Idaho Legislative Watch 2021-02-08

Rod Klingler Rod Klingler

This weekend, Sen. Regina Bayer shared some information on bills that were passed by the Senate last week. Most of these show great cause for alarm! Not only because they were passed in a state that claims to be majority "Conservatives" and "Republicans," but because they need to be opposed! Please inform yourselves on these bills, and then reach out to everyone in the House, asking them to oppose these bills! The text following the bill numbers is Senator Bayer's, immediately followed by our commentary.

We have included links to pages where you can read the proposed text of the bills, and see who supported them.

S1006: This legislation would consolidate current statutory requirements for literacy intervention and update provisions in alignment with the Task Force recommendation for focusing on the importance of having every student reading at grade level by the end of grade 3. The bill passed the Senate with a vote of 35-0-0 and was referred to the House Education Committee. 

This is a "bleeding heart" law that sounds good on its face, but lays the groundwork for future failure. No two children are alike, and we all have different strengths and weaknesses. We learn at different times and paces. As we saw with "No Child Left Behind," what bills like this is do to force schools to lower educational standards once it becomes obvious that some children will not meet existing standards, because their federal funding will be on the line.


S1027: This legislation would compensate individuals who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned with $62,000 per year of incarceration or $75,000 per year if incarcerated on death row. Those who were put on the sex offender registry wrongfully would receive an additional $25,000 per year on the registry. Exonerees would be given a two-year window to file a claim from the moment they were formally exonerated by a court. The bill passed the Senate with a vote of 35-0-0 and was referred to the House. 

It is horrific to think of wrongful convictions, and the havoc it wreaks on a person's livelihood. Their future employment may be affected because they have a conviction on their record, they've lost the ability to be with their families, they have been socially ostracized (particularly in the case of a wrongful sex offender conviction), and so forth. They definitely deserve assistance to help get their lives back on track. Our issue here is that the general citizen of Idaho will pay those bills, when they were not responsible for the wrongful convictions. Remember, there is no such thing as "the state." It is all you. The proper solution, then, is to gather funds charitably, ie, from those who willingly choose and are able to do so. We do believe, however, that there should be punishment considered for those who wrongfully accused them. "Thou shalt not bear false witness."


S1039: This bill would allow school districts to award a Workplace Readiness Diploma to graduates who have completed career technical education programs. The bill passed out of the Senate Education Committee with a Do Pass Recommendation and is filed for its Third Reading."

Of the bills presented here, this one is the cause for greatest concern, as it advances the tenth plank of the Communist Manifesto! Be aware that this bill only supports an existing program that itself advances this agenda, which is that education be used to prepare children for specific future needs of industries. In effect, this means the education your children receive in public school is crafted to meet specific future needs of businesses, instead of teaching them to think for themselves. This is already in effect across the nation, with so-called "School to Work" initiatives, and can be seen in its ultimate form in totalitarian states like China and North Korea, where children have no choice in their future vocations, and receive only the education that will prepare them for their state-appointed employment.

Call To Action:
Once again, we urge you to contact everyone in the House, and ask them to oppose the bills mentioned above!

Further Action:
We can't be everywhere at once, nor can we read every bill and understand all that it entails. Please visit this page on legislature.idaho.gov, and look through the bills. Contact us if you see cause for concern, so we can sound the alarm!

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