Presentation of Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Power substations across the U.S. have sustained attacks in recent weeks, leaving tens of thousands without power.

How vulnerable is Idaho and what's being done to prepare for future attacks?

Plus, we take a look at the widening divide between Idaho's GOP’s interests and that of some Republican legislators.

I'm Ruth Brown, filling in for Melissa Davlin.

Idaho Reports starts now.

Hello and welcome to Idaho.

Reports this week we talked to Senate Caucus Chair Mark Harris about issues around administrative rules.

We take a look back at the state of the judiciary and talk to reporter Kelcie Moseley Morris about priorities.

Idaho GOP leaders may hold that could differ from what some Republican lawmakers plan on.

But first, Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Bevin delivered his State of the Judiciary address to legislators on Wednesday, outlining his concerns and requests of lawmakers.

We judges understand that disagreement with our decisions is part of the landscape in which we operate.

But when disagreement becomes personal to the point of threats against personal safety and security, with individuals publishing our private information online or coming to our homes for face to face confrontations which I and other judges have personally experienced.

A line has been crossed that must be reinforced and reinforced convincingly.

We now see protests, judges, homes meant to, I suppose, disturb their peace, to scare them into submission or to sway their rulings.

Some may see this as a means to undermine the core of the rule of law.

In some circles, the hue and cry has escalated to threats against justices lives, as we've witnesses involving justices on our nation's highest court in Idaho, we see veiled threats made online against courts as well.

The judges to whom these threats are directed are simply doing their difficult job of making decisions within an established framework of law, regardless of their personal feelings about the law.

These interactions at their homes, at their places of respite and peace are not just an affront to the rule of law, but also a danger that we ask you to address.

One of the most important requests I bring to you this year is for a salary increase for our judges.

Judicial compensation by law is set separately from that of other state employees and thus requires both substantive legislation and an allocation from the general fund.

Money for judicial salary increa but the substantive statute was not updated to allow it to be paid.

This left judges, the only state employees not to receive a change in salary in 2022.

Only attorneys who have held a license to practice law for five years can seek to become judges in the state.

The requirement is at least ten years for those wishing to become a district or appellate judge.

In all cases, they must have also been a legal resident of Idaho and a member of the Idaho State Bar for at least two years.

This means that our pool of potential new judges comes exclusively from Idaho.

On the same day, Justice Bevin stressed his concerns about judges safety.

Former gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy, published on a far right blog, a column that named and called out the judge who is scheduled to preside over his misdemeanor trespassing trial on Monday.

Idaho reports we'll have more on that trial next week.

This week, the Joint Budget Committee heard three days of presentations from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

Director Dave Jeppesen fielded a number of questions from committee members about the department's programs and spending, particularly about the $4.7 billion Medicaid budget recommendation from the governor.

While the vast majority of that budget is federal dollars, lawmakers expressed concern about the budget’s 17% growth from the current fiscal year.

Jeppesen defended the department's work while reassuring committee members that they are committed to reducing costs.

Those are huge increases, as you know, and we know some of those, I know, are federal mandated steps that you're dealing with.

At the same time, I’ljust give the expressing concern that we have on the and you heard it last year as well, the increasing percentages every year.

And so at some point we've got to get this thing under control.

And I just want to emphasize, it's important to us to we we've particularly been focused on the general fund portion, which is is directly for the state.

There are some federal pieces, as you heard in our budget here, that we may or may not always have control over.

But these things that are in our control, we need to take action on them.

And we're serious about that.

We have more about the health and welfare budget presentation online.

You'll find those links at IdahoPTV.org/IdahoReports.

There you'll also find this week's podcast Interview with New Judiciary and Rules chairman Representative Bruce Skaug.

Over the past few months, people across the United States have unexpectedly lost power after targeted attacks on power substations.

One gunfire attack in North Carolina took out power for 40,000 residents for several days.

Another Washington state attack resulted in 14,000 residents losing power on Christmas Day.

Earlier this week, U.S.

Senator Jim Risch published an opinion piece outlining advancements the Idaho National Lab has made to shore up the nation's power grid against future attacks, both physical and cyber.

Associate producer Logan Finney sat down with Will Hart, the executive director for the Idaho Consumer Owned Utilities Association, to talk about the risk rural Idaho faces when it comes to potential attacks.

Executive director Will Hart from the Idaho Consumer Owned Utility Association, thanks for joining us today.

Thank you, Logan, for having me.

To start things off here, can you introduce me to your organization and who you represent?

Sure.

The Idaho Consumer and Utilities Association represents 22 rural electric co-ops and municipal power companies serving across the state of Idaho.

We serve about 140,000 Idahoans, which is about 16% of the state where we're primarily rural, not for profit utilities that are self-regulated by our elected boards of directors and the city councils in the communities where they serve.

And how long has power grid security been a concern?

Generally, I assume it's been on the radar for a while, but has it been growing lately?

Well, you know, grid security is always of primary importance and now, you know, it continues to be and has always been Mother Nature, which is the main threat to the grid, security, mitigating against wildfires, preparing for severe storms, and then safely and quickly repairing those outages and keeping the lights on has just always been and continues to be our paramount mission in the electric industry.

Now, new threats have emerged on cybersecurity and physical security.

There's been an uptick in those threats, and that's something that we're continuously monitoring, assessing and reevaluating our readiness plans in light of those relatively new or at least more frequent threats to the grid.

And what do you do to implement those sort of plans?

I know you can't talk specifics because of security issues, but generally speaking?

Yeah, you're right.

I can't talk to the shippers specifics about our, ah, security measures.

But I will say that it involves everything from the regular cyber housekeeping that that all businesses and all utilities should be involved with on a regular basis, implementing new technology, whether that is within the grid for hardening of our systems.

And on the cybersecurity side as well, upgrading systems to prevent access to our utilities, that then could go move on to another place on the grid.

Those are all things that we incorporate in the industry on a daily basis and are even higher priority now with the with the uptick in events that we've seen happening over the last few months.

Sure.

We've seen in recent months intentional attacks on power substations in places like Washington and North Carolina.

Are those of a particular concern here in Idaho, especially because of how rural we are?

You know, Idaho faces the same risk as the rest of the country.

Like you said, we've seen an uptick in attacks in the Pacific Northwest and across the country.

So we're not unique in that.

And that's why we continually coordinate to monitor, assess and employ multi layers of security for the grid in the state of Idaho.

But yeah, we do we do have some unique challenges.

The terrain oftentimes is the rural nature of where a critical infrastructure is located.

So we're having to reassess and update and and really get back into our emergency preparedness plans on how we more specifically what additional things we can do to protect our system.

And what sort of resources are available for particularly your members who are smaller and specifically rural power utility.

You know, they don't have the budget and resources that are available to a larger corporation like a like an Idaho Power, for example.

Yeah, you are right.

You know, the rural electric co-ops and the municipal power companies I represent primarily serve in rural parts of the state where, you know, our customer, we have a lot longer distance and customers per mile.

Often our critical infrastructure is located outside population areas.

And quite frankly, we have smaller staffs and smaller budgets to work with.

But as a whole, we're coordinating in an industry, and despite the challenges we've been talking about, Idaho does have a lot of resources available.

The industry is currently working with the Idaho office of Energy and Mineral Resources on specific funding for grid resilience and reliability.

Those moneys are first round is going out on the ground right now.

So there's project shovel ready projects across the state on grid security being done right now.

We work closely with the Idaho Office of Emergency Management on updating our emergency plans and coordinating with them.

We also have what's called the Idaho Mutual Assistance Group, or IMAG, that all utilities in Idaho are part of that work on best practices for grid security.

And most importantly, we have agreements to come to each other's aid in a time of crisis right in our own backyard.

We have the Idaho National Laboratory as amazing resources, new technology being developed.

And quite frankly, the lab is on the forefront of all of the grid security and cybersecurity for the nation, and that's right in our own backyard.

I spoke with the INL director, John Wagner, about cybersecurity issues in the summer, and they're a wealth of information.

As have you been a wealth of information today.

Executive Director Will Hart with the Idaho Consumer Owned Utilities Association.

Thanks for your time.

Thanks a lot.

We also invited Idaho Power to participate in the conversation.

They sent us the following statement.

Idaho Power works hard to keep the grid safe and secure so that we can continue our tradition of reliable, affordable energy.

We are aware of suspicious incidents that damaged substation equipment in North Carolina, Washington and other states.

We're not aware of anything of the sort happening recently in Idaho Power’s service area.

We have preventative security measures in place to reduce the risk of these types of incidents.

We also develop and frequently fine tune resiliency plans to minimize outages to safeguard the effectiveness of these measures.

We do not publicize their details.

We ask anyone who sees or hears anything suspicious to report it to local law enforcement.

Before the session.

House Speaker Mike Moyle said one of his top priorities was changing the way the legislature handles administrative rules.

The rules carry the weight of the law and they cover a wide variety of issues for each state agency.

Speaker Moyle wants that process to be more like what the legislature does to pass bills.

In other words, both the House and the Senate would need to approve.

On Thursday, the House business Committee spent time going over the rules review process and discussed some of their concerns in recent years.

For the last few years, there's been kind of no going home bill or concurrent resolution creating the omnibus temporary rulemaking after the legislative session.

Is there anything that is preventing the governor from reauthorizing with a temporary rule, something that's been rejected by the legislature?

If all the rules expired.

I mean, that's it's all new and they all expire.

But if it's final and then there was a new rule and you all said no, and then they just bring it right back or they do a temporary rule before the temporary rule is even approved and that they can do that.

It still has to come across my desk.

And across DFM and the governor's policy staff.

So there's different levels to that.

Representative Crane?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Josh, I appreciate hearing that because that leads into my next question.

What are we going to do with the agencies who continue to have specific rules rejected by this committee?

And it's happened in here every single year for multiple years regarding the electrical apprentice journeyman ratio.

And yet the board, the electrical board continues to override the will of this committee.

And and essentially try to relegate the decision of this elected body as irrelevant.

And so if I'm taking from your statement before, if they're going to try to do that again, it sounds like you're going to put a stop to that.

What have you been doing?

Because I was made aware that they've come back again trying to tell us you're going to deal with this policy that's being pushed forward by the union that we do not want here in this committee.

So what what are you going to do to stop that?

Representative, I think there's a there's two things that come to my mind.

On one hand, the legislature has told the board that they don't like this rule.

On the other hand, the legislature has also delegated what the board perceives as the authority to delegate to to promulgate this rule in statute.

Now, I'm not going to provide or pontificate about the statutory authority for the for the board, But if the legislature again rejects that rule this year, it is at least my position.

And you know, that that that conversation has to happen.

And I mean, I don't know, I think Representative Mitchell the other day when he had this exact presentation.

I will guess I think he asked a very similar question.

And that's something that I'm guessing you were alluding to.

And I told him the most simple way would be to, you know, pass a statute that there should be no ratio, because the reality is, is that this legislature has given the board the authority to promulgate rules.

And while they have rejected it, that that statute still remains.

Logan Finney sat down with Senate Majority Caucus Chair Mark Harris this week to discuss where the Senate stands on the rules debate, plus what's on his plate for the next few months.

The legislature will set a broad or more general policy in laws or statute, and then an agency like the Department of Agriculture or Department of Environmental Quality will pick out the specifics.

And so so you guys are just making sure they're doing what you wanted them.

If if we make sure that those those rules are in conformity, they conform with the legislation that we passed the previous year.

And early this session, we heard something from House Speaker Mike Moyle, who has said that something that's really big on his priority list this year is working out the way that the Senate and House agreed to those rules.

Currently, the rules are set into place and like you referenced, lawmakers can reject them.

But if the House and Senate don't agree to reject them, the rules go into place anyway.

Right.

Speaker Moyle has told us in the press corps that there are some conversations and negotiations going on between House and Senate.

You're in Senate leadership.

Have you been privy to those conversations?

I have a few of them.

And we we've we've been negotiating this for a couple of years now or three, three or four years now.

I guess, like you said, currently.

If if one side if the Senate passes the rule and the House rejects it, rejects it, then still the rule will will take place.

Speaker wants it.

So both houses have to approve the rule before it's before it can be enacted.

There's there's arguments on both sides and there's support in our caucus for what the speaker wants.

And there are some that don't think that's the way we should go, that we should stay with the way we've been doing it before.

So it's something that we're working through.

And I, I feel pretty confident we'll get figured out here shortly.

It's been like you referenced, it's been a couple of years of negotiating back and forth.

There have even been a couple of sessions recently where the legislature hasn't taken action on the rules.

So they all just go into effect by default.

As temporary rules.

Are you optimistic that the temporary rules right, are you optimistic that will actually reach some sort of compromise this year?

I am.

I think this is a good year.

If we're going to compromise and come to an agreement.

I think this this may this may be the year to do it.

Almost half the legislature is new, are new.

And there's a lot of new ideas, a lot of new opinions.

And I don't see any way or any reason why we couldn't come to an agreement this year.

It may not happen, but it could.

So I'm hopeful it can.

And like you mentioned, there's there's a lot of new faces, a lot of new people here in the legislature this year, over in the Senate, specifically, every single committee, either the vice chair or the chairperson, is a freshman, a first term senator.

What sort of challenges come along with such a big group of new people coming into the body?

One of the biggest challenges is getting people to are teaching our senators how to do what the process is and the committees, as you said, a lot of our chairmen, all but one, all but two are new chairman and all the vice chairmen are actually new senators, freshmen senators, except for one.

So it's a challenge to get to get their feet under them and get going on the on the on the process of of how the committees are run.

The the motions that can be made and just the basic rules of of how the legislature works.

And political observers like me have taken note that a lot of the newer folks coming into the Senate are perhaps a little more conservative than the group of senators in the past.

And a lot of the new folks aren't shy about making their opinions heard.

Do you think that we're going to see a shift in the tone of the Senate this year compared to previous sessions?

I think so.

There'll be a there'll be a shift in the tone.

It's as you said, it's a it's a different group that have come in.

Almost half of my caucus is new.

And it they have their ideas and they bring new new ideas, fresh ideas.

Some ideas have been tried before and we have to kind of coach them through that.

But it's exciting.

It's good.

It's a good thing to to bring in fresh, fresh set of eyes on these problems that Idaho has and and the challenges we face.

And I'm optimistic that we can have a good session.

And here you're not just the majority caucus chairman.

You're also an individual senator from District 35.

In your individual capacity, what sort of issues are you looking forward to this year representing your district?

My district is very diverse.

We've got part of Idaho Falls, a Yukon, so it's part of our urban, urban area.

But most of my district is very rural.

I live in a rural area and so I, I focus I'm my focus is on a natural resource issues mining, farming, logging and water, and also issues that deal with the national lab.

And so it's I've got a whole gamut of of of interests and and individuals in my district.

Logan's full interview with Senator Harris can be found on the Idaho reports YouTube channel.

Lawmakers aren't the only ones with opinions on the upcoming session.

Idaho GOP Chairwoman Dorothy Moon spoke before the governor’s state of the state address last week, outlining her priorities and plans for keeping Republican lawmakers accountable to the party's grass roots this session.

Quietly, there are lots of Republicans who talk about how the party's resolutions are just scraps of paper to be given to almost as much credence as you would junk mail.

Something is wrong with this and how we can run super majorities in the state House and in the state Senate and not have Republican members who ignore the will of the party.

That changes today.

We want our priorities addressed not after the lobbyists get their way.

But as the first order of business in this building.

As such I'm going to be holding meetings for concerned citizens and party members to provide a roadmap to ensure the legislature obeys the will of the party.

That is, to ensure the legislature turns campaign soundbites into actual legislative proposals for for those who move on our party's priorities.

We will offer access to our networks and clear communications advantages for those who don't.

Well hell hath no fury like the chairwoman scorned, in short, I want everyone to know that we will be here for the entire session offering a helping hand, but also to have a watchful eye on every Republican member.

Kelcie Moseley Morris, thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me.

So Dorothy Moon has set a tone definitely before the state of the state of how she wants to move forward.

You attended the winter meeting, a resolution passed regarding primary voting.

Can you talk to me about how it would change primary voting?

I actually didn't attend the winter meeting.

I heard about it from people who were there who said it was very tense and very contentious between the factions of the party.

And I think Dorothy really highlights the fact that there is these tensions in the party.

The resolutions that were passed, one of the main ones was about crossover voting in the primary election, which is aimed at Democrats who try to register as Republicans before the primary because they closed their primary in 2012 to only registered Republicans.

There was quite an effort in the last primary to, you know, participate in the primary for the Republican Party because there were quite a few candidates who people saw as extreme, who they wanted to stop in their tracks.

And a lot of Republicans saw that as a problem they needed to remedy.

There was a very lengthy proposal from former Representative Branden Durst, who actually was a was a Democrat until about 2020.

That would limit people from signing up as a Republican, registering as a Republican about 25 months before the primary.

They had to register as Republican, and if they had donated to more than one candidate, they couldn't participate either in the next primary.

That resolution was significantly amended before it passed, and they kind of whittled it down to you have to register a year basically in advance.

If you were affiliated with another party before that primary takes place.

So it's a little bit complicated to explain.

But if you were a Democrat as of like 2020 and you wanted to be in the Republican Party and register to vote in their primary for the 2022 primary, which was held in May, you would have to register as of, I believe, December 2021 to be able to do that.

Some of the young Republican legislators wrote a letter in opposition to the resolutions.

Can you talk to me about that?

Yeah, This was an effort to stop that proposal from going forward in the way that it was written.

They wanted to highlight the fact that young people are often registered as Democrats when they come out of college or when they're in college, because they say there's a lot of social pressure to be registered as a Democrat.

And it's kind of their responsibility to help them see the light, to help them transition to the Republican Party.

And if you are automatically barred because you've been registered as a Democrat, then that makes it really hard for them to get out the vote.

And there was also a proposal to remove the votes of the young Republicans, the college Republicans and the Republican Federation of Idaho Women to take their votes off of the executive committee.

And so they really saw both of those proposals as directly aimed at young people.

And they wanted to make sure that the Republican Party understood that if they did that, they were really disenfranchizing a huge segment of their party.

The resolutions are not law, which Chairwoman Moon spoke to you a little bit in the press conference she held.

However, there was one resolution that passed that has now been suggested as a bill to float through the House, I believe, by Representative Skaug.

Can you talk to me about the resolution around transgender children?

Yeah, this one was about specifically stopping people from using any kind of hormone therapy or puberty blockers, like they're sometimes called.

They called them cross-sex hormones.

It's basically just hormonal therapy for anybody who wants to be who's born male and wants to be female or vice versa.

Those can be reversed at a certain age, but they definitely want those to be outlawed for people who are under the age of 18 and also for any kind of surgical procedures to be prohibited, prohibited and called gender mutilation so.

What was your take away from the the conventions?

Dorothy Moon's, I suppose, approach to some legislators who may disagree with with her her opinion.

We we have about 20 seconds left.

It really calls in to highlight the the rift that was going on there was the rape and incest exceptions.

That's in the platform that they don't want that as part of the abortion law.

And there was just a bill that wanted to do that and they struck it down in the Senate.

So I think it really highlights that that is an issue.

Absolutely.

Presentation of Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.