Idahoans will see three constitutional amendments to allow public entities go into debt. The Idaho Senate approved three resolutions that will let voters decide this November whether public hospitals, airports, and city power generating systems can offer bonds and take on debt.
Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, said on the Senate floor that the ability to issue bonds is an economic development tool for public entities like Boise Airport, and that taxpayers would not be obligated to pay off the bonds. The proposed amendments come after a 2006 Idaho Supreme Court case ruled that Boise Airport needed to hold a public vote each time it wanted to offer bonds. All three proposed constitutional amendments had overwhelming support in the Senate.
Read IdahoReporter.com’s coverage on the three proposed amendments here. The text of the hospital amendment is available here, the airport amendment here, and the municipal electric system amendment here.
