Voter registration and indoctrination addressed in Idaho Legislature

Idaho lawmakers returned to Boise on Jan. 10 for the start of the 2022 legislative session. Within a month, legislators have proposed a bill involving voter registration and passed major tax cuts.  

Sen. David Nelson, a Democrat from Moscow, said House Bill 549, is the biggest form of voter suppression the legislature has seen in more than 20 years. HB 549 proposes to eliminate same-day voter registration. While supporters of the bill claim it will help eliminate voter fraud. Students would also no longer be able to register using student identification cards.   

“They (college students) kind of come late to the game and they take advantage of just showing up at the polls and providing forms of identification and being able to vote,” Nelson said. “This takes that away.”  

Sen. Jeff Agenbroad, a Republican from Nampa, is the chairman of the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee in the legislature. Agenbroad discussed the budget surplus and tax break that was recently signed by Gov. Brad Little.  

Agenbroad said the $600 million tax break is the biggest of its kind in Idaho’s history. The tax relief was originally in HB 436 and made its way through the legislature in January with Little signing it into law Feb. 4.  

The Idaho Legislature has accumulated a $2 billion budget surplus. Agenbroad said it’ll be important for the state to spend it wisely and invest it wisely for the future of Idaho as residents will be paying back the taxes in generations to come. A recent bill signed by Little, HB 443, makes health insurance policies that are competitive and improves upon current policies for K-12 teachers.  

“Some of the testimony we heard was, there’ll be teachers that, because they ensure their families, they’ll receive a reduction in their monthly premium from as much as $700 a month by being able to go on to the state plan,” Agenbroad said. 

HB 443, also known as Leading Idaho, cost $105 million.  

University of Idaho President Scott Green recently visited the legislature to refute claims of social justice ideology indoctrination at UI. During the 2021 session, legislators voted to cut a cumulative of $2.5 million at the public four-year universities in Idaho. UI was slashed $500,000.  

Both Agenbroad and Nelson appreciated Green’s trip to the legislature to dispel indoctrination claims.  

“I was really heartened and strengthened myself, by hearing President Green talk about the problems with the people that are accusing universities of indoctrinating students,” Nelson said. 

“There’s certainly a faction of legislators that feel that it’s (social justice indoctrination) there regardless,” Agenbroad said. “I’ve never received any of the evidence and I appreciate President Green taking the extra step and having a full audit done by an independent attorney’s firm, to see if there is any there on a critical race theory out there. There was no evidence of any of that happening.” 

Sierra Pesnell can be reached at [email protected]