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Committee introduces bill to limit health and retirement pay for small taxing-district board members
Summary
Representative Clay Handy introduced RS32498 to remove health-insurance and retirement payments for many small taxing-district board members and set a $100-per-meeting default compensation where amounts are not already specified in statute. The measure was introduced by voice vote.
Representative Clay Handy, sponsor of RS32498, told the House Revenue and Taxation Committee that the proposal would restrict compensation and benefits for members of many small taxing-district boards across the state.
The bill, Handy said, would remove authority in Title 59 that allows certain small taxing-district boards to provide health insurance and retirement benefits to board members and would set a default compensation of $100 per noticed meeting for boards that do not already specify an amount in statute. "What we've done is in title 59, we have a list of all those boards and we've categorically, excluded any kind of payment to any of these board members for health insurance and retirement," Representative Handy said.
Handy, who identified himself as "from District 27, which includes Cassia County, Minidoka County and Oneida County," said the change responds to complaints about some board members' pay and the difficulty citizens face in understanding election and appointment processes for those boards. He told the committee the draft preserves existing, statutorily specified compensation amounts where those amounts already appear in code and uses $100 per meeting as a standard where no amount is listed.
The sponsor noted one current carve-out: highway districts. "We pulled out highway districts to address later," Handy said, indicating Ada County Highway District and similar bodies would be handled separately.
Representative Larry Raymond moved to introduce RS32498. There was no debate and the motion carried by voice vote; the minutes show "all in favor say aye" followed by the chair declaring the motion carried.
The committee asked Handy to return at a later hearing with examples and a visual aid showing the scope of existing payments and the boards that would be affected. Representative Shane Monks said he was "very supportive" and asked the sponsor to provide a scope of the problem when the bill returns. Representative Brett Gannon asked whether any compensations would be reduced; Handy said "I would suppose so" for sections that currently do not name an amount.
No formal fiscal figures were presented during this introduction; Handy said staff would bring examples and further detail if the RS is printed for hearing.
