Bob Nonini, Idaho State Representative
District 5, Seat A
Greetings to all my Constituents!
We are now into the 2012 Legislative Session and I want to update my constituents on some important issues.
The following issues are some of the important topics we will be dealing with this year. The budget will once again be a main focus. Over the last two years we have cut hundreds of millions of dollars out of our state budget as revenues continued to decline due to the recession and continued high unemployment. Through the first four months of this fiscal year the state is running about $10 million below projections. That obviously is not a good trend. Over the last few years the state budget has been depleted of the savings account funds that helped shore-up budgets. I will continue to be frugal as we set budgets for the next fiscal year.
There will be heated debate over the health insurance exchange that the state is to put in place according to the federal mandate under Obamacare. One major concern is the cost of the exchange and who pays for it. I am concerned as many of my conservative colleagues are about the strings the federal government will continue to place on Idaho if we accept federal dollars to set-up a health care exchange. I still believe the insurance industry with some pushing from lawmakers can get to a point where health insurance will be and can be affordable to all that want to purchase it. I do not believe that a federal system as Obamacare is at all the way to go forward.
There will be a need for some fixes to last year’s Students Come First legislation. I see those fixes as minor and will further clarify last year’s legislative intent. As far as education and the budget go, there will always be those that say we don’t fund education enough. It is important to remember that there has never been a correlation between student funding and student achievement. The only way to measure student achievement is to be able to hold those responsible for educating our children accountable. That includes superintendents, principals and teachers. A very interesting statistic that I recently saw alarmed me. The ratio of adults in public school employment to every one-thousand students over the last fifty years has increase significantly. Here are the last five decades: 1970 was 58 adults, 1980 was 100 adults, 1990 was 110 adults, 2000 was 120 adults and 2010 was 124 adults. There have been substantial increases in education funding with only modest increases in results over that fifty year time period. The most productive spending is on teacher effectiveness. The above information is from Dr. M. Rosa of the Gates Foundation.
Please email me with any concerns or questions you have. Please rank what you see as the important issues facing Idaho. I also want to hear from my constituents and their thoughts.
Thank you,
Bob Nonini
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Bob Nonini is endorsed by: U.S. Senator Mike Crapo, Former Governor Dirk Kempthorne, Former Representative Hilde Kellogg, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, Treasurer Ron Crane, Federal Judge (former Idaho AG) Al Lance, Senator John Goedde, Former Senator Dick Compton, Former Governor Phil Batt, the Spokesman-Review, the Coeur d'Alene Press and many more!
U.S. Senator Mike Crapo - Thursday 4/29/2004 "I recognize Bob as a conservative leader in North Idaho. His commitment and service on behalf of the Republican Party have meant a great deal to our candidates." |
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U.S. Representative Butch Otter - Letter of support (May 7, 2004) "...Bob, you have done an outstanding job working with others in the party in building a championship team. Your proven leadership has turned Kootenai County into one of the top Republican counties in the state...I know that you will make a great elected official and I look forward to working with you in the future."
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Governor Butch and First Lady Lori Otter,
Bob Nonini and Frank Henderson at the
Harrison Days Old-Timers Picnic |
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