Legislative sessions across the Mountain States will kick off in January. We’re excited to see which of our policy recommendations lawmakers decide to act on. Before we turn the page on 2024, here are some of our favorite policy memories from the last year:
We had nearly 1,100 in combined attendance at our annual dinners in Coeur d'Alene and Boise. Former White House Press Secretary, author, and current FOX News host Kayleigh McEnany was the keynote speaker at our Spring Coeur d'Alene dinner. MSPC recognized several lawmakers with our Elevation Award. Montana Representative Sue Vinton was honored for leading the charge to bring charter schools to the Treasure state. Representative Vinton also spearheaded the effort to introduce Education Savings Accounts for special needs children in Montana. In Idaho, MSPC honored state House Majority Leader Jason Monks, Representative Wendy Horman, Senator Doug Ricks, Senator Lori Den Hartog and Senator C. Scott Grow. All of these leaders have been instrumental in the introduction of the Parental Choice Tax Credit proposal for families that would have offset the cost of school tuition and other education-related expenses. Those attending our Fall Boise dinner were treated to speeches by United States Senator Tim Scott and former Congressman and current FOX News host Trey Gowdy. Idaho Reports was presented with the 2024 Elevation Award at the Boise dinner for its in-depth coverage of the legislature and policy debates in the state.
We held our first annual dinner in Bozeman featuring Wall Street Journal columnist Kim Strassel.
With a unanimous vote, the Idaho Legislature this year adopted our recommendation to close the state’s unconstitutional loophole that could allow home equity theft to occur. When ruling against this egregious practice in 2023, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said it best: "The taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but no more."
Among the provisions of the school facilities funding reform adopted this year is an additional reduction in Idaho’s income tax rate.
With the approval of SJM 103, Idaho lawmakers made it clear that the state is dam proud and strongly supports the clean renewable hydro baseload power, navigation, and irrigation provided by the Snake River dams. The Legislature declared: “the State of Idaho opposes any actions to degrade the functionality, in whole or in part, to remove or breach any dams on the Columbia-Snake River System or its tributaries…” Last year we teamed up with U.S. Senator Jim Risch to write an op-ed discussing the importance of the Snake River dams.
MSPC was invited by the co-chairs of Idaho's JFAC budget committee to give an hour-long presentation to the committee about performance-based budgeting. JFAC is now moving forward with this important budget reform.
One of our Senior Policy Analysts, Amber Gunn, had an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal discussing the problems with rent control. One of the comments posted on the WSJ website said: “This article needs to be free so it can be blasted to everyone far and wide.”
Washington Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers posted this on her Facebook account after meeting with MSPC: “I really enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with Chris Cargill with Mountain States Policy Center this week. I have been so impressed by the way Chris and his team have hit the ground running to build trust and restore confidence in our free market system, which is exactly what our country needs more of right now!”
An editorial writer at the Wall Street Journal sent us this comment: “The Mountain States Policy Center is a valuable resource for journalists on the political, fiscal and economic issues facing Northwest states and how they relate to those issues nationwide.”
One of our Senior Policy Analysts, Madi Clark, wrote a joint op-ed with Idaho’s U.S. Senator Mike Crapo discussing federal forest management. The op-ed ran in several regional newspapers. We’ve now had joint op-eds published with Sen. Crapo (forests), Sen. Risch (Snake River dams), and Congressman Simpson (agriculture).
Ballotpedia published a page discussing our work. MSPC is listed as an "influencer." According to Ballotpedia: "An influencer is a person or organization that has the power to change things or peoples' minds, or to make things happen. The impact of an influencer is recognizable and significant, and includes changes in behavior or opinion in others. Notably, these agents have the power to create change without necessarily taking direct action, such is the power of influence."
Our Director of the Junkermier Center for Technology and Innovation, Sebastian Griffin was featured on a panel at the State Policy Network’s (SPN) annual meeting. His update addressed one of the most crucial issues facing the Mountain States Region - broadband implementation and the balance of power between the public and private sectors. The other SPN panelists pointed to Sebastian’s study as the model needed for lawmakers across the country.
Our new Policy Manual was mailed to thousands of elected officials and media members across the states we cover. Here is one of the comments we received from a legislative staffer: “Please extend my compliments to the staff of the Mountain States Policy Center for their outstanding Policy Manual. I particularly LOVE their use of QR codes to add content . . . if you ask me to rate the manual on a scale of 1-5, I would demur and give it a score of 25…the 25 separate times I’ve folded down a page because I found the data point or policy proposal to be of overarching interest. No higher compliment from this policy wonk to his compatriot wonks in the fight for freedom and first principles.”
We released the Idaho Poll to provide critical information to policymakers regarding the state's top policy issues. From tax and budgeting to education freedom, and even energy use, this comprehensive data taken directly from the citizens of the state helps inform our research work and is critical to the debate in the halls of the state capitol this January.
None of this would have been possible without your support. We’re excited for what’s to come in 2025, but we wanted to thank you first for a successful 2024!