The endorsement from the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce is conditional on the implementation of the transportation bill proposed by the Moving Idaho Forward coalition. “The chamber executive committee will take a recommendation to the board of directors to endorse the proposed constitutional amendment,” Ray Stark, a senior vice president at the chamber, said.
The amendment would have to be linked to a trailer bill implementing the public transportation legislation.
“The chamber and others have worked hard on this legislation for nearly two and a half years,” Stark said. “We would not endorse the constitutional amendment without the implementing legislation.”
Stark said the latest version of the amendment allows cities or counties, but not regions, to vote on local options initiatives at November election. The vote would require a two-thirds supermajority to pass.
Proponents of using the local option tax to fund public transportation had been reluctant to accept a constitutional amendment because it would restrict the operation of a regional transit authority.
“It’s like the community college [vote], where Ada County passed by 80 percent and Canyon County didn’t reach the supermajority,” Valley Regional Transit spokesman Mark Carnopis said. “If Ada supports it and Canyon doesn’t, where does it put us? We’re a two county transportation authority. How can we build outside our border?”
The chamber decided the compromise was necessary to move the public transportation bill forward.
“The chamber executive committee position reflects a realization that the Idaho Legislature may never agree to reduce the supermajority and that we need to move forward with the rules for local option,” Stark said.
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