Judge Says Law Will "Close" Rural Idaho -- Rural Policy Matters, Volume 5, Number 10 (October 2003)

"You might as well put up a sign that says rural Idaho is closed," says an Idaho judge, referring to a new law designed to undermine her ruling that the state cannot rely on local property taxes to fund school construction.

The law was passed after Judge Deborah Bail ruled two years ago for small, rural school districts serving low-income areas of the state and ordered the legislature to come up with a fairer way to finance school construction. Instead, it passed HB 403 this year, which effectively turned the school district plaintiffs into defendants and broke the lawsuit up into dozens of separate cases. Districts found to have unsafe buildings would be ordered by local judges to raise property taxes to fix the problem. There would be no local vote on a bond levy, as ordinarily required under Idaho law. Judge Bail says she will rule in October on the constitutionality of HB 403, but openly expressed concern after a two-day trial that it amounted to legislative interference with the courts and an attempt to use the courts to impose state-ordered taxes on local districts. She was concerned because the bill resulted in continued reliance on the property tax, which she had already ruled unconstitutional, and because its effects would be felt most in low-income rural areas.

Source: The Idaho Spokesman-Review.