Supporting Law Enforcement
Main Street Town Hall Episode 7—Senator Todd Lakey
Watch on YouTube
Click Play Below
Longstanding Idaho Senator, Todd Lakey—District 23, joins us to shed light on the current objectives of the Idaho Legislature to support law enforcement throughout the state. As the fentanyl crisis increases, so does the Senator's fight to impose mandatory minimums for its drug traffickers. Lakey additionally breaks down how he plans to support the uncontested border crisis, expanding resources for law enforcement, and alleviating property tax burdens for Idaho citizens.
Listen On Apple Podcasts
Click Play Below
Listen On Spotify
Click Play Below
…
Follow Along With The Transcript
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. Good morning and welcome to Main Street Idaho. I am here today with Senator Todd Lakey at a District 23 Senator Lakey. Good morning.
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (00:23):
Morning Brennan. Thanks for the opportunity to be here and kind of reach out to your folks.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (00:28):
Yeah, we're excited to talk to you. A lot of issues that we need to cover today and never enough time to do it. But you're a seasoned veteran. As the Idaho legislature gets younger and younger, your experience gets more and more, I won't say older and older, but this is your sixth term now, is that correct?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (00:46):
Yeah, my sixth term. Boy, it's gone really fast and that's 12 years, but in that 12 years, I think I'm third in seniority, so it just flies by and there's a lot of natural turnover, but it's gone fast, but I'm still enjoying serving, so it's been great. I love doing it.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (01:06):
Natural turnover and some unnatural turnover too. But you've managed to survive that 12 years. How has the legislature changed in that decade?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (01:18):
Decade? Oh, you get new faces and sometimes you get new perspectives. The spectrum among our party shifts a little bit here and there. I like to think in the Senate where we're a little more reasoned and take a particularly thoughtful approach, but sometimes you get new folks that they learn with experience about how the Senate operates. But I'll say our spectrum shifts a little bit in the party with new faces depending on who's coming in.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (01:57):
Are there issues you look back on that you're most proud of being able to tackle or problems you've been able to solve in the last 12 years?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (02:07):
Oh boy. Yeah. I mean, it's been a great experience. I particularly appreciate the opportunities I've had over the years to support our law enforcement community as chairman of JU Rules, and I was a prosecutor when I started my career and working with them has really been a pleasure. Whether it's taking opportunities to, I look at it as strengthening our criminal laws. You have to have a balance of justice and mercy, so to speak. But I think Idaho's a great place to live because we take crime seriously and we appreciate safe communities and supporting our men and women of law enforcement is part of that. We have some wonderful men and women that serve, and I try to be supportive of them.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (03:01):
Love that. So, excuse me, let's delve in a little bit more on that. You mentioned that you're the chairman of Judiciary Rules and you have a different seat when it comes to law and order than a lot of Idahoans. Most Idahoans experience with police or law enforcement is a patrol car on the side of the highway checking speeds, and that's a good thing. And sometimes maybe our men and women in blue do such a good job that they go unnoticed and underappreciated. Maybe give us a glimpse into what our law enforcement Idaho is dealing with now and how those are some new and ever-changing problems.
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (03:41):
Sure. Well, I mean, they're always dealing with a changing and more aggressive, and I guess even technologically advanced criminal element in society, their ability to engage in criminal activity, particularly in drug trafficking. They use technology to do that. They're all about the business of making more money, and they find new ways to do that. And I think that's particularly the fentanyl issue that I know you've all talked about before, but that's something that's really, it's the most dangerous criminal change, I guess, as law enforcement describes it that we've seen ever. And it's replacing things like heroin is the worst of the worst, and law enforcement, they have to carry Narcan to save people's lives they come in contact with and save each other's lives. If somebody accidentally searches somebody or opens their wallet while they're being booked in the jail and a puff of fentanyl comes out, it puts the opposite flat on the ground and in the hospital, unless they help them quickly. So I think that fentanyl issue is one of the most serious and lethal changes we've seen in the criminal history of Idaho.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (05:06):
Now, we spoke at length with the representatives Dixon and Gardner about the mandatory minimums and House Bill 4 0 6, and it's good timing because that bill just went through your committee yesterday. So give us an update of where that mandatory minimums with fentanyl's at and where it's going.
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (05:27):
Thanks, Brendan. So that's a bill we've actually been working on and trying to achieve in various forms for three or four years now. I've been working with law enforcement and some of my co-sponsors for quite a while, and it's faced a different resistance. Some folks just feel like mandatory minimums aren't appropriate, and there was that recent survey that shows that 86% of Idahoans think need to add fentanyl to the mandatory minimum statutes. They're seeing the growing problem and the lethality of it. And we had a good debate in, well, I should say from listen to folks in the hearing yesterday in my committee, I carried the bill, so I didn't share the meeting, but presented the bill and there was strong support in our committee came out six three. But there's efforts to amend it, to water it down, to take out the mandatory portions to change the intent language that we, it's the exact same language that we have for meth, cocaine, and heroin. So it's something law enforcement and the courts are used to dealing with, but those that oppose it want to change that and make it easier for dealers to do business in Idaho. The safest drug to deal in Idaho right now is fentanyl because it's not covered in that mandatory sentencing.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (06:57):
Wow. So it passed your committee six three, as you mentioned. I know there's a great quote from you about how you believe this is going to be a deterrent and if passed, then it's going to lead people away from Idaho when it comes to trafficking fentanyl. Now, where does it go to the Senate floor, and then what's the outlook there?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (07:19):
We've been working on this a lot, and there is strong support. They try to attack tangential aspects of it. We do also have included in it a drug-induced homicide. So somebody sells somebody some fentanyl and the person dies. If we can establish that they violated the criminal code regarding that trafficking or that possession and that drug killed them, they can be held accountable for a drug-induced homicide. It's not murder, it's not the death penalty. The judge has discretion on what to do with them in that context. But I think what folks are really trying to do is get it somewhere where they can amend it to do more than just that. And we worked on that language with prosecutors, and it's important 25 other states have that and even have more serious penalties. But from here, it goes to the floor. Like I said, I think we have strong support for it, and I also anticipate that there'll be further efforts like we saw in committee to amend it, to stop it, and we'll just have to keep our support strong and resist those things and get it to the governor.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (08:36):
And you work very closely with Governor Little. Is there any indication that he wouldn't sign a bill like this?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (08:41):
No, not at this point. He's been very strong on Fentanyl. He's talked a lot about what a scourge it is on Idaho, and he's talked about how it comes across the border and it's a focus, but we also need to work it like any other bill and make sure that we convey to him the importance of the issue, the importance of the legislation, and garner his support.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (09:08):
Yeah. So you mentioned the southern border in national news. There's been a lot of drama recently over legislation on how and if and when and where to address our southern border. And it's a lot of fireworks in the US Senate in the Idaho Senate. What can you do, and where are you at when you look at the problems of fentanyl, flooding Idaho from the southern border, the lack of really any kind of controlled response by the Biden administration as an elected leader? What goes through your mind?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (09:43):
Well, I mean, it's just really clear to me that the federal government, the Biden administration has failed us and that border policy, most of the fentanyl comes across the border from Mexico. After the cartels. They get the elements and the ingredients for fentanyl and make it in Mexico and ship it across the border through there. And there's just no control. They're, they're not taking responsible action to limit it really in any significant way. And they're stopping states that are Texas that are trying to take some action on their own to control it. So it's just really a failure. And I hear a lot of comments from my constituents about their concern for the illegal immigration coming across the border and the border being so porous. We are limited as state legislators and what we can do. We have authority within our own borders. I think we try to support our fellow states and do our best to make sure Idaho is safe, but we can try to influence our fellow congressional delegation. But I know they're supportive, so it's kind of trying to do what we can, but I think ultimately it's going to take a change in administration at the federal level.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (11:10):
Sure. Frustrating to say the least. On a more optimistic tone, let's talk about some things that you actually can do. Like we mentioned before, you deal with law enforcement often and they come and they talk to you, they testify in your committees, they bring in their canines. Talk us through some of the issues that they're having outside of the Fentanyl challenge that they're communicating to you, that you're either drafting policy, have already passed policy, or maybe it's something down the road that can alleviate some of the challenges that they're experiencing.
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (11:42):
Sure. We've worked on various issues with them over the years. Human trafficking is one. We all know that that's a growing problem, and it's kind of the ugly underbelly of society that's often hidden on social media. But it's a problem not only in sex trafficking, but they traffic humans for employment, almost indentured servitude, that kind of thing. And we worked with them to try to give them more tools to be more effective in combating that. We changed, for example, the human trafficking crime to be its own crime, not an accessory crime to assault or battery or those violent crimes. It's its own crime that you can prove and convict someone of. And we're doing some updates this year on human trafficking, adding some of the forfeiture provisions like we have for drug dealers where if they're selling drugs out of their car, their boat, or those kinds of things, you can take the things that they use, hit them economically where they do business and seizing that property if it's used in human trafficking.
(12:57):
Another issue, our men and women of law enforcement, our first responders really face some horrific things every day. They see things that you can't really get out of your head sometimes the broken bodies, the murder scenes, I've seen a few of those as a prosecutor long ago, and it affects them mentally. And we've done some things to try to help them make sure that those kind of mental impacts are still covered and addressed in their retirement system. Their critical injuries are covered in the law enforcement retirement system. We've passed the ability to have peer counseling worked on all of those issues where they can talk to their fellow officers in regards to the things they deal with. You often see that counseling thing in human resources, but talking one-on-one to law enforcement amongst themselves with people that understand their issues helps them. So it's not just about the criminal justice part, it's about helping them deal with life as well.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (14:05):
Wow. Yeah, a lot there that we wouldn't imagine were resources that were needed and that are now available. You in judiciary rules don't handle their budgets that would go through jac, correct?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (14:20):
Correct. JAC does give me an opportunity to talk to them every year, at least they have in the past. And so I try to be supportive of those requests that I think are important. So I do get a chance to usually go in front of J FFA and say, okay, here's what law enforcement or courts are asking for and try to be supportive that way. But I'm not on J fac, so I don't make the actual decision. I just try to be supportive.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (14:47):
So as you offer your views and what your hopes are happen in budgets, how do you walk the tightrope between a fiscal conservative that wants to safeguard the public trust in their tax dollars and return as much of Idaho's hard earned money back to them, but also making sure that expenditures that will keep Idaho and safe and empower police are also spent and invested? How do you make those decisions?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (15:19):
I think it's kind of like anything else. You look at it and you try to evaluate the need and what they're proposing and then the pluses and minuses of it, what's the benefit to it, what's the cost? But things like enhanced funding for Post, which is where our law enforcement officers go to get certified and making sure they're adequately staffed and there are opportunities for our local law enforcement to go there and be adequately trained. You want to support that because if they're not adequately trained, they're not dealing maybe in the best professional manner with the public, and they also may be creating liability for their local entity. So you want to make sure your law enforcement is very well trained for their own personal safety, but also the taxpayers that they serve and they work with. So those are the kind of things that I kind of go through in my head when I'm looking at what to support and what not to support for law enforcement.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (16:27):
Okay. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So shifting gears now, we want to take advantage of having a seasoned veteran on, and as you look into your crystal ball, give us an update or some predictions of what you think will happen for him now until the end of the session. What are some things insider baseball wise that we can look forward to seeing? Are there new issues and bills that are going to pop up out of nowhere? Are we expecting an early ending to the session? What's your prediction?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (16:56):
Oh, boy. So it's an election year. Everybody knows that we have to run again in the primary. Usually that's incentive for everybody to get done timely and get back in their districts and talk to their folks and get ready. So that's usually incentive this time of year to just be efficient and get things through. We are having, there's a new approach to JAC this year, and that's causing a little bit of friction. Anytime you have a new process and change, they're trying, basically the idea is they're trying to look at what's called a maintenance budget and get that looked at and passed first, and then look at specific line item requests. So that's creating a little bit of just delay as we're trying to figure out that process. They are still hearing budgets, and we should probably see, I think that log jam break up a little bit now that things are starting to get figured out and we'll get more budgets out, but I don't know that it's really causing that much of a delay once you get back on top of it because they have been hearing budgets.
(18:08):
Also every year as Republicans, we try to provide some additional tax relief, and that's one thing. As a senator, I kind of have to watch and wait and see what the house gives us because they have that constitutional responsibility to generate the tax bills from the house. But I know there's always some effort to look at income tax reduction, maybe some additional property tax reduction. We did a big property tax reduction bill last year that I've heard from constituents and I've seen on my own tax bill that have made a good impact. So I think we'll see some kind of tax relief bill come forward. I'm not sure what that's going to look like yet. Lots of people have different ideas and we'll see what's conglomerated to the final bill.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (18:56):
Sure. As you go back to your district, district 23, what are you going to tell the constituents of ada, Hawaii and Canyon Counties as you reapply to return as senator for them?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (19:11):
Well, I always run on my foundational principles first. I'm about trying to support a strong Idaho economy where people have an opportunity to build a good life for themselves with the lightest touch of government on those lives. And so they really have an opportunity to make life better themselves. I don't think governments there to make people's lives better by inserting itself. It's really to provide them an opportunity to do that. I'll continue to talk about my strong stance in supporting law enforcement and making Idaho a great place to live. And another issue I've been working on this year is the Convention of States. We talked about federal problems and jurisdiction, and that's an effort that our founding fathers gave us to as states propose constitutional amendments. If we have two thirds of the states that ask for that, we can get together and propose amendments. And the amendments we're looking at are things like a balanced budget, the federal jurisdiction issue, and maybe even term limits. So trying to really make sure that state's rights are respected. And then I always every year try to look at how we can reduce the tax burden on our citizens, but also make sure we're providing those necessary services. And with a strong economy, we've been able to do that.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (20:46):
Now, I'm going to probably get in trouble for this one because this podcast is supposed to kind of stay specific to the policies and the topics of the day. But I've got to squeeze in a question that in season one of the podcasts, we asked all of our guests, and since it's a first time year on, I'm going to have to ask, what is one book that you would recommend that everybody reads
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (21:07):
One book? Well, I think if it's kind of personal improvement related, I really like, historically it's 20 years old, but seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I think it helps you focus on what's really important in life and set your values and make your decisions based on that.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (21:31):
All right. Seven habits. And if it's not personal improvement, one just off your shelf, what are you reading?
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (21:38):
Boy, I'm kind of a fantasy escapist reader guy, so Tolkien's always one of my favorites. Lord of the Rings.
Brennan Summers, Executive Director Main Street ID (21:48):
Love it. Love it. See, we get to learn more about you every day, Senator, you're well known both in and outside the Capitol as being somebody who is the adult in the room that is easy to work with, that can build consensus. And we really appreciate you taking aside some time for us today. We know you're busy with your chairmanship and everything going on. A lot of candidates run on backing the blue, and I think it's obvious that supporting our law enforcement isn't just a campaign tagline for you. So we hope to have you back on as we talk about some more issues in the future. But we really do appreciate your time today. Senator
Senator Todd Lakey, District 23 Idaho (22:22):
Brennan, thank you so much for the opportunity.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
