PLATFORM
LIST OF ISSUES
Convicted Sex Offender Distance Limits
In response to a brutal murder of a young girl by the convicted sex offender living next door, "Megan's Law" requires public disclosure of sex offenders living in your neighborhood. The State of California also requires sex offenders to be a minimum of 2,000 from a school, park or other place children frequent, but in Idaho the requirement is only 500ft. Because of this liberal standard, Boise has become a "Pedo Paradise", in fact zip codes 83704 & 83705 have the highest per capita residence of sex offenders at 66/10,000. This is higher than some major metropolitan areas. There are developers in the Bench area acquiring homes and placing 8-10 sex offenders under one roof. The solution is simple, change Idaho code to match California, from 500 to 2,000 feet.
Restrict Dynamic Pricing
Have you noticed the new digital pricing tags in retail stores? These networked tags allow for instant changes to the price, so what you pay is not set until checkout is complete. The State of Maryland has banned this and Washington State has legislation to also restrict not just "dynamic pricing", but "surge" or pricing based upon a unique algorithm individualized for you. How this can be abused is quite clear, so why not create some "guard rails", such as retailers can only "update" a price once every 24 hours and there is an announcement in store an hour before the change is happening. I believe in "Vending Machine Capitalism", where the price is clear and the same for everyone, regardless of race, sexual orientation or status. Everyone buying the same good, from the same location, at the same price.
Right to Work or Fire for Cause
Idaho is a right to work state so is California. How difficult has the work environment in California become for both employer and employee even though it is "Right to Work"? What if employer and employee had the choice to select which system to work under? I propose to allow for both systems of employment to exist in Idaho and let not the government, but employees and employers decide which they would like to follow. Free markets are suppose to allow for free choices, especially the terms of employment.
Single Payer Union Membership
Again, the Constitution and Bill of Rights empowers individuals to choose, who they may or may not associate with, and this includes organizations to join. If an individual, chooses to affiliate with a Union of their choice to represent them in their employment contract, why should they not have the freedom to choose? Why do we still have to live under "all or nothing" Unionization votes to achieve representation? Having "blown the whistle" for a later proven "hostile work environment", I was fortunate to have the means to hire a Labor Law Attorney to advise me and prevent further abuse. Most workers do not have the means to actually afford to maintain their rights, so affiliation to a larger organization, such as a Labor Union, bridges this gap. Moreover, many Unions provide both Healthcare and a Pension, so long as you are a member of the trade they represent and work to some minimum requirements. I am tired of hearing about complaints about lack of healthcare portability preventing people to find better jobs or better economic opportunities, here is one way to remedy this issue.
Resources Payments like Alaska
Alaska has abundant natural resources wealth and as part of the contracts for development both the state and its citizens participate in the windfall. Idaho is also wealthy with natural resources, in fact, 60% of our state budget is from the Federal Government for all the timberland we cannot manage. Why is only the State getting the money? There is talk about a new large scale gold mine and not to mention the only Cobalt mine in the United States, should you as a citizen of Idaho receive your cut, the way the residents of Alaska do?
H1B Visa and Outsourcing
There is a trend, where by companies determine it is more cost effective to employ people offshore, rather than hire Idahoans to serve the market. The Albertsons corporation decided to fire all of their property mangers, and send the jobs to the Philippians instead. These jobs did not go away, they just moved somewhere else. If you are an "Idaho based" company, shouldn't you prioritize Idahoans? With the expansion of the new Micron Fab, there are concerns if the jobs created will go to Americans or foreigners. I knew a person, employed by an Australian Bank, which wanted to bring him to Australia to work. However, the Australian government required that the company first post the job in Australia for 2 years and then prove to a government official that there was no one domestically, who could do the work. What if we had similar employment laws here? Or again, require companies to disclose how many people "out of state" are servicing our state.
Employing Illegal Aliens
What is frustrating about the current crackdown on illegal employment is that only the workers seem to be raided and handcuffed, why not the people, who hired them? Why are we not holding the people, hiring and paying illegal labor to the same standard? If employers were subject to the same ICE raid and shown on TV in handcuffs, then the problem would stop. Here is some simple math, when someone works a job at $20 an hour above board, about $5 or more per hour goes to taxation and funding of the government services we all depend upon. When that same person is only paid $15 and hour under the table or via 1099 shell games, not only does the individual loose out on workforce safety through compliance, the state looses out on critical revenue. That $5 an hour adds up and it is part of the reason why our state does not have enough money to fund critical programs.
Medical Marijuana
As a former patient of the Spine Center at Ceders-Sini Hospital in Los Angeles, I was given the choice of any pain medication for treatment including "Oxycontin". Fortunately, I asked my doctor about Medical Cannabis as an alternative, to which he agreed is a better option. I cannot imagine where my life would be if I said yes to "Oxycontin". I obtained both my Los Angles and State of California Medical Cannabis ID cards and relied upon licensed dispensaries for medication. What is different today, is that the CBD element from Cannabis has been isolated, without the THC exposure risk. CBD is legal in Idaho, so this pain management option is available to all Idahoans. Regarding other forms of marijuana, when Walgreens, SaveOn, RiteAid, or other licensed pharmacies come forward with a proposal to include Marijuana along with the other pharmaceuticals they dispense, then harmonizing the laws for Idaho makes sense.
Reduce the Cost of Elections by Half
Not only does Idaho State government positions require elections every 2 years, the local/non-partisan elections are on the opposite year. This means Idaho has an election every year. It is too much. Often for off year elections, there are only 1 or 2 items to vote on. Why not just have one election, with all offices on the same ballot once every 2 years? Elections are very expensive to have, why not save the Idaho taxpayers at all levels 50% of this cost?
Lifetime Drivers Licenses
Is there a worse waste of your time than having to go to the DMV every 10 years to renew you drivers license? If you know how to drive and have not received a serious driving infraction, why not reward you by avoiding a trip to the DMV? Think of the cost savings to the state and to your work hours by this one simple change. Naturally, for younger or older drivers, there may need to be more frequent testing, but why not exempt everyone else.
Wine, Beer, and Spirits
Did you know that some of the grain in Eastern Idaho goes towards the production of Coors Beer? In addition to this we have several Idaho based Beer, Wine, and Spirits producers. Go visit the grocery store or state run liquor stores and look an how many of the options are coming from out of state. Just imagine the economic impact if we could replace these imports with Idaho Made options? It is said that automobile manufacturing lines created 10 jobs for every 1 line worker. Just think of the impact of capturing more manufacturing industry for Idaho? Because Spirits are exclusively sold in "State run", stores, I propose waving the State Sales tax for Idaho made products. The loss in sales tax revenue will be eclipsed from the jobs and production in state. Having built a successful bottled water factory in the Caribbean, I know how to "on shore", lost manufacturing industries.
Pet Ambulance
In an emergency, you can call 911, but what about when your 4 legged furry family member is facing a medical emergency? Think of all the disabled, senior, and legally blind members of our community, who lack access to a motor vehicle and the ability to transport their animals to a Veterinarian Hospital, Why not create a "Pet Ambulance", and expand 911 services to those at risk community members? In the interim, remove all government barriers to allow for existing Ride-share(Lyft, Uber, etc.) companies to offer this service.
Really Balance the Budget
Although, Idaho does have a balanced budget constutional requirement, most times the legislature just increases the state budge to be in compliance. Over the last 10 years the budget for Idaho has doubled, do you think the services government is providing are 50% better? This solution is simple but requires discipline. Cap the budget to only grow for inflation and population growth.
Straight Ticket Party Voting
Some people only like to vote for registered Democrats, some people only want to vote for registered Republican's. Sometimes it is difficult to know, which candidate belongs to what party. Why not add an option to the ballot to select the party of your choice and all of the candidates, registered to that party get your vote? Some candidates hide their party registration in an attempt to confuse voters in areas, where party affiliation does mater to voters, so why not simplify the process? With one simple mark, all the candidates of your party preference will receive your vote. This system speeds up the voting process and minimizes error.
Big Foot Hunting Tags
Idaho is one of the states in the Pacific NW, with a long history of Bigfoot sightings. Why not make Idaho the #1 state for Bigfoot tourism, by expanding the Idaho Dept. of Fish & Game hunting tag program to include Bigfoot? For a nominal fee of $100, anyone world wide can come to Idaho and hunt for Bigfoot. Just like Lock Ness, Scotland, and Roswell, New Mexico, "mythical creatures", can create a lasting tourism economy.
Ranked Choice Voting / Open Primaries
I am against both Ranked Choice Voting(RCV) and Open Primaries expected to be on the November 2024 ballot by Reclaim Idaho, here is my Op-Ed published in the Idaho Dispatch explaining my position in greater detail.
Age Discrimination
The most discriminated group of employees are people over the age of 50. While illegal, because Idaho is an "at will" employment state, it is incredibly difficult to prove this form of discrimination. What the legislature can do is require Idaho based employment to disclose the demographics of their workforce. If the numbers match the general population, then markets are working and our employment matches our work force demographics. Public disclosure of this information will create the pressure so that change can happen.
Publish all Jobs Physically not just Electronically
It is difficult to find a job, even more so, when the position is only published online in a foreign nation or requires "only H1B, OTP, H2B, etc. status. These other employment options are only suppose to happen, when there is no local labor to hire. This is the new dirty trick used by corporations to deny employment to people here in Idaho. What if the jobs available in Idaho were required to be published in the "paper of record", the same way you are required to announce a new business, public auction, etc. By providing notice in the local communities, where the jobs actually are going to be, we enable native Idahoans have full access to employment options.
Environment
Net Zero Immigration to achieve Net Zero Carbon emissions. If you are actually serious about achieving Net Zero Carbon emissions, it begins with a moratorium on immigration. More people means even more carbon footprints. IF you are not serious about restricting or ending immigration, then you are not actually serious about lowering emissions, Look at Switzerland, it is a beautiful place and stays that way due to the strict immigration policies and the near impossibility of obtaining Swiss Citizenship.