The Idaho House of Representatives State Affairs Committee voted today to send the “Greater Idaho” bill to a vote of the full House. Eleven out of twelve members of the committee voted to recommend that the House pass the bill, bill number HJM 1, which authorizes Idaho to begin talks with Oregon about a proposal to relocate the state line they share.
The committee held a hearing on the bill this morning. In addition to the bill sponsors, Rep. Judy Boyle and Rep. Barbara Ehardt, three eastern Oregonians spoke in favor of the bill at the hearing, as well as several Idaho citizens, but none spoke against it. Both Oregonians and Idahoans testified that they want Idaho drug law to have jurisdiction over eastern Oregon. They also cited an economic analysis published last week for the Claremont Institute which shows that rural Oregon counties would be a net benefit to Idaho financially.
A press release on the Greater Idaho movement’s website, greateridaho.org, said “we are asking Oregon Senate President Rob Wagner to give this proposal a hearing in Oregon like the one we had today in Idaho. It’s a win-win for both states, and a poll a year ago showed that 68% of northwestern Oregonian voters want it to have a hearing.”