The Rest: Did Sen. Nichols, Lenny, and Trakel Vote Against Funding Police and Prisons?

Claim

Campaign literature was left on doors in Canyon County with “Idaho Liberty PAC” as the entity that paid for the material. Sen. Tammy Nichols (R-Middleton), Sen. Brian Lenney (R-Nampa), Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld (R-Twin Falls), and Sen. Chris Trakel (R-Caldwell) reported that the same literature was being distributed in their districts. The literature contained the following wording with the names swapped out for each candidate (image of literature at the end of the article):

“As dangerous criminals and drugs flood over the border and into our communities…Senator Tammy Nichols Voted AGAINST FUNDING OUR POLICE AND PRISONS MAKING YOU LESS SAFE”

There are two bills cited on the literature: House Bill 359 (State Police Appropriation) and House Bill 351 (Corrections Appropriation)

Evidence

The literature does not cite the year for HB 359. However, the referenced HB 359 (click here to view) appears to be from the 2023 Idaho legislative session. The first sentence in the Statement of Purpose for HB 359 describes the bill as: “This is the FY 2024 original appropriation bill for the Idaho State Police.”

Nichols, Lenney, Zuiderveld, and Trakel voted against this bill.

The literature does not cite the year for HB 351. However, the referenced HB 351 (click here to view) also appears to be from the 2023 Idaho legislative session. The first sentence in the Statement of Purpose for HB 351 describes the bill as: “This is the FY 2024 original appropriation bill for the Department of Correction.”

Nichols, Lenney, Zuiderveld, and Trakel voted against this bill as well.

The Rest

Idaho Dispatch asked Nichols, Lenney, Zuiderveld, and Trakel if they had a response to the literature.

Lenney provided Idaho Dispatch with a document that contained his explanations for his votes:

On HB 351, Lenney said,

“I voted against House Bill 351 because it just didn’t add up financially. Spending $750,000 on halfway houses for newly released inmates didn’t sit right with me, especially when it wasn’t even requested by the DOC. Should taxpayers foot the bill for housing inmates when there are programs already in place for
low-income individuals?

This bill also needlessly expanded the government workforce and missed the mark on prudent spending. Allocating $1.6 million for a drug testing program that could have been funded without dipping into emergency funds is unacceptable. Overall, it didn’t align with responsible fiscal management, which is why I couldn’t support it.”

On HB 359, Lenney said,

“I opposed this inflated spending bill because it went beyond inflation rates, needlessly expanded government, and even allocated funds for horse racing horse drug testing—yes, taxpayers foot the bill now!

This bill represented excessive spending that needed a serious overhaul. It introduced over $3 million in new salary costs for additional positions and lacked transparency. Despite the POST academy requesting an increase, they managed to cut expenses beforehand? How did expenses decrease while requested funding skyrocketed?”

Nichols provided Idaho Dispatch with the following quote about the two bills:

“The state budget has grown by almost $5 billion dollars in just 4 years, which is also unsustainable and why we needed to change the budget process. For instance, bills H359 grew from the base by 18.8% in the last three years, and H351 grew from the base by 16.2% over the last three years. These rates are greater than what would be prescribed by inflationary pressures and growth. If people want to see tax reduction, then the state has to stop spending so much money. We do this by getting our budgets back down to the basics. It’s the same concept that everybody does in their households; why should the government be any different?

By voting no on so many budgets in the past, myself and my fiscally conservative allies paved the way for budget reform for this session which will now be more transparent and hold the bureaucratic agencies more accountable for spending taxpayer dollars.

HB359 also had a line item for taxpayers to pay for drug testing for horse racers, which shouldn’t be the tax payers responsibility. It also REDUCED the police budget by $7,751,300 or 7%. In other words, HB359 was defunding the police itself.”

Zuiderveld posted the following explanation for HB 351:

“First, when I ran I said I would not grow government and I would not grow spending over the minimal inflation.

Starting with H351, I questioned the amount money the state wanted to spend on Hepatitis C treatments. Did we have that many inmates to spend 9.6 million on and have they price checked to see if this could be purchased cheaper? We cant line item veto in Idaho so you have to vote for all the entire budget or vote no in hopes it will fail and the bill can go back to JFAC. Then perhaps they can take a better look at that line item.

This bill also increased full time positions by 3.2% and grew the percentages in general fund and dedicated fund past the 3 percent cost of inflation cost.”

On HB 359, Zuiderveld responded by saying,

“H359 also increased the general fund by 21.2 percent. There was also a line item in the bill for Doe vs Wasden for $275,000 that gave no explanation what it was for. Again, we do not defund anything but when there is a “no” vote on the floor, it is our way of pointing out issues and discrepancies in an appropriation bill. The legislature can then re-work the bill and send it back to the floor again at a later date.

My number one job as a legislator is to make sure the budget is balanced and accountable to what we are spending. I did just that and will continue to protect Idahoans hard earned money.”

Trakel did not respond to our request for comment.

Here is a copy of the literature:

Note

While traditional media outlets have created “fact check” processes that often rely on their personal biases, Idaho Dispatch aims to provide readers with fact-checked stories that don’t rely on our personal opinions but provide “The Rest” of the story. We hope we can provide you with evidence and information so you can make an informed decision about an issue. If you have additional evidence to add to this fact check, please submit it to info@idahodispatch.com.

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Tags: Brian Lenney, Chris Trakel, Corrections, Fact Check, Glenneda Zuiderveld, HB 351, HB 359, Idaho Dispatch, Idaho Liberty PAC, Police, Tammy Nichols, The Rest

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