Idaho Legislature Takes Closer Step to Nullifying Sportsman Initiative

[jmcd22]

Just wanted to get this out there. I don't see this as a good thing.

With HB 514 Legislature Takes Another Step Closer to Nullifying Sportsman Initiative — Idaho Wildlife Federation

House Bill 514 strips language from the 1938 Initiative (the Sportsman Initiative that created the IDFG Commission), that stipulates no one party may have more than four of the seven commission seats.

idahowildlife.org

 

[Bärenjäger]

Just wanted to get this out there. I don't see this as a good thing.

With HB 514 Legislature Takes Another Step Closer to Nullifying Sportsman Initiative — Idaho Wildlife Federation

House Bill 514 strips language from the 1938 Initiative (the Sportsman Initiative that created the IDFG Commission), that stipulates no one party may have more than four of the seven commission seats.

idahowildlife.org

Death by a thousand cuts...

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[ODB]

Who proposed this and wha is their reasoning? The bill just has the language struck, but what is the reason for the proposed change? In other words, what problem is this change supposed to solve?

 

[P Carter]

My understanding is that, when the governor goes to make appointments to the commission, there usually are no interested or available democrats, so a republican will change their status to independent to meet the political quota requirement. So I think that’s the problem that was trying to be solved...the requirement had just become a hoop to jump through rather than an actual meaningful requirement. Happy to be corrected if I’m wrong.
Here is one of the sources for that. I also seem to recall that for a long time it was made of “Rs” and independents only, no democrats. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.id...8e945476-babb-5ca4-a9c1-a0a5f295a56f.amp.html

 

[jmcd22]

My understanding is that, when the governor goes to make appointments to the commission, there usually are no interested or available democrats, so a republican will change their status to independent to meet the political quota requirement. So I think that’s the problem that was trying to be solved...the requirement had just become a hoop to jump through rather than an actual meaningful requirement. Happy to be corrected if I’m wrong.
Here is one of the sources for that. I also seem to recall that for a long time it was made of “Rs” and independents only, no democrats. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.id...8e945476-babb-5ca4-a9c1-a0a5f295a56f.amp.html

I dont doubt that this is true but looking at what has happened in other western states over the last 30 years and seeing how many out of state plates are in the Boise area, I have a feeling Idaho will eventually turn purple with the occasional blue years. If that happens, sportsmen are in trouble.

 

[TheTone]

I dont doubt that this is true but looking at what has happened in other western states over the last 30 years and seeing how many out of state plates are in the Boise area, I have a feeling Idaho will eventually turn purple with the occasional blue years. If that happens, sportsmen are in trouble.

Sportsman already are in trouble. The legislature is full of non outdoors people, closest they might come is some farming and ranching but most don’t truly care about resources (except for extraction) hunting or fishing

this is a bill in search of a problem. All other boards in the state have the same party language, think they will move to change them?

 

[P Carter]

Sportsman already are in trouble. The legislature is full of non outdoors people, closest they might come is some farming and ranching but most don’t truly care about resources (except for extraction) hunting or fishing

this is a bill in search of a problem. All other boards in the state have the same party language, think they will move to change them?

I don’t have a dog in this fight, but it’s clearly not a bill in search of a problem. The problem was demonstrated in the article: no dems from the geographic region wanted to serve. That is the problem. We can talk about whether this is the right solution, of course. There would be no need to apply this solution to other agencies that don’t have that problem. Also, this goes without saying, by goodness if you’re a dem from the Clearwater region that wants to serve, or from any region, by all means get your application in.

 

[jmcd22]

I'm more or less looking at the future...Idaho won't be red forever. When it does turn, this would allow Dems to completely control F&G...and I don't see that as a good thing. Maybe I am off base here but Dems in charge of F&G when the majority of them have proven to not like guns and don't support hunting is not what any hunter should want...say what you will about ranchers and Republicans that don't like public lands but at least they aren't trying to stop everything altogether.