Budgets, Investment, and Oversight
Main Street Town Hall Episode 6—Rep. McCann & Rep. Sauter
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Joining us from Boise, Representative Lori McCann and Representative Mark Sauter elaborate on their successes and active roles in the Idaho Legislature. Our host and Executive Director, Brennan Summers, learns of the legislators'' ongoing pursuit to balance the Idaho budget, as well as the management oversight for the North Idaho Community College.
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Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (00:00):
Welcome to Main Street Podcast, an opportunity to talk to Idaho's elected leaders about the issues that matter to you. Welcome to Main Street, Idaho. Another episode of the podcast. We're excited today to have two very friendly faces on joining us. Two representatives both out of Northern Idaho, representative Lori McCann and Representative Mark Sauter. Representative McCann, you are coming out of District six, that's correct, right?
Representative Lori McCann, District 6 Idaho (00:30):
That is correct. District six encompasses all of Lake Talk County, all of Lewis County, and a small part of Nesper County. That's correct.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (00:40):
And then Representative Sauter, you're from the most Northern Legislative District, the district one.
Representative Mark Sauter, District 1 Idaho (00:48):
I am. And that's all of Boundary County. And Boundary County is the northern most county in Idaho, and 27 of the 30 precincts in Bonner County. So almost all of Bonner as well.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (01:02):
Yeah, no, it is bright and early in Boise today. I would say that we dragged you out of bed for this, but you two are up and ready for a day full of meetings, and we appreciate you inside a little bit of time to chat with us. It's a busy time in Boise right now. Now, representative McCann, this is your second term. How does this session compare to sessions that you've dealt with in the past?
Representative Lori McCann, District 6 Idaho (01:23):
Well, it is equally as busy. I think that where my feet are a little more set and knowing which way to run, I feel a little better about that. But there's still a lot of things that we're trying to deal with that you have to figure out, build relationships and try to get things across that are important. And sometimes I feel we spend a lot of time spinning our wheels on issues that I'd rather not be spending time on and get to the things that the people really are asking for, like additional property tax relief, those kinds of things. But we're just taking one step at a time and trying to get there.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (02:10):
Sure, sure. Representative Sauter, you've got a fantastic background as a former firefighter and fire chief. Individuals in that role I imagine have to become pretty good at identifying the priority and then putting out the problem. Do you feel like the legislature as a whole right now is prioritizing the correct problems?
Representative Mark Sauter, District 1 Idaho (02:32):
Good question. Somewhat. Yes. We are running bills and they're really in the works for tax relief. There are bills out there to deal with current issues that we have. I'm trying to run a bill on some school board changes in our state statute. We had an issue up in North Idaho at West Barner School District, and we need to account for some of the issues that that board had to deal with after a recall election. So I'm bringing a bill to deal with that. So in that respect, I think we're on task, but I think it's easy to look at our session, I think this is the fifth week, and say, well, where are we right now? What really matters is what we get at the finish line. So sometimes the old adage, you don't want to watch sausage being made or government being done.
(03:37):
And in that case it's kind of true. And the other thing is the bills that we talk about over here on the house side, they have to get through the Senate, they have to get a signature by the governor, and then they have to go through potentially even the court system. So it's hard to tell today how successful we will be with almost all of our efforts, but we are moving forward trying to get things done. And I think that's a good thing. And back to Representative McCann's point, I've only been here, this is only my second session. This session seems a lot faster. We're seeing bills be introduced, seems like on Monday, and we're voting on 'em, the floor on Friday. It's a little bit of an exaggeration, but it's hard to really to get in. And by the time a bill gets printed, sit down, read it, really think it through for your own district, maybe even check in with some local experts in your own area, law enforcement or fire or government, city government or county government, and then ask the bill, sponsor some questions and then vote on it. And that's a pretty fast time frame when you think we've already got, I must be 50 bills on our reading list. So that's what keeps you hopping is the speed of things too. It's not just the number, but to try and forecast how different bills will affect your area. That's the essence of what we're supposed to be doing. And making it faster just increases the difficulty. But anyway, we're hanging in there, we're doing it.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (05:32):
See of course we're noticing the same challenge or not challenge. We're noticing the same speed at which things seem to be moving. It's hard for us as voters and constituents at times to be able to keep up because it seems like things are moving quickly, which as you mentioned has its challenges, but also has its benefits. Representative McCann, if this session ended today, what would you consider the greatest winner accomplishment that you guys have been able to do up until now?
Representative Lori McCann, District 6 Idaho (06:02):
I guess I would say that we were able to pass through the house anyway, a fentanyl bill to take a look at adding fentanyl to the list of mandatory mandatory minimums. Thank you. And the fact that Fentanyl wasn't part of that list. And while my judges in my district were not crazy about mandatory minimums, they don't like any mandatory minimums, but they I think realize that we had to do something because fentanyl has become such a scourge on society, and I would be really proud that we were able to push that. So that one has moved through the house pretty quickly is over in the Senate right now. So I think that might be the best one that I can recall that we've passed through the house. But there's several others that I'm looking forward to. And sometimes you're working behind the scenes to help something not pass.
(07:15):
So it just depends on what the situation is. I've got a couple of bills that I'm really excited about working on from my background, education, business and agriculture or my three main areas, and I'm working on a V in egg that will help us hopefully gain a few more seats for vet students. The Utah state has a new vet school, so I'm running a concurrent resolution with the Senate to try to say, okay, university of Idaho, we're going to give you some authority to go in and negotiate you and the State Board of Education to try to get us maybe 10 or 11 seats in their vet school that we help participate in. And of course then next year there would be a fiscal note there. But right now it's just giving them the authority and then looking down the road because we are kind of in a crisis at this moment with our large vets.
(08:25):
Their average age is like 62 or three years old, and they are all retirement age and a lot of the younger students want to do small vet instead of large vets. So we are finding that it is a crisis in many of our rural areas. So we're hoping this might lead down the road to some kind of a program where we can incentivize students to take the vet and then the state maybe picks up a bit of their student debt like in the rural nursing bill or even in the whammy program. So that's an exciting one for me.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (09:09):
That is exciting. So we've got fentanyl covered. We've got large vets covered representative Sauter. What are you thinking?
Representative Mark Sauter, District 1 Idaho (09:17):
Well, you said if it ended today, I don't think from the constitution part of our government, we could end today not to be a smarty, but we need to pass a bunch of budget bills. That's our number one priority here is in the house or in the capital, is to pass a balanced budget and to develop and pass a balanced budget. So that said, I think the fentanyl bill so far has been the one bill that's passed through the house that I think has been something that we've really needed to do. Like all legislation, we can all find different issues with it, but that was the best bill we could get past the line for us. I'd like to see us do some repairs to our state statute on school board activity, but we need to get a hearing on that. So anyway, fentanyl. And then just a reminder that we do need to do quite a bit of budget work before we leave the house. Thank you.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (10:25):
And we all greatly anticipate how those budgets will play out and what will be funded and what will get cut. So it'll be interesting to watch that sausage get made. Now both of you sit on the House education committee with Representative McCann of Vice Chair. You also both sit on the Ag Affairs committee, but you're also both from northern Idaho as was mentioned. And there's been an issue that's come out that overlaps with both Northern Idaho and education that I think a lot of our listeners would love to hear about. And it revolves around the North Idaho College. And so maybe for those who haven't been following the issue, representative McCann, why don't you give us a brief overview of what's been happening with the North Idaho College that has caused such a fuss and what we can look forward to happening in the future there?
Representative Lori McCann, District 6 Idaho (11:12):
Sure. This was something that Representative Sauter and myself really took on last session. And so for the listeners who haven't followed North Idaho College, Idaho, north Idaho College and I see is a community college, which is funded in part by a tax base there that the residents of the area pay some taxes to. And the state also then kicks in money. And over the last 10 years, the state has put in over 200 million. So we have a big interest in making sure that our community colleges continue. So NIC has had, I guess I would put it some issues with managing in their trustee area. And some of the trustees have not agreed how NIC should be operating. And so over time it has put them on notice with the accrediting body that they needed to make changes or they could run up against losing their national or their regional, I guess, accreditation.
(12:30):
So when this all came to light and they were put on notice, mark and I decided we needed to jump in here and see what we needed to do to try to help from the state's perspective in the law, there really is nothing that says if a community college is to lose their accreditation, then what happens next? So we worked hard with the state board. We went to the governor's office, we worked with NIC, and we put together some bills that would help protect the assets and so forth. Well, we were not able to move that. We went to the speaker and we tried really hard to get that through so we could have a public hearing and we were not able to. So we kind of put that on hold. And NIC now has just had their last meeting with their accrediting body and they will know in the next few months, I guess hopefully before we're out of session, we'll have some indication.
(13:44):
And I would say that they are, we're really proud of them. They've worked really hard despite a few naysayers who would like to see the college I think go down. And so under the helm now of President Swain, I am hearing really good things that they're working hard, doing what the accrediting body asks them to, despite in the governance that they don't have control over. Sometimes what happens with the folks that get to vote in, but I'll let Mark kick in there, but I think that NIC is on a road of recovery. Their student enrollment for freshmen has gone up about 20% in this next, that what they are anticipating. And so that's an excitement because we wanted to make sure that parents and the people who this means a lot up in North Idaho, kids from the Canadian border all the way down here in the southeast portion of the state do attend NIC. And so we were getting calls and emails from parents that were concerned, and I think that we're looking good. And while we won't know the full ramification, and like I said for a few months, but in Mark and my view, they are the jewel of North Idaho in terms of education and what we have in our state, and we're real proud of them and their career in technical programs. So I'm going to let Representative Sauter add a few things in. He's been really working with this as well.
Representative Mark Sauter, District 1 Idaho (15:36):
Alright, a few things. Just from a local politics perspective, about 25 to 30% of our high school seniors in my area, and there's five different high schools all plan on being involved with NIC. So whether they're taking an NIC course as a junior or a senior in high school or planning to move on to NIC once they graduate, or in addition, be involved in their career technical courses, they have a whole campus of career tech classes for welding and plumbing and electricians and diesel mechanics. So it really, it's a big career step for our local kids. The other thing is it's a very conservative and smart way to begin your, if you want to go through college, because that's a good inexpensive way to get your first two years of college accomplished. And then last year we had the launch program that was started here in the capitol and that feeds into encouraging kids to go on.
(16:59):
You'll hear that the phrase go on. And I think in Idaho we have a go on rate that means high school seniors that go on to more training, whether it's career tactical training or community college or even four year schools are go on rate in our state. I think last year was like 38%. And if you talk to people in the industry and in the job market, as we know, we have lots of skilled jobs that are going unfilled. Many believe that that go on number needs to be 60%. Well, 38% to 60% is a pretty big leap. So the launch bill is in place. So we want to work on our future workforce in a lot of ways. One is to have good places to go. That's why Lori and I are working again on NIC. And then the other issue is the number one thing that students will tell you is why they don't go on is funding.
(18:04):
So we're helping with the funding with that as well. We look at it as an investment because the money that's used now for grants or scholarships for these students, they're going to pay it back. If you think about it, they're going to earn more. And we all know if you earn more, you end up paying a little more taxes. So the money's going to work out. You just have to look at it as an investment. So another part of NIC is they don't just do the first two years of a college education. They have what's called the Parker Center up in rum, and that's where all the career tech work goes on. Then they also have quite a nursing program, CNA program, dental assistant program, all of those are at capacity. So those are all, it's just a good pipeline of getting kids from their high school years into their working years and working professional years.
(19:07):
So as far as the school is concerned, operationally, I think they've done an amazing job state statute as far as what gives direction to schools. I think when our founding fathers and mothers and our past state legislators, when they stood up our community college system, they didn't anticipate that there could be problems and there could be interest in not having these schools continue. So they didn't put that in code. What do you do when a college loses accreditation or even goes on, or the status that NIC is now, which is on show cause which is close to losing your accreditation. So that was never really anticipated because I think our forefathers all thought, this is always going to be run well, and they're always going to do well. But in this case, they've had some issues. So the state has, Lori mentioned how much money the state's sent to NIC for operations the last 10 years.
(20:24):
But the other part of this is the state has about $500 million worth of buildings at NIC that they're all state structures. So the community has a big investment in that. And so does the state. One of the bills we ran last year, for instance, if NIC or any community college had lost its accreditation and they couldn't remedy that within I think it was two years, the state would step in and at least take over the maintenance of the buildings while who knows what happened. But we wouldn't want to let those assets go south or get sour. And another one of those bills was on governance, and that was if the elected board there could not remedy the loss of accreditation after two years, then the state board would've something to do with it to try and step in and get involved. Because after all, it's a real community asset there.
(21:29):
And there's kids from four or five counties that all count on NIC. So we really, Lori and I did not think that failure was really an option that we needed to give 'em some a backstop for the college. So again, it's a really well run place, but their governance is an issue. Now, there's quite a bit of information in the press about the issues with NIC, the governance part. For one instance, I think they're just getting rid of, or let's see, in June, their backup school president that's been on the payroll for it will be 18 months will be finished up their board elected to have a backup administrator for that time. That's expensive. I think the papers report that that was about a 300 or $325,000 expense. I don't think most colleges have a backup president that's on administrative leave. So that's an issue. Plus they've spent over a half a million dollars on legal bills in the last year, and that's a lot of taxpayer money on issues for a college that's running pretty well.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (22:51):
Well, I think you've both painted the picture very well about why people throughout Idaho, not just in Northern Idaho, should care about this because of the assets that exist on that campus, because of the investment by the state and the tax dollars that flow through there. But I love the optimism. I love what a 180 this story has taken from being such a sad and dreary story of a community college on the brink of failure to resurrection and revival on campus. So we are out of time for the day, and I know you two have to run off to meetings, but I hope you know how much we appreciate you being on Representative Lori McCann, representative Mark Sauter, thank you so much for being here. We're going to have you back on as the session wraps up to cover some of those bills that haven't gotten off the finish line yet. Let's talk about 'em when they get complete. Does that work for you too?
Representative Mark Sauter, District 1 Idaho (23:40):
Perfect. Absolutely. Absolutely. Look forward to it. Thank you. Thanks
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (23:44):
Bren. Thank you both. Have a wonderful day. We'll see you.
