Welcome to the Building Contractors Association of South East Idaho
3.23.12 Legislative Topics
Legislative Conference Call
Friday, March 23, 2012
Minutes
Call to Order by Steve Martinez Chair at 11:00 a.m. Mountain Time.
AFCI SCR118
BUILDING SAFETY DIVISION - RULE REJECTED - The Rule is officially dead for this session, looks like we will see it again next year. The Electrical Board is having a meeting Apri119, 2012. Ben suggests that IBCA have representation at this meeting as well as drafting a letter of support. It is important that IBCA send a message to Electrical Board that we will be in opposition of this if comes back next year. Will get Electrical Board contact info out to this committee, as well as date and time of meeting.
H0519 SITE IMPROVEMENTS - This has passed through Senate and is on Governors desk waiting for signature. Working on Governors office to sign it, hopefully will be signed in the next couple of days!
H0485 INCOME TAX DEDUCTIONS -
This bill came out of Committee with only 2 no votes .Going to Governors desk for signature. Had good support.
H0466 Idaho Plumbing Code- It has been signed and now is law. DBS will print this and it will be code by July 1st and forced adoption by January 13,2013
H0614 Special Use Permits, this has been replaced with H0691
They adjusted the language and printed new bill. It has passed House and now is on its way to Senate.
S1373 LABOR- Amends and adds to existing law relating to labor to provide exceptions to applicability of certain penalty and civil remedy provisions; to provide for the Open Access to Work Act and to establish provisions relating to the Open Access to Work Act.
Cleared House Committee and is in its 3rd reading today!
Ben thinks this could be our last Legislative Conference Call this year, looks like the Legislature will be wrapping up this week. If so, he will be getting us a wrap- up summary in the next couple of weeks.
Meeting adjourned at 11:30
BCASEI opposes connector fees
Building Contractors Association of Idaho
PRESS RELEASE
For more than a decade the City of Pocatello has implemented an unfair and unconstitutional formula for the calculating of water and sewer connection fees. These fees have been increased dramatically from around $300 per dwelling in 1997 to over $5,000 currently. For many years, the Building Contractors Association of South East Idaho (Builders Ass’n) has encouraged the City to replace its connection fee regime with one that is legal, meaning that it is proportionate to and directly tied to the purposes in which the fees are collected.
After many empty promises, and resistance, and after reviewing tens of thousands of documents obtained through the “Freedom of Information Act,” as a last resort the Builders Ass’n has filed a lawsuit asking the court to suspend its connection fee policies until the City does enact a fair and proper fee collection formula that meets the Court’s approval.
The City’s records obtained by the Builders Ass’n reveal egregious violations of the law, including millions of dollars in fees that were improperly transferred to the City’s general revenue fund. Amazingly, the City ignored advice it sought from the Idaho State Attorney General’s office, which had informed the City that this practice was unlawful. The records also indicate the City spent millions on dozens of water and sewer projects to “expand the system” without first seeking public approval through the bond election procedures.
The Builders Ass’n’s complaint alleges that connection fees collected by the City have no real “nexus” to the intended purposes of the fees, but instead were utilized primarily as a “revenue raiser” unfairly foisted on a small segment of the population. .” In essence, the law prevents governmental entities from imposing a fee as a “disguised tax.” This is a violation of both the Idaho and United States constitution, and has its basis in the foundational principal of “no taxation without representation
The City’s improper fee policies have also had a noticeable and detrimental effect on the local economy. The exponential increase in connection fees has contributed greatly to the decline of the new home and commercial building construction. These fees have literally made many new homes unaffordable and/or have simply priced developers and potential buyers out of the market. This in turn, ironically, has deprived the local economy of tens of millions of dollars in lost income, tax revenue and hundreds of jobs.
 BCASEI Connector Fee Complaint | [ ] | 1726 Kb |
Thank you for visiting the website for the Building Contractors Association of Southeast Idaho (BCASEI). We hope you enjoy our content! If you have any questions about our organization that we were unable to answer on our website, please contact us using the information in the About Us tab at the top of this page.
