Capitol Letters: Former Idaho Republican Gov. Phil Batt’s legacy
By Ryan Suppe, State Politics Reporter; and Hayat Norimine, Accountability Editor
Former Idaho Gov. Phil Batt, who died Saturday on his 96th birthday, likely will be remembered for his 1995 deal that curbed nuclear waste dumping in Eastern Idaho.
Or it could be for his 1996 bill that protected farmworkers injured on the job, reversing an eight-decade precedent.
He also was instrumental in establishing the Idaho Human Rights Commission, to protect diverse groups of people from discrimination, and he continued to champion civil rights in retirement, urging fellow Republicans to extend protections to the LGBTQ community. For those efforts, a forthcoming education center at Boise’s Wassmuth Center for Human Rights will bear his name.
But former friends and colleagues said Batt’s enduring impact will be his decency, civility and candor, which set a standard for Idaho government leaders.
“He is the epitome of what a good public servant is,” Ben Ysursa, former Idaho secretary of state, who knew Batt for nearly 50 years, told the Idaho Statesman by phone. “He stuck to his principles, and I think that’s the key. You set your feet in the ground and do what’s right, regardless of the consequences. That’s what Phil did, and he was the model for all of us.”
Read my full story here.
Mia Maldonado has more on Batt’s legacy and Gov. Brad Little’s response to his death.
The Idaho Statesman provides a look back on Batt’s time in executive office.
Friday’s legislative session
An Idaho bill that would make it a felony to help a minor obtain an abortion is heading to the House.
Under the bill, from Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, people who travel with a minor to obtain an abortion, or help a minor obtain an abortion-inducing drug, without parental consent would face at least two years in prison. They would be prosecuted under the state’s anti-human trafficking law.
“Adults who engage in this behavior deserve to be criminally punished,” said Megan Wold, a lobbyist for Right to Life Idaho, who presented the bill to the House State Affairs Committee on Friday.
The committee passed Ehardt’s bill as well as a resolution asking Congress to limit the authority of lower federal courts to consider cases challenging state abortion laws.
The joint memorial, from Sen. Phil Hart, R-Kellogg, argues that the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision considered abortion a state issue, so abortion cases should be heard in state courts. The Idaho Supreme Court this year upheld Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion, which Republicans enacted in 2020.
Joint memorials must be approved by the House and Senate but have no legal impact.
House OKs firing squad bill
A bill that would let Idaho execute death row inmates by firing squad is one step closer to becoming law.
House Bill 186 will face a Senate committee next after the House approved it on a 50-15 vote. Just five Republicans — David Cannon, Chenele Dixon, Greg Lanting, Mark Sauter and Josh Wheeler — opposed it on Friday.
The bill would make a firing squad Idaho’s second method of execution. State officials have said it’s become increasingly difficult to obtain lethal injection drugs, and that Idaho currently has a “de facto moratorium on capital punishment” in place.
Even after a bill last year that shielded from public disclosure the pharmacists who help Idaho acquire the drugs, Department of Correction officials have said they still haven’t gotten the drugs needed to execute Gerald Pizzuto — who was convicted of two murders in 1986, and has been on death row ever since.
It would cost the state an estimated $750,000 to build out a facility for the firing squad, Kevin Fixler previously reported.
What to expect today
8 a.m. Senate State Affairs. Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, will introduce legislation involving the Empowering Parents grant program.
1:30 p.m. Senate Judiciary and Rules. Lawmakers will consider legislation to bring “transparency and clarity” to the rental application process, brought by Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello. The public can testify on several bills that range from public records, to tort claims filed by minors, to the “Coronavirus Stop Act.”
Find the full list of committee meetings, agendas and links to public hearings for the House here, and for the Senate here.
What else happened?
Keep track of high-profile bills as they go through the legislative process. You can find yesterday’s updates here.
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