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Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Idaho GOP leaders announce new DOGE Task Force
From left to right, House Majority Caucus Chairman Jaron Crane, R-Nampa; House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star; House Majority Leader Jason Monks, R-Meridian; and House Assistant Majority Leader Josh Tanner, R-Eagle, host a press conference on Jan. 6, 2025, at the Statehouse in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) Republican Idaho legislative leaders announced Thursday they formed the Idaho Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE Task Force. The Idaho DOGE Task Force is inspired by House Bill 364, an unsuccessful bill from the just-finished 2025 Idaho legislative session and the federal task force in President Donald Trump's administration that is headed up by billionaire Elon Musk. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX House Bill 364 sought to create the Department of Government Efficiency Legislative Task Force in Idaho, but it never made it to the floor of the Idaho Senate for a vote and died when the 2025 legislative session adjourned April 4. Even though legislators couldn't reach an agreement on the task force during the session, Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, issued a press release Thursday saying that Idaho House and Senate Republican leaders jointly announced the formation of the Idaho DOGE Task Force as part of a unified front. Crane serves as the House majority caucus chairman as part of the Republican leadership team. CONTACT US 'We have talked a lot about eliminating redundancy, cutting back on red tape, and the responsibility we have to prevent waste,' Crane said in a written statement Thursday. 'Since 1974, there has been no reconstruction on Idaho's government at all, that was under Gov. Cecil Andrus. That was the last time we looked at reorganizing the government and making it more efficient.' According to Thursday's announcement, the Idaho DOGE Task Force will have three areas of focus. Government agency consolidation: Idaho Republican leaders said they will evaluate and implement strategies to merge redundant agencies and optimize services. Government employee travel: Republicans said they will review and reduce unnecessary state-funded travel in order to cut costs. Eliminating unnecessary state government employee positions: Idaho Republicans said they are assessing and restructuring government roles to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently. 'Idaho's Legislative DOGE Committee is a significant move towards streamlining government operations and enhancing State efficiency,' House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, said in a written statement provided by Crane. Crane told the Sun the new DOGE Task Force will have public meetings, like a legislative interim committee or joint committee. A date and location for the first meeting had yet to be announced Thursday. Crane said the next step is to populate the committee with members. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Could a surge in immigration affect wages in Idaho? Here's what the research says
Elected officials, from Vice President J.D. Vance to state Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, have said that immigration lowers wages for U.S. workers. And many Americans worry about their income and finances. But could unauthorized immigration hurt salaries in Idaho? Probably not, according to a February 2024 University of Idaho report examining the state's economy and immigrants who do not have permanent legal status. There are two important reasons why. The first is that Idaho businesses compete for workers more than people in Idaho compete for jobs, the report said. For example, in Idaho, one-third of unauthorized workers were employed in agriculture in 2021, with the rest working in construction, manufacturing, professional services, and leisure and hospitality, according to the report. 'The reality is, ag jobs have not been filled by a domestic workforce — outside of family workers — for decades,' said Rick Naerebout, chief executive officer of the Idaho Dairymen's Association, at a City Club of Boise forum. Idaho businesses and industry professionals in agriculture, construction, hospitality and health care said that actually finding workers is a top concern and challenge, the report said. Second, wages are not affected unless immigrants in the country without legal status are in competition with other workers for the same jobs, according to the U of I report. Most U.S. voters believe that immigrants take jobs that others don't want, according to the Pew Research Center. There is no major American industry in which immigrant workers outnumber U.S. workers, the center said. However, immigrant workers outnumber U.S.-born workers in some jobs, such as manicurists, taxi drivers and drywall installers, according to Pew. The Statesman reached out to Lenney for comment for this story, but he would not directly address questions. Recently, the Congressional Budget Office said low-skilled workers' wages are expected to grow more slowly from 2024 to 2026 due to a surge in immigration that's occurred in the U.S. since 2021, according to The Wall Street Journal. Farm work is considered low-skilled, according to a document from MIT. But research has shown that across skill levels, immigrants and U.S.-born workers aren't crowding each other out of the job market, said Samia Islam, a professor of economics at Boise State University. The jobs that immigrant workers take are not jobs that native-born workers typically want or fill, Islam said. For example, in Idaho, many workers in the dairy industry are foreign-born, according to previous Statesman reporting, and officials with the Idaho Dairymen's Association have said that there aren't enough workers in the state to fill those jobs. Wages also probably won't go down because a larger share of immigrants are high-skilled workers, and they increase productivity overall, Islam said. Those with a college degree made up the greatest total of immigrants in the United States, according to a working paper. The Idaho Department of Labor said that it didn't have data on the effects immigration might have on wages, but that of all the people moving to Idaho since 2020, 15% had an international origin. However, that number can also include American citizens and military members abroad returning home, according to spokesperson Samuel Wolkenhauer. The debate over immigrants taking jobs that Americans supposedly could fill has been ongoing for decades, if not longer. For example, the H-2A visa, for temporary agricultural workers, requires employers to show that there aren't enough U.S. workers for the job and that employing immigrants won't hurt wages and working conditions of 'similarly-employed' Americans. H-2A workers are also paid adverse effect wage rates, to help protect American incomes. In Idaho, the adverse effect wage rate is $16.83, according to the Idaho Department of Labor. In fiscal year 2024, Idaho employers were approved to bring in over 7,000 new H2-A workers, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data.
