Testifying at Senate Committee

​CEO Testified at Senate Committee Meeting
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Kevin Bailey, CEO of the Idaho Nonprofit Center, spoke against HB170 this morning during the Senate State Affairs committee meeting. The bill is moving forward to a floor vote. However, it will include modifications that allows for more flexibility. 

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​Work still needs to be done to advocate for nonprofit funding and relationships with state agencies so please stay tuned for an upcoming action alert. There will be an opportunity to share your thoughts with your elected officials.

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See Previous coverage regarding HB170

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​Testify against taxing nonprofit hospitals
Why this matters: Removing property tax exemptions from nonprofit healthcare institutions is a dangerous precedent that puts our whole sector’s property tax exemptions at risk.
The House Revenue and Taxation Committee will discuss H109 on Wednesday. We need nonprofit supporters in Idaho to sign up to testify against this careless bill.

• Sign up to testify in person or remote (the agenda is currently not available yet but when it goes live, you will find it here)
• Provide written testimony: hrev@house.idaho.gov
  • See Idaho Nonprofit Center's letter here
• Watch the livestream
• Read information about testifying

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email house revenue and taxation

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Child Care and Wage Enhancement Grants
Why this matters: Childcare is a workforce retention issue. The Idaho nonprofit sector relies on the childcare sector—nonprofits can then recruit high-quality candidates to areas throughout Idaho and existing nonprofit employees can find quality, affordable care.

Idaho’s childcare industry, still recovering from the effects of the pandemic, has been depending on programs funded through federal relief funds to retain staff and maintain operations. Those funds provide wage enhancement grants to individual childcare teachers ($300 per month) and monthly facility grants to childcare programs to support operations. 

Idaho’s Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) has abruptly stopped the funding by declining to provide approval for use by the Department of Health and Welfare. 

• 3,600 individual childcare providers and 700 facilities will not receive any more payments beginning immediately.
  
  
• The funding has always been set to end in June, but to end this prematurely will be devastating to this industry.
  
  
•  Many programs will not survive the abrupt ending of the funds.
  
  
• Child Care Industry Support Toolkit
  
  
• Ask your legislators to fund the Phase 4: Child Care and Wage Enhancement Grants through at least the end of the current fiscal year

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Absentee Ballot Voting at Risk
Why this matters: Several Idaho nonprofits work on nonpartisan Get Out the Vote initiatives and many nonprofits serve people in rural communities or elderly individuals who could be greatly impacted by this bill.

A bill that would drastically limit absentee voting has passed out of the House State Affairs Committee with a vote of 6-3. The bill, introduced by Rep. Joe Alfieri from Coeur d’Alene, would only allow absentee voting for:

• military personnel
• people who are disabled, hospitalized or infirmed
• on a religious mission
• living in another state or country temporarily
• in school or unable to get away from work.

However, it would not allow absentee voting for

• an unexpected illness
• planned vacation
• those with transportation issues
• for those who just prefer to vote by mail

Secretary of State Phil McGrane is in opposition to the bill, as is the AARP. 

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Read more about H075