With the current Idaho legislative session expected to end in about a week, Medicaid expansion remained a topic of concern at the final “Coffee with District 5 Legislators” event, hosted by the Moscow Chamber of Commerce Saturday morning.
House Bill 277 passed in the Idaho House Thursday on a 45 to 25 vote. It establishes provisions regarding Medicaid, including work requirements and managed care for persons eligible for Medicaid expansion due to Medicaid eligibility expansion.
Caroline Nilsson-Troy | Courtesy
Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy, a Republican from Genesee, and Rep. Bill Goesling, a Moscow Republican, dissented, voting no on the bill.
The Medicaid expansion bill will now be heard by the Senate. While some bills could be carried over to the next legislative session, the Medicaid expansion bill will be voted on this time, said Sen. David Nelson, a Moscow Democrat.
“The legislature thinks it’s an important enough topic,” Troy said.
Another topic of focus at the event was Senate Bill 1159, which addresses changes to citizen initiative requirements. If the bill is signed into law, citizens would have to circulate petitions and receive all signatures for initiatives within 180 days.
The bill was passed by the Idaho Senate Friday on an 18 to 17 vote. Nelson said the initiative bill was debated for one and a half hours Friday.
“I just think if you’re really talking about a citizens initiative, a true citizens initiative, you could never do it in six months,” Troy said. “This is an impossible bar to set. And so I think I’m not going to be supportive of it if it comes to (the House) in that same form because I want citizens to be able to do it and not have a whole bunch of money coming into the state to change our laws because you can’t meet that six month signature requirement.”
Nelson said he thinks making it almost impossible to create and pass initiatives reduces voter involvement, referencing Senate Bill 1159.
The last topic discussed extensively during the event was House Bill 122, a bill which would legalize the research, production and regulation of hemp. Troy defined hemp as the Cannabis plant containing less than 0.3 percent THC. The bill passed in the House Monday on a 63 to 7 vote.
Troy said the biggest opportunity for Idaho would be in hemp seed production.
“Right now, I’ve heard that farmers in places like Oregon and Washington who are growing (hemp) are paying as much as $1 to $1.50 per seed to plant it,” Troy said. “The Treasure Valley, in particular, is kind of a hub for seed production across the world. There’s 80 different seeds that they produce in the Treasure Valley, and I think we’re really good at that, and that might be one of the really interesting things for us to do.”
If the bill passes in the Senate and is signed into law, the University of Idaho College of Agriculture and Life Sciences could apply for hemp research grants, Troy said.
Senate Bill 1196, a school funding bill which was a focus at the last coffee with legislators’ event on March 9, is pretty much dead, Goesling said.
Unless Gov. Little vetoes any bills, which he has not so far, it is anticipated the legislative session will end March 29.
Jordan Willson can be reached at [email protected]