Narrator: 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.

Melissa Davlin: After last week's House leadership shakeup, Republicans have chosen a new majority leader.

How much might that impact pending legislation that hits the floor?

I'm Melissa Davlin.

Idaho Reports starts now.

Hello and welcome to Idaho Reports.

This week, Representative Jason Monks joins me to discuss his new role as House majority leader, as well as complex school facility legislation he's co-sponsoring.

Then Kevin Richert of Idaho Education News and Dr. Jaclyn Kettler of Boise State University give their insights on the week, including the legislature's lawsuit threat over the University of Phoenix Purchase.

But first, let's get you caught up on the week.

On Monday, the Senate State Affairs Committee held a public hearing on a compromise library bill that would require public school and community libraries to establish material review committees to review requests to relocate materials from the library's children's sections.

Those committees must hold public hearings on the request before making their decision.

If the bill passes, if parents or guardians aren't happy with the decision, they can file for judicial review and could also bring a civil action against the library if they still aren't happy.

The bill was a compromise between Senator Jeff Schroeder, Representative Jaron Crane, and stakeholders.

Testimony at Monday's hearing was mixed, ranging from lukewarm support to outright opposition, either because the bill was unnecessary or because it didn't go far enough.

>>What we have seen are attempts to censor groups of people that is antithetical to the First Amendment.

It is damaging to individuals and it is destructive to communities.

>>The bill makes no provisions or requirements for libraries or schools to preemptively keep material harmful materials away from kids.

They only have to react when someone complains.

I would like to think that libraries are part of a community and part of protecting kids.

I've heard a lot about protecting librarians and libraries today, but not a lot about protecting kids.

If libraries are truly a public good, let's make sure they are in fact good.

>>The ILA does not oppose Senate Bill 1289 and we are incredibly appreciative to have been included as stakeholders in the crafting of this legislation.

While we still have concerns about some of the components of this bill, we are grateful that it mirrors and standardizes the processes that most of our libraries already have in place.

And after years of trying to address this issue, we think that this is probably about as good as it's going to get for all involved.

Davlin: Ultimately, that bill passed out of committee during an Idaho Press Club event on Tuesday, reporters asked Governor Brad Little his thoughts on the bill, particularly after he vetoed a similar piece of legislation with harsher penalties last year.

Gov.

Brad Little: It maybe doesn't address all my concerns, but it addresses the major one.

You know, my, the biggest hurdle for me is, you know, they've their example was the Boise Library down here.

And I says, this probably my staff will probably, I don't care about the Boise Library.

They get lots of resources.

I care about all the small libraries that if you increase costs and administration costs, that's the big, well-funded libraries.

That's one thing.

But if you break these small libraries where you can't get volunteers to work there, that is a huge problem.

Davlin: On Wednesday, Governor Brad Little signed an executive order to formally establish Operation Esto Perpetua with a focus on fighting both drug and human trafficking.

Operation Esto Perpetua brings together law enforcement, tribal leaders, lawmakers and community officials to make policy recommendations to combat drug trafficking and human trafficking.

And on Thursday, the Idaho Senate passed a bill to establish mandatory minimum sentences for those found guilty of trafficking fentanyl, sending that bill to the governor's desk.

All this comes days after the governor returned from a trip to the US-Mexico border during which Little and 14 other governors discussed their concerns over border security.

During Tuesday's breakfast, Governor Little expanded on those concerns.

Little: It is so stark.

The control of the cartels of the border.

That it is, it's mind boggling.

It is alarming the number of people that they're catching on the terrorist watch list, which means the million getaways, got aways, that are out there.

You can imagine what the percent of people on the terrorism watch list, criminals and the various characters are come across.

So we have to do something.

Davlin: Last week, Republican lawmakers introduced a wide ranging school facilities funding proposal which would allow the state to bond for $1 billion over ten years to distribute to school districts for their facilities needs.

It would also increase the funding that districts receive to pay off their existing bonds and levies under last year's property tax relief bill.

The bill includes a number of provisions not directly related to funding, including tweaks to how the State Board of Education leaders are appointed.

A ban on written diversity statements for school district job applicants and eliminating the August school bond and levy election date.

We have much more on that bill on our website.

You can find the right up at IdahoReports.org On Tuesday, Governor Little talked to reporters about his concern regarding school districts abilities to pass bonds at the local level, especially when that August date is potentially eliminated.

Little: As you narrow the window for a school district to do what's necessary, whether it's for a major renovation or whether it's for a new school, that two thirds vote gets tougher.

And but that's why we're putting this facilities money in there, because that means the ask to the school district will be lower.

It'll be tempered by that money that we're bonding for at the state level.

Davlin: The majority of the House Republican caucus has signed on to that school facilities bill as co-sponsors.

On Friday, I spoke with newly elected House Majority Leader Jason Monks about the bill, as well as his ascent to leadership on Monday after last week's vote to remove Representative Megan Blanksma from that role.

Thanks so much for joining us this morning.

You were chair of the tax committee when that school facilities bill got introduced.

Why were there so many policy provisions in a school facilities funding bill?

Rep. Jason Monks: I think whenever you're putting together a big package like that, you have a lot of players and each player kind of has their own things that they want to see done.

And if you're going to get a big deal done, you have to make concessions.

And everybody kind of wants their own flavor on that.

And so you see a little bit of things that, you know, the governor's office wanted.

You'll see some things that I wanted.

You'll see some things that the Senate wanted, some things that Speaker Moyle wanted.

So we all have a little bit of of hands in it.

And when you do that, then you end up with a package that kind of covers a little bit more than what you would think normally would be in a bill.

Davlin: Do you think that it satisfies that single topic provision for legislation?

Monks: Yeah, I think we've got a pretty good golden thread that ties it all together on that.

We're talking about funding our schools.

And the best way of doing that.

And talking about taxes.

And those are those are integrally tied.

That is one of the few responsibilities we have as a legislature is to fund public education.

And we have to do that with the taxes we collect.

And so they're all tied together.

You know, the vast majority, as you know, of our taxes that we collect, go towards public schools.

Davlin: When we're talking about that, golden thread, you know, and all of the provisions in that bill we have DEI vans for employment.

We have four day school week issues.

We have composition of leadership of the State Board of Education.

When we're looking at everything that's crammed into that bill, is that golden thread maybe stretched a little bit tight?

Monks: I'm sure depending on who you talk to, it's going to be, you know, tighter or thicker, depending on your perspective on that.

But, you know, you look at the dollars that we're putting into facilities and it's, you know, well over $1 Billion that we're going to be putting into that.

And you need to have a little bit more accountability when it comes to that.

The governor's office wanted to make sure that they had accountability with that aspect, and so did the legislature.

And because of that, then we're going to touch on some of those topics, like you just mentioned, that we feel like we needed a little bit more a say in how those operated.

Davlin: With this caucus, would you have been able to pass just a straight funding bill?

Monks: I guess it depends on how that would be put together.

Just straight funding, because again, there's two parts of the funding in this particular bill.

There's one where we're going to go out and bond, take $125 million annually for the next ten years and bond on that.

And that gives us, you know, over $1 Billion that we're distributing out, that by itself, maybe not.

I think we're also, though, combining that with another $75 million that's going to go through the House bill 292 formula, which provides property tax relief.

Correct.

But it also had the ability to allow the local districts to bond off of any excess money that came through that.

So, you know, that is appealing to some other people.

And so I think between the combination of that and some income tax relief at the same time, I think you get a majority of people wanting to do that.

Last I saw, I think we're almost up to 40 co-sponsors on that particular bill on the House, and they're working on the Senate as well.

So it's a popular bill, with all of the add ons to it.

Davlin: Would you have personally supported a straight facility funding bill?

Monks: I think I would have had to have some more pieces in it.

I think I'd have to have some accountability in it.

I think I would love to see some additional property tax relief on that to make sure that we got there.

If you remember last year with with House Bill 292, that was one of my big advocates is if we're going to start, to use the word subsidize local governments in their taxes, we should do it on the school side.

That's our responsibility.

And I would love to stick more money into that formula.

My goal ultimately is to get to the point where the locals do not have to pay for buildings.

I think that's the state's responsibility.

I would like to get us to that point where the state pays for all the schools.

They don't have to go out to bond for every time that something goes wrong.

This gets us much closer.

And I think we're getting very close to where we can take over that responsibility and eliminate that responsibility from the locals to pay for that.

Davlin: You are, of course, no longer chairman of the Tax and Revenue Committee.

You are the new majority leader after last week's vote to remove Representative Megan Blanksma from that position.

Did you see that vote coming?

Monks: No.

I mean, no secret that there's always been a little bit of contention, you know, between members of leadership.

And that's I don't think that's new.

I think that's something that probably always exists in legislative bodies.

But that was a little bit of a surprise, I think, on everybody.

Davlin: How will your time as majority leader be different than under Representative Blanksma?

Monks: You know, I'm trying not to look at anything that's happened in the past.

I'm trying to move forward.

That was something that I told the caucus when we met with them.

I said, you know, the past is done.

I can't change that.

Let's see if we can move forward together.

I don't know if what I'm doing is significantly different.

What I can tell you is that I'm trying to work with various groups within our caucus.

It's no secret that we have a a wide variety of opinions within our caucus.

And so my job is to try to help each of them become successful no matter what they're doing.

And that's kind of how I view my job is, I help each member become successful.

Davlin: Do you have, this is different than when you were in leadership before as assistant majority leader or when you ran for other majority positions, you had time to lobby people and campaign and get them on your side.

This was more abrupt.

Have you had time to think about your goals and what you want to accomplish as majority leader?

Monks: You know, a year and a half ago I ran for the speaker and so I was able to formulate a plan, how I would operate, how I would do that.

This is different.

My job is to support the current leadership team, and help the members there.

And so it was quick.

I think we had less than 72 hours to kind of get out there and talk to every member and let them know that I'm running first of all, and then try to encourage them to support you.

And that's quick.

It's kind of hard.

It's kind of hard to do that.

Having been on leadership for four years before, I kind of had an idea of what how I wanted to lead, my different style.

And we all have different styles.

I'd love to tell you mine is the best style, of course.

But you know, everybody's got their own opinions on that.

And they're all effective in their own way.

And so I'm going to try to do it, you know, my way.

And hopefully it works.

It doesn't mean it's the best way, but that's just the way I'm going to try to push forward with it.

And I think our caucus is trying to trying to get together.

I think they looked at this as an opportunity to reevaluate where we're at and let's see if we can we can work together.

I don't think it was a necessarily a, you know, a crisis that happened there.

I think all it was was a difference of opinion.

You know, the majority members of our caucus decided they wanted to go a different direction, and that's what we're doing.

Representative Blanksma was and is a very good friend of mine.

And continue to support her and her efforts and, you know, move forward.

Just like any other member of the caucus, I'm going to help her to accomplish her goals.

Davlin: You mentioned policy differences within your caucus.

When I think back over the past several years and I think of Speaker, Majority Leader pairings.

You know, we had a majority leader Mike Moyle, who often disagreed very publicly with a Speaker Bedke.

We had a majority leader Megan Blanksma, who would disagree with a House Speaker Mike Moyle.

But when I think about you and Mike Moyle, there, you guys are almost identical on policy.

You know, you've voted the same on major contentious issues.

With the two of you in the top spots, if you have a caucus member who has a proposal or a bill that you don't agree with, do they have a chance of getting a public hearing?

Monks: Well, of course.

Of course.

And I will back you up a little bit, you say that we agree a lot, I think that I don't publicly disagree with my leadership team.

That doesn't mean that I always agree with my leadership team.

I've always said I support my leadership team, and I will continue to do that whether I'm in this position or not.

Those disagreements that I have, I will veheminetly disagree, and have with Speaker Moyle all the time.

But I think when we come out and we we need to make a decision, when that decision is made, then I'm going to support that decision and we're going to move forward.

Maybe that's how I operate .

Good or good, bad or indifferent, but that's how I like to do it.

So, yeah, if you have a difference of opinion, they're always welcome.

We have to have difference of opinions in that legislative body or we won't.

It doesn't do anybody any good to sit in an echo chamber and have the same people tell you everything you're doing is wonderful because you miss out on opportunities to learn, find out different ways of doing it.

And yeah, we always welcome difference of opinions there.

There are a lot of bills that come up and will this year that, that I know I didn't necessarily like the way it was done, but I may have supported it anyway.

And I think the same things with Speaker Moyle.

There's plenty of stuff out there that's gone through that if he had his way, they probably would have been different.

Davlin: Does that extend to funding Launch?

Is that going to hit the House floor?

Monks: I would assume it will get to the House floor.

Just like all of the the line items that our Appropriations committee will put forth.

I don't know why that would not.

Unless, of course, the Joint Finance Committee didn't put it forth.

I guess that would prevent it from getting to the floor.

Davlin: But leadership isn't doing anything to stop that, even though Speaker Moyle Disagrees with the program?

Monks: Not that I'm aware of.

They're letting the JFAC process work and those bills as they come out, we're going to we're going to pull them up and we'll vote them up or down.

Davlin: All right.

House Majority Leader Jason Monks, thanks so much for joining us.

Monks: Thank you.

Davlin: Fully implementing and funding the Launch program is another of Governor Little's high priorities for this session.

The Launch program was created to provide grants of up to $8,000 for high school seniors to go for training or education for in-demand careers, and as of early January, already had more than 12,000 applicants.

But House Speaker Mike Moyle has made it very clear he isn't a fan of the program and has voted against its creation.

On Tuesday, reporters asked the governor his thoughts on that tension.

Little: I think not funding Launch is at the peril, because I don't go very many places where somebody doesn't say they're their child or grandchild, their friends.

This is going to be an opportunity.

Now implementing it, that's going to be a little challenging because in some of these big, in-demand careers, we're not going to have capacity.

The community colleges they presented yesterday at JFAC, and I was surprised that they didn't talk more about the uncertainty of how many, how many kids are going to come into their program.

Kevin Richert: Do you have assurance from Speaker Moyle that a Launch budget bill will hit the floor as opposed to being sent to Ways and Means?

Little: Not specifically.

Davlin: And joining me to discuss the fate of Launch, as well as other education topics is Kevin Richert of Idaho Education News and Dr. Jaclyn Kettler of Boise State University School of Public Service.

Kevin, what are you hearing on Launch?

Kevin Richert: Well, what we're hearing is next week is going to be a pivotal week.

JFAC is scheduled to take up that budget on Friday.

So a week from today, we'll have a better idea where the Budget Committee stands.

But from there, the big question is if Launch is funded by JFAC, if JFAC proposes spending, what happens with a Launch bill in the House.

Specifically in the House?

Davlin: We know that Launch passed last year, the creation of the Launch program passed last year by just one vote in the House.

But there's a difference between creating a brand new program and funding an existing program that's already in statute.

Do you think they're going to pick up a couple of votes there?

Richert: Possibly.

I mean, it's a good point.

And it also is a human point as well.

In JFAC this week, the budget writers heard from the four community college presidents.

And I thought Dean Fisher, the president of the College of Southern Idaho, made a really impassioned plea for funding Launch.

And he said, you know, the part that we're not talking about as much.

You've got 12,000 high school seniors who have applied for Launch money.

In his part of the state, in the Magic Valley.

It's about 50% of seniors have applied for it.

It has really exploded in that region of the state.

And Fisher told budget writers, look, I don't want to be the one who's on the phone explaining to seniors and their parents why this money that they applied for isn't there anymore.

So, yes, once you establish a program, you can do this implementation phase.

There's been a lot of work done by the state's Workforce Development Council, but also on the ground by high school guidance counselors and teachers to try to get students to know about Launch, to understand the Launch process and to get them to navigate through the application process.

So when something's implemented, it's pretty hard to jerk it away at the last minute.

Davlin: Dr. Kettler, you work with students who are too old for this particular program right now, but can you talk to us about how much of a burden the cost of higher education is for some of these guys?

Dr. Jaclyn Kettler: It's significant.

I mean, that's a key decision maker for many students on high school students on whether they're going to go on or not, especially in a state like Idaho.

And this is an amount of money that could be a really key factor in deciding whether or not to go on to whether it's higher education or a technical program.

Right.

There's different sorts of programs that could be pursued, but it is a significant amount that could make that difference.

And in a state where we're trying to get more people to go on to post-secondary programs, that is, I think, a key factor to take into account.

Davlin: I have to imagine if this legislature does not fund Launch after 12,000 students applied for it, that's going to be what this session is known for that these lawmakers are known for.

Richert: Just in time for an election.

I mean, this is one of those issues that, you know, if that were to happen, that would resonate with a lot of voters, a lot of households.

It could be a very sticky political issue.

And Governor Little tried to get at that point somewhat in his comments at breakfast earlier this week.

You know, he said we didn't expect 12,000 applicants.

We were expecting maybe 7, 8, 9,000 applicants.

And he said Workforce Development Council and the school counselors on the ground have really gotten the word out about this program, which, you know, might make it a lot more difficult to cut.

I mean, Little basically said if lawmakers cut this program, they're doing it at their own peril.

And, you know, you have a primary three months away.

You have a general election coming up in November.

Davlin: We touched on this a little bit with majority leader Monks earlier in the show, but he said that he doesn't see anything standing in the way of a vote on the floor about Launch funding as long as it gets through the budgeting process, even though he and Moyle oppose it.

Any indication or any sense of how this leadership change might affect the business of the session in general, though?

Kettler: Well, I think there's just a lot of uncertainty, right?

Maybe there isn't a large effect, but there could be a pretty major effect felt in terms of just additional kind of chaos.

It's already been a session where we, there's been surprises or things not playing out the way we would expect.

And if we're thinking about we're almost halfway through or halfway through maybe, right?

Now there's a lot of questions.

Well, what happens now?

Do we see some of these divisions deepen and throw some of these initiatives into chaos?

Or do we see everything kind of get in line and move smoothly and trying to get out for the primary election?

A lot of questions, I think, at this point.

Richert: You know, there's so much we don't know at this point and so much we're just going to have to read through what we're seeing so far.

I sat in on part of JFAC's meeting on Friday morning and they went through some of the smaller education budgets.

Career, technical education, a couple of the state board budgets in particular.

It seemed to go fairly smoothly.

Fairly strong bipartisan support for those supplemental budgets, you know, supplemental to the maintenance budgets coming out of JFAC.

But we don't know what's going to happen with these bills when they hit the floor.

And, you know, with Launch that the big question is, is a lunch bill going to hit the floor?

Davlin: These divisions are obviously nothing new.

This was a very public way that it played out this these past couple of weeks.

But, you know, generally speaking, does it matter if these lawmakers are getting along with each other as long as business is getting done?

Kettler: I think that's a key question, right?

And I mean, a key question because of this is, are things going to get done?

And there's a lot of business to still be done this session.

There's been a very large number of bills introduced.

Are they going to get through them all?

How are are we going to get through the appropriations?

And I think a lot of it is, you know, I think we're still trying to figure out how things are going to play out.

Davlin: Sure.

Sure.

Before we go, I want to ask you about the latest with the University of Phoenix acquisition and a new threat to that planned acquisition from the legislature.

Richert: Right.

A lot of developments on Phoenix just in the past couple of weeks.

And the biggest one of the group potentially is the legislature stepping in.

We've heard about this resolution being in the works for a couple of weeks.

It was finally introduced in House State Affairs Committee on Thursday.

Basically, what it says is, if it passes, the legislature is saying they want the state Board of Education to reconsider its vote for Phoenix back in May, reconsider any further actions on Phoenix, and unless and until the legislature specifically supports Phoenix, the Phoenix acquisition.

And what I think is the real hammer here is if this resolution passes, it directs House Speaker Mike Moyle, Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder to act on behalf of the legislature, including potentially filing a lawsuit.

So this could be another big wrinkle in the Phoenix story, just at the point in time where the University of Idaho and the University of Phoenix are hoping to finalize this deal.

The University of Idaho is hoping to go out into the market to finance $685 million deal.

I can't imagine that the threat of a lawsuit from the legislature, on top of the fact that you've got the attorney general, Raul Labrador, who hasn't ruled out appealing his case.

I can't imagine that all of this legal uncertainty is going to make it any easier to go that into market.

Davlin: The legislature can not like this deal all it wants, but what's the rule of law impetus for a potential lawsuit to stop this?

Richert: Yeah, that will be a central issue that I'm going to want to listen to as this unfolds.

Brent Crane, who is co-sponsoring the resolution, he said in presenting it on Thursday morning, that falls to the legislature, It's the legislature's responsibility to authorize debt.

And obviously, when we're talking about Phoenix, we're talking about a mountain of debt.

Now, the University of Idaho has maintained all along, pointedly maintained all along, that the only approval that they needed was from the state Board of Education, which is the University of Idaho's governing Board of Regents.

Well, they voted for it in May.

U of I has said, that's the only state approval that we need at this point.

Davlin: You know, is that that hook saying that the legislature is responsible for debt, is that a little bit of a stretch here or is that a perfectly legal and and sound interpretation of what's going on?

Kettler: Well, I think it's interesting where we've seen the legislature try to expand its influence across a lot of different policy areas including in things that maybe we would think would generally be the executive branch or things like that.

And so, you know, I think there are some interesting questions here in how this is kind of playing out.

But higher education's governance structure is kind of interesting in Idaho in general.

And so I think that I mean, how this continues to play out is really fascinating to watch.

Davlin: About 10 seconds left, What are you keeping an eye on for next week?

Richert: I'm going to keep an eye on revenue and taxation committee.

There was a change there last week.

Judy Boyle was assigned to that committee at just about the time when we're wondering what's going to happen with a school private school tax credit bill.

Davlin: Fantastic.

Lots to keep an eye on.

Kevin Richert, Idaho Education News.

Dr. Jaclyn Kettler, Boise State University, thanks so much for joining us and thank you for watching.

We'll see you next week.

Narrator: 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.