Lawmaker seeks to crack down on ‘repeat’ bond issues

Kevin Richert | 01/21/2020

A North Idaho legislator is taking another run at limiting “repeat” bond issue elections.

If Rep. Heather Scott gets her way, school districts and other local governments would have to wait at least 11 months before re-running a bond issue.

“We have several aggressive taxing districts that rerun bonds every two months,” Scott, R-Blanchard, told Keith Ridler of the Associated Press.

State law allows school districts to run bond issue elections on four dates: in March, May, August and November.

The House State Affairs Committee voted to introduce Scott’s bill Tuesday, Ridler reported. That means the bill could come back to the committee for a full hearing later.

A similar bill passed the House in 2018 but stalled in the Senate.

Kevin Richert

Senior reporter and blogger Kevin Richert specializes in education politics and education policy. He has more than 30 years of experience in Idaho journalism. He is a frequent guest on "Idaho Reports" on Idaho Public Television and "Idaho Matters" on Boise State Public Radio. Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KevinRichert. He can be reached at [email protected]