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House Judiciary is starting. Chaney: "The hour of 2:45 having arrived, we'll get started." #idleg #idpol
Scott: I'm concerned about not presenting the bills first. The sponsors should give short summaries of the bills. "It's going to be hard to put testimony on something you might not be aware of." #idleg #idpol
Chaney: "I'm going to rule that out of order. The agenda is set." Says testimony can start now.
Some of the crowd isn't happy and is pushing back. Chaney has gaveled them twice in the past two minutes or so.
Pam (missed last name), against the bills: “I refuse to allow COVID 19 be an excuse for our whole … system of government to be destroyed.” Says these bills “are a deliberate choice to favor government power over liberty. Let’s end this insanity.” #idleg #idpol
Pam finishes, crowd claps, Chaney gavels.
Zollinger: "I've never seen bills debated in this manner where we're debating all four bills generally" without them being presented individually. Asks how we know which bills people are talking about. #idleg #idpol
Zollinger: "I've never seen bills debated in this manner where we're debating all four bills generally" without them being presented individually. Asks how we know which bills people are talking about. #idleg #idpol
Chaney says we have done the same thing before, gives example of some CPS-related bills of Scott's from the regular session that were heard as a batch.
Two more people have testified, both against the bill.
Well, bills.
Ammon Bundy is up now.
Bundy refers to some comments Rep. Gannon made this morning about how the #idleg needs to act. “These comments are indicative of the mindset of a nanny state, where the people are considered incapable without government institutions or their agencies.”
Bundy: "I believe all Idahoans just need to be left alone, trusted and free to act for themselves." #idleg #idpol
Bundy: "We the people are tired, we are tired of government force and we will only take it for so long. I recommend you act wisely, because we will not live in fear." #idleg #idpol
Susan Proster (sp?): “I strongly urge you to listen and take heed to what we the people are trying to express to you. You are our voices, we need you, represent us.” Says vote all four down. “Stop the madness. It’s the flu.” #idleg #idpol
Woman testifying (Sounded like Rhonda something): “It seems to me this bill would further perpetuate a state of emergency with no consideration to its end.” Says Little has been abusing its power. Wants to “extinguish the idea that we need government to protect our health.”
Wraps up by calling for an end to the state of emergency and says if these bills pass she was personally work to get them voted out of office. #idleg #idpol
Matt (Graslin?) asks the #idleg to end the state of emergency. “I moved here from California for Idaho’s freedom.”
Chaney tells the crowd there will be a hearing after this (he's talking about in House State Affairs) on ending the emergency declaration so please confine your remarks to the four bills here. Fred Birnbaum, VP @idahofreedom, is up now. #idleg #idpol
Birnbaum: We're very much against the others, but “if a bill is necessary the least bad alternative … would be Rep. Young’s.” Says it's much more narrow than the others. #idleg #idpol
Alicia Peterson: “By granting immunity you are compelling businesses to deprive the people of rights.” Now she’s reading the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. #idleg #idpol
Except for Young's the bills require businesses to "make a good faith effort to comply with a statute, rule, or lawful order of a government entity in effect at the time" to receive immunity, like mask mandates. #idleg #idpol
Here's the IFF's analysis of House Bill 4 which goes into their objections to it https://idahofreedom.org/house-bill-4-immunity-from-civil-liability/ #idleg #idpol
Peterson went over her time. Chaney tried to cut her off a few times, then gaveled her and put the committee at ease. #idleg #idpol
Chaney: "If we don't watch the time then you are taking time away from others who have signed up to testify." Also says if the applause continues he will have to put the committee at ease so the crowd can calm.
Chaney says the other option would be to clear the room, which he says "I'm sure some of you would love to post on Facebook." Repeats hard stop time of 5:15 whether we've heard you all or not. Jessica Allison (sp?) is up now. Is against the bills. #idleg #idpol
Nancy Georgeson is up, talking about a friend’s husband, who is a Marine Corps Vietnam veteran. Says he doesn’t recognize his own country, it’s like a communist country. He can’t leave his home without being harassed for not wearing a mask and it’s driving him to drink.
Ken McClure with the Idaho Liability Reform Coalition is up now. Says they support House Bill 5. This is the first positive testimony. (Except for Fred Birnbaum calling HB 2 the least-bad of the bunch, if you want to call that positive.) #idleg #idpol
Danielle Smith is up, testifying against the bills.
David Pittinger (sp?) asks who is pressuring the committee to pass these bills. Is it IACI? Chaney tells him not to impugn motives and puts the committee at ease again. #idleg #idpol
Committee's back. David is back up.
Read definitions of communism and fascism and a quote from Ayn Rand. He is criticizing Little's actions -- closing churches and businesses, mask mandates, arresting Sara Brady, banning off-brand use of Hydroxychloroquine. #idleg #idpol
He's done. Scott Maurice is up now.
Maurice is against the bill.
*bills.
Robert Jones is up. “We’re getting tired of you politicians coming in and telling us what to do. Stay within your authority.” Reading from the Declaration of Independence now. #idleg #idpol
Jones: “We are allowed to get sick if we want. We are allowed to do whatever we want as long as we’re not harming anybody else, but you guys have forgotten that.” Says he can’t wear a mask because he freaks out. #idleg #idpol
Jones quotes JFK, when you make peaceful revolution impossible, a violent one is inevitable. “Can you feel it? I can feel it, and I don’t want it to be violent. … This is America. We’re not supposed to be told every little thing we can do by the government.”
Jones is done. Susan Lang is up now, against the bills, wants the #idleg to end the emergency declaration.
Kate Tedeschi (sp?), owns a paint business in downtown Nampa, is up. Opposes the bills. “I’m afraid if you pass these immunity laws it’s going to put further regulations on people like me.” #idleg #idpol
Six minutes left if Chaney's going to stick to that 5:15 end time.
