Rep. Sage G. Dixon – District 1
Legislative Update
Floor Session:
The first full week of business in the 2016 Idaho House of Representatives has passed and the atmosphere is a bit manic. Because this is an election year, the general desire is to get things done as quickly as possible, and to get back home to campaign for re-election. This is not a perspective I share, and I am hopeful that no legislation will be rushed through, or overlooked, in an attempt to end the Session early.
Because I was asked to be Chairman of a sub-committee in each of my three regular committees, my week was fairly busy. The Education and Business Committees delegated only a portion of our rules packet to me, while the Transportation and Defense Committee saw fit to delegate the entirety of our packet to my sub-committee.
We should start seeing floor votes in the upcoming week, as well as more RS’s and bills coming through our committees.
Committee Reports:
| Education:
As a full committee we passed a rule that would allow districts to hire temporary teachers without requiring them to go through weeks of training before they can enter the classroom. Because it is difficult to plan for how many teachers a district will be short, this rule allows a district to find a teacher for a classroom at the last moment, as is often the case. We also heard a presentation on Mastery based education and how it is being implemented in other States. My sub-committee met and passed rules regarding vocational rehabilitation, and the GEAR UP Idaho scholarship. We voted not to pass another rule regarding the Opportunity Scholarship because of how the GPA would be considered in the awarding of the scholarship. Transportation & Defense: We recommended printing an RS that would remove the requirement of Auto Dealers to post their operating hours and allow them to merely have them on file with the Dept. of Transportation. We also recommended printing an RS that would allow the ISP to change the name of the Idaho Dept. of Homeland Security. My sub-committee went through and passed approx. 10 rules that mainly dealt with overweight trucking regulations and fees which we heard no opposition to. There will be five more rules to hear next week dealing with fees, and ISP. |
Business:
We heard and recommended printing a number of RS’s relating to various professional organizations such as architects, morticians, barbers, and cosmeticians. We also recommended printing an RS relating to factory built structures, i.e. modular and mobile homes. My sub-committee will be meeting on Monday and going over rules regarding morticians, fee increases for various professional boards, fee increases for general contractors, and driving instructor apprenticeships.
There are also town hall meetings coming up this Saturday, come out and meet Sage!
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