeting that criminals could make public records requests for hunters’ names to identify people who own guns.  “We’re basically providing a list of houses that people would like to break into.”

Bob Minter, the president of the sportsmen organization, Ada County Fish and Game League, agreed that hunters expect that their licenses won’t be released.  “If you want hunters to help manage game in this state … then these are the kind of laws that are going to have to be provided to us,” he said.  Minter added that while most of the harassment of hunters recently has surrounded wolf hunters, it could spread to other elk and other animals.

The two Democrats on the panel, Elliott Werk of Boise and Michelle Stennett of Ketchum, wanted to change the legislation so that hunters would need to check a box on their license or tag application if they wanted their names kept private.  The legislation would allow hunters to tell the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) if they would allow their name to be made public.  “An opt-out box would be just as easy to implement,” Werk said.  “What we’re doing is we’re reaching far down into the fish and game system, and making it in every instance that this information wouldn’t be released.”

Stennett said she has a hunting license and wouldn’t want to be harassed, but said there are reasons why people would request these records besides intimidating and threatening hunters.  “There are places in time where you would want that information released for general consumption,” she said.  That could include verifying that candidates for office or board appointees have valid hunting licenses.

If the additional protection for hunters becomes law, IDFG could quickly stop accepting public records requests for licenses, but would take longer to create a system to manage written requests to make licenses public, according to IDFG policy director Sharon Kiefer.  She said that since this legislation has been introduced, someone has requested a hard copy of all the hunting licenses and tags that were issued in 2009.

Read IdahoReporter.com’s coverage of the legislation here, here, and here.  The text of the legislation is available here.

“The only way that I can think of to protect hunters from this kind of harassment is to make this information off limits,” said Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, the House sponsor of the legislation.  “I felt that this bill had to be brought forward.  I don’t believe that everyone needs to have your information on every single thing that you do.  Because of this harassment, I thought that this was necessary.”  Boyle told senators about harassment faced by the first Idaho hunter to kill a wolf legally and other hunters across the state.  IdahoReporter.com spoke with the man who posted the names of hunters who reported harvesting wolves.

Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise, said making all hunting and fishing records confidential because of harassment against some hunters, mostly those with wolf tags, would be an overreaction.  “It seems like we’re using a sledgehammer to do something that a scalpel would take care of,” he said.  “It’s a very broad bill for a very narrow purpose.”  Werk asked Boyle if she would consider letting hunters choose to make their records classified and opt out of public records requests.

Boyle opposed Werk’s suggestion.  “I think that for the safety of our citizens it’s better to have an opt-in,” she said.  “Most people don’t follow through on opt out.  Very few people realize that this is public information.”

Lobbyists for Idaho journalists and newspapers also opposed the proposal as written.  “This is information journalists need to do their jobs,” Sydney Sallabanks said on behalf of the Idaho Press Club.  “It is no easy charge to balance the public access with an individual’s right to privacy.”

“If you shut down the openness of your government, then your government operates in the dark,” said Jeremy Pisca, a lobbyist for the Idaho Allied Dailies, which represents newspapers.  Pisca added that the harassments against wolf hunters was reprehensible, but said the proposed legislation goes too far.  Both Pisca and Sallabanks supported changing Boyle’s legislation so it would allow people to search for hunting licenses of any elected official, candidate for office, or person up for appointment to a state board.  Boyle said officials are free to make their personal hunting records public, but doesn’t want to see any amendments.  She said trying to add on changes to the proposal could effectively end the legislation.

The Senate committee held off on approving, rejecting, or proposing changes to the legislation until their next meeting on Wednesday.   Committee chair Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, said more people signed up to speak for or against the legislation, and will get that chance later this week.  Read IdahoReporter.com’s coverage of the legislation here, here, and here.  The text of the legislation is available here.

Disclosure: writers for IdahoReporter.com are members of the Idaho Press Club.

“This does give the state board a broad responsibility to delegate authority given to it,” said Senate Minority Leader Kate Kelly, D-Boise, who supported the measure.  She said the Senate amendment would add a safeguard by requiring the state board to notify the public when it delegates authority.

The Senate vote was 28-7.  Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, was the only senator to speak against the plan during debate Monday.  He said the Legislature shouldn’t give the state board more power to set policy.  “The ramifications of it are going to shake out in ways you probably can’t imagine yet,” he told fellow senators.  He said faculty at Idaho public universities and colleges oppose the plan.  “There’s no stability for being in an Idaho university once you grant this power to a university president.”  He said the change would make Idaho less attractive to potential new college professors, which could harm research and economic development stemming from state schools.  “I’m told that we’re going to have difficulty attracting the guys and the gals that are going to attract money,” Schroeder said.

Senate Education Committee chair John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, said Schroeder’s claims wouldn’t sway him. “I will not have my vote influenced by rumor or threat of censure,” he said. “I don’t think university presidents are going to be arbitrary in dealing with faculty.” Goedde added that university presidents currently can’t promote an employee from janitor to head janitor without approval from the state board and said the Legislature has given the state board the authority to execute policy decisions 37 times in the past.

The legislation heads back to the House to consider the Senate’s amendment. The text of the legislation and amendment are available here.

Atchley was appointed by the governor in August.  Read IdahoReporter.com‘s story about Atchley’s confirmation hearing here.