Consent Agenda Deliberations Recap

July 1 Update: The law on Consent Agendas has become law and is now included in the Idaho State "Open Meeting Law" manual. You can find it here: https://www.ag.idaho.gov/content/uploads/2018/04/OpenMeeting.pdf

On July 1, a new law will be incorporated into Idaho's Open Meeting Law to promote transparent and ethical governance. My favorite new statute for Idaho is House Bill 172 regarding Consent Agendas. This is a brand new, common-sense, best-practices law that allows controversial and non-routine items to be removed from the consent agenda by the simple request of a single council member and to be addressed later in the meeting. For most of my term, I have faced pushback from the majority of the Council, and I have been blocked from pulling anything I saw a need to discuss further from the consent agenda, so I can confirm that this is much needed.

The actual proceedings of the bill being introduced and discussed follow below. I chose not to call in to provide testimony because I felt that this legal change was necessary across the State and I wanted to avoid attracting negative attention to my beloved City of Hayden. This essential statute passed both the House and Senate unanimously, as there was a consensus that it was crucial for Idaho to prevent log-rolling and grandstanding in the use of the Consent Agenda. Many thanks to our Idaho State Legislature for giving clarity to this issue.

This session includes testimony from Association of Idaho Cities and Councilmember Ed DePriest.

This session includes testimony from Councilmember Ed DePriest and Mayor Alan Davis