{"id":1180,"date":"2020-02-13T14:16:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T21:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1180"},"modified":"2020-02-13T14:16:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T21:16:36","slug":"ebb-and-flow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1180","title":{"rendered":"Ebb and Flow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Puget Sound Deception Pass; Tide starting to flow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Separation of powers is a fundamental principle in both our\nstate and federal Constitutions. The framers figured that by splitting up the\npowers that govern us, we, the governed would be less oppressed by our\ngovernment (read Federalist\n51<\/a>). But what happens when one branch relinquishes its power or another\ninfringes? Does the loss of separation from this disrupted balance lead to\nincreased oppression of the governed?  We\nhave two examples to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impeachment is the biggest test of this separation. Our\nfederal Constitution gave Congress the power to remove the President. I\u2019m sure\nyou have heard about our recent civics lesson. The verdict has been given,\nthough it was probably a foregone conclusion. Many trials are. But the failure\nof the US Senate to hear witnesses, review documents or even stay awake to\n\u201cimpartially\u201d consider the charges doesn\u2019t bode well for the power they are\nsupposed to hold. The majority declared themselves submissive to the executive\nthey were judging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the previous administration exulted in and abused Congress\u2019\nimpotence. When one branch abdicates, the other usurps. Executive orders have\nbecome fiat. Budgets are managed by \u201ccontinuing resolution\u201d from one threatened\nshutdown to the next. Our debt\nto GDP ratio<\/a> is higher than any time except right after World War Two. Only\nwhen Congress, the House and the Senate, Republican, Democrat and Independent\nresolve to put aside differences and govern, can they reassert their separate constitutional\npower. Meanwhile, the executive sucks up the foregone power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe the wisdom of the electorate desires separation\nand balance. The first midterm election after a new president is elected has\nalmost always seen Congress swing\nthe other way<\/a>. Obama lost 63 House seats in the Tea Party wave of 2010;\nTrump lost 37 at his first midterm. Could this be the electorate pleading with\nCongress to assert its power? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here in Idaho, it\u2019s the opposite imbalance. The legislature\nis leaning on the executive branch. Take the recent Administrative rule dust-up\nexample. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Idaho legislature passes a law, the executive\nbranch that enacts that law writes administrative rules to fill in the details.\nFor instance, Idaho code 33-1612<\/a>\n(Courses of Instruction) list in outline the general principles for classroom\ninstruction, then delegates: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state board shall adopt rules\u2026 to establish a thorough\nsystem of public schools with uniformity as required by the constitution.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Idaho legislature reviews and approves or rejects all\nnew administrative rules. They even got this power into the Idaho\nConstitution<\/a>. But then, last session, the House and the Senate could not\nagree on the process for review and ended up not renewing ALL the\nadministrative rules. Governor Little made lemonade out this and put a lot of\ngovernment employees to work reviewing all 8000 pages of rules. He successfully\nreduced some, but, by law ALL these new rules needed to be reviewed by the\nlegislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legislative review of executive branch rules can blur the\nseparation of powers that keeps government weak, like it should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, the House Education Committee voted to reject the\nrules for teacher certification standards. They also voted to reject all K12\nclassroom standards for Math, English and Science. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There can be great temptation to re-legislate when the rules\ncome before you. Imagine being in the position of opposing legislation that\ngets passed. Or, more often, opposing funding for the department. Now imagine\nthose rules come before you and your job as a legislator is to make sure they\nconform to the intent of the statute that\nyou opposed. <\/em>You might be tempted to throw a wrench in the works. The House\nEd Committee is acting like a mechanic on meth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Idaho legislature has slowly over the years usurped\npower from the executive branch through rules review.  It\u2019s gotten to the point of micromanagement,\nwasting our taxpayer dollars. If the Idaho legislature really has so little productive\nto do, I propose they take January off and shovel snow. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Separation of powers is a fundamental principle in both our state and federal Constitutions. The framers figured that by splitting up the powers that govern us, we, the governed would be less oppressed by our government (read Federalist 51). But … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1182,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions\/1182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}