The legislative session did not come to a close Friday, as House and Senate leaders had planned. Division over some key budgets pushed the session into at least one more calendar month.
Here’s what happened Friday before the two chambers adjourned until Tuesday, following a long Easter weekend:
Pronouns bill advances to Senate floor
The Senate State Affairs Committee narrowly advanced a bill that would bar teachers from using students’ preferred pronouns without parental consent.
House Bill 538 would broadly enact protections for public employees, including teachers, who are unwilling to use someone’s preferred pronouns. That would impact students and public employees who are transgender but also others who don’t identify with a traditional male-female binary.
The bill would shield employees from discipline and give them cause to sue their employer for uncapped civil damages if they do face adverse action for misgendering someone at work.
“This is a bill to protect freedom of speech,” said Sen. Chris Trakel, R-Caldwell, who’s co-sponsoring the bill with Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle.
State Affairs endorsed the bill on a 5-4 vote following a public hearing in which most commenters opposed the proposal. That included a representative for the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, who suggested the bill could be unconstitutional and violate federal law anti-discrimination protections.
“We are encouraging people to create hostile work environments and hostile school environments,” said acting Sen. Mary Shea, a Democrat from Pocatello, who was filling in for Sen. James Ruchti. “You can’t provide cover through legislation for unconstitutional civil rights violations.”
The bill now advances to the full Senate. It already cleared the House on a party-line vote.
House approves public schools budgets
The House OK’d three public school budgets Friday:
House Bill 757, passed unanimously, directs about $215 million to school districts for property tax relief. The money comes from last year’s House Bill 292 and this year’s House Bill 521. Districts must use the money first to pay down existing bonds and levies, then for new facilities costs.
House Bill 761 gives school districts $36.1 million in discretionary funding. This is one part of a five-pronged approach to giving public schools $145 million to account for funds lost due to this year’s reversion to an attendance-based funding formula. The budget passed the House on a 59-8 vote.
House Bill 762 provides about $27.6 million for state and federal programs administered by the Department of Education. That includes $20 million for the Career Ready Students program, $2 million for the Disability Innovation Partnership and $350,000 for suicide prevention, among other programs. The House voted 47-20 to approve the budget.
The budget bills now head to the Senate.
