If you circle back to my proposal to give the Senate and the House separate legal offices, you will find it not only removes the power of the executive to influence the laws created by the legislature through opinions, but it also provides attorneys who can review all of IDAPA (722 sets of rules) and then issue reports to the leaders of the legislature every year prior to each session where the legislators could during the session make changes to the body of executive branch rules.
That is not just looking at the new rules as they come from the executive branch every year, which is the untenable method used now, but the whole body of rules needs review and cutting back.
I don’t think Idaho will fix any balance of power issues or separation of power issues by giving the legislators a pay raise, although it may be helpful to draw better representation from the populace. The way to fix a lack of legislative power is to give the legislature more power, so give them their own legal counsel so they can actually monitor the executive branch all year. These would be full-time jobs, partially so there is no need for a full-time legislature.
That's actually something that came up in conversations I've had with lawmakers over the past few days on this issue. I need to dig up your editorial on that and refer back when I write a follow-up to this post.
If you circle back to my proposal to give the Senate and the House separate legal offices, you will find it not only removes the power of the executive to influence the laws created by the legislature through opinions, but it also provides attorneys who can review all of IDAPA (722 sets of rules) and then issue reports to the leaders of the legislature every year prior to each session where the legislators could during the session make changes to the body of executive branch rules.
That is not just looking at the new rules as they come from the executive branch every year, which is the untenable method used now, but the whole body of rules needs review and cutting back.
I don’t think Idaho will fix any balance of power issues or separation of power issues by giving the legislators a pay raise, although it may be helpful to draw better representation from the populace. The way to fix a lack of legislative power is to give the legislature more power, so give them their own legal counsel so they can actually monitor the executive branch all year. These would be full-time jobs, partially so there is no need for a full-time legislature.
That's actually something that came up in conversations I've had with lawmakers over the past few days on this issue. I need to dig up your editorial on that and refer back when I write a follow-up to this post.
Good idea, Brian. Keep up the great work you are doing.