Monday March 6th 2023 | Issue No. 20
The Rachel Report
Canyon County Republican Committeewoman
Upcoming events
Tuesday March 7th, 2023 Treasure Valley Republican Women will be hosting an evening with IDGOP Chair Dorothy Moon at 6pm at Bob’s Restaurant in Nampa,1411 Shilo Dr.
Tuesday, March 7th, 2023 the Christus Victor Classical School will be hosting a Family Forum Night: Protecting Children from Drag Shows and Pornography at The Well Church in Boise from 7-8:15pm. Guest speakers will be Senator Ben Toews, Representative Jaron Crane, and Idaho Family Policy Center’s Blaine Conzatti. RSVP here: https://web.charityengine.net/FFN2
Thursday, March 9th, 2023 is Capitol Clarity at 12pm in the Lincoln Auditorium of the Capitol. Before the event at 11:15, a group of Christians gather to pray over our state and country.
Saturday, March 11th, 2023 is the IDGOP Liberty Launch featuring IDGOP Chair Dorothy Moon and former Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier at the Hillcrest Country Club in Boise at 6:30pm.
Tuesday, March 21st, 2023 is the Canyon County Central Committee meeting from 7-8:30 at the County Administration Building, 111 N. 11th Ave. Caldwell, 83605. This is a great way to be involved in Republican “politics on the ground.”
SAVE THE DATE: Sunday, April 2nd, 2023 is the next AWARE Conference. Anyone who attended the last one knows that this event was incredible, covered by the Holy Spirit, and filled with hope! This event will be held at Sawtooth Middle School, 3730 N Linder Rd. 83646 in Meridian from 1pm to 5pm. Guest speakers include Rick Greene from Patriot Academy, Congressman Russ Fulcher, Neil Mammon from Values Advocacy Council, Christian Comedian Brad Stine, Mountain Heights Calvary Chapel pastor Marty Yost, and others! You will NOT want to miss this event! And it’s free!
SAVE THE DATE: Wednesday, April 5th, 2023 I will be speaking in Idaho Falls at the group Stand Up For Idaho from 6 to 8:30 (ish). If you are in the area, please join us and come with questions!
Lastly, the legislature is in session Monday-Friday until the end of this month. Please consider making your way to the Capitol to sit in on a committee, the Senate or House floor, meet with legislators, pray over the building, or testify in committee. We the People must be involved.
THIS MONTH’S LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
February was a big month in the legislature. It would be impossible to cover all of the bills in this email so I will give a brief overview of some of the big things that happened, both positive and negative that we all need to be aware of.
Major bill update from February:
H11 amends existing Idaho code to revise a provision regarding the use of private moneys for the purpose of election administration. This bill was sponsored by Secretary of State, Phil McGrane, passed the House and Senate, and was signed by both the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
H58 amends existing Idaho law to remove school bond and levy election dates in August and March. This was a strong bill and passed the House; however, it was amended in the Senate State Affairs Committee to remove only the August election and keep the March election as is. The bill is awaiting a vote on the Senate floor.
H64 amends existing Idaho law to provide that a residential care or assisted living facility resident shall be entitled to in-person visitation subject to certain precautions. This bill passed the House and was sent to the Senate Committee Health and Welfare.
Keep an eye on this bill and carefully read the full text.
H71 Amends to existing Idaho law to revise provisions regarding the crime of genital mutilation of a child. This bill passed the House and has been referred to Senate Committee Judiciary and Rules.
This is an extremely important bill for the sake of Idaho’s children. Keep your eye on updates as this bill hopefully makes its way through the Senate.
H124 amends existing Idaho law to revise provisions regarding accepted voter identification at the polls. Essentially this removes student ID cards as an accepted form of identification at the polls. This bill was sponsored on the House Floor by Tina Lambert, passed the House, and has been sent to Senate Committee State Affairs.
H138 amends and repeals existing law to consolidate presidential primaries with the primary election. This bill passed the House and has been sent to Senate Committee State Affairs.
This piece of legislation will move the Idaho presidential primaries from March to May. This has larger ramifications than we perhaps consider on face value. I would encourage you to not only read the full bill, but also read the IDGOP Chair Dorothy Moons memo on the matter published on March 2. Here is a link to where you may find it. Click Here She points out the larger national implications of altering the voting date.
H139 adds to existing Idaho law to prohibit distribution of certain materials to children. It was introduced in House Education Committee and did not pass to the floor.
Out of the losses we’ve taken this session, this one is probably the biggest thus far. If you were there at the Capitol in the House Education Committee that day or if you watched online, you know that it was a circus. This bill was a strong one and intended to protect Idaho children from being able to access pornography in libraries and schools. This bill would require schools and libraries to take “reasonable steps” to restrict access for minors to obscene materials. And let’s be clear…some material that is available to children is OBSCENE to the nth degree. We are talking about full nudity, graphic sexual activity, homosexual acts, and verbal explanations and conversations of all afore listed. I’ve looked at some of these books. They. Are. Horrific. The fact that this bill died in committee, is detestable and the Chairwoman did not even allow local testimony. Again, let’s be clear, the reason it was killed is because these six “Republican” Representatives joined the three Democrats and voted against: Representative Julie Yamamoto (Chairwoman), Representative Lori McCann (Vice Chair), Representative Dan Garner, Representative Mark Sauter, Representative Jack Nelson, and Representative Greg Lanting. These six Republicans voted to give your children access to pornography.
If you haven’t seen the books that are in Idaho libraries and classrooms, here is a pdf put together by Amy Henry of books that she’s found. Click Here If you choose to look up or check these books out in libraries, which I actually highly recommend (because we need to be aware), I advise extreme caution. They are extraordinary graphic.
H155 adds to existing Idaho law to prohibit requiring, for certain purposes, a COVID-19 vaccine or a vaccine offered under emergency use authorization. This bill passed the House floor and has been referred to Senate Committee State Affairs and has been sent to 14th Order for amendment.
H163 is the Parental Rights Act which amends existing Idaho law to provide for certain disclosures and school policies. This bill passed the House, passed the Senate Education Committee, and is heading to the Senate floor.
This is a very important bill. It reinforces that parents are the primary stakeholders in their children’s lives and strengthens parent-school communication.
H171 amends existing Idaho law to provide that, effective in 2024, school board trustees will be elected to two-year terms at general elections. This bill has been referred to House Committee State Affairs.
This bill would require school district trustees to declare their party affiliation or unaffiliated status and decreases their terms in office which will hopefully assist with removing them when necessary. I strongly support this bill.
H173 amends existing Idaho law to provide that a foreign government or foreign state-controlled enterprise shall not purchase, acquire, or hold any interest in certain types of property in Idaho. This bill passed the House and has been referred to Senate Committee State Affairs.
This is an extremely important bill. Please follow its progression, contact the Senators in the State Affairs Committee and encourage them to vote yes, and testify if possible.
H180 amends existing Idaho law to provide that idle moneys may be invested in physical gold and silver in certain instances. This bill passed the House and has been referred to Senate Committee State Affairs.
This is an important issue and I was highly disappointed to see a few “Republicans” vote against this bill on the House floor.
H213 adds to existing Idaho law to establish a rural nursing loan repayment program. This bill narrowly passed the House and has been sent to the Senate.
This bill is essentially a government handout and unfortunately there were several “Republicans” who voted in favor.
H227 adds to existing Idaho law to require selection and access policies for public libraries and public school libraries. This has been referred to House Education Committee.
This bill may sound good, but it is not. Whereas H139 was presented by Rep. Jaron Crane and Sen. Cindy Carlson, H227 was presented by Jack Nelson and written by librarians. H227 includes no consequences if the law isn’t followed unlike H139 did.
H231 adds to existing Idaho law to provide that certain persons and institutions must take reasonable steps to restrict the access of minors in certain instances, to provide for a civil action in certain instances, and to prohibit the use of public facilities and public assets for sexual exhibitions. This bill has been referred to House Committee State Affairs.
Keep your eye on this piece of legislation…It is an important one.
H258 amends to existing Idaho law to revise provisions regarding property tax reduction for certain permanently disabled veterans. This bill passed the House and has been sent to the Senate.
This is a bill that is very near and dear to my heart. We need to be taking care of our veterans and this is one tangible way to do so. This legislation removes the burden of navigating Total and Permanent disability paperwork every year in which veterans are required to prove their 100% disability status hasn’t changed, annually. Please email Senate leadership and push for this bill to be heard as soon as possible!
H272 amends existing Idaho law to revise provisions regarding sex education. This bill is supposed to be heard this week in House Committee State Affairs.
This bill is essentially an “opt-in” bill that says parents or legal guardians must grant permission for their child to receive any sex education rather than having to opt-out of it as is currently the case. This is a strong bill and is a BIG deal!
H274 adds to existing Idaho law to prohibit state employees from using or downloading TikTok on a state-issued device, to provide that the state shall implement controls to prevent the use of TikTok on state-issued devices, and to provide a penalty. This bill should be heard this week.
I love this bill and strongly support it. TikTok has been proven to be an information-gathering tool for China and on state employee devices that have access to information that pertains to or may compromise national security, it should not be allowed.
HCR03 NATURAL RESOURCES ISSUES STUDY- State findings of the Legislature and authorizes the Legislative Council to appoint a committee to undertake and complete a study of natural resource issues. This House Concurrent Resolution was adopted by the House and has been referred to Senate Committee Resources & Environment.
I have objections to this Resolution and probably would not have voted in favor of it. Keep your eye on it.
HJM01 OREGON AND IDAHO BORDERS- States findings of the Legislature and resolves that the Idaho Legislature stands to begin discussions with the Oregon Legislature regarding the potential to relocate the Oregon/ Idaho state boundary. This was adopted by the House and has been referred to Senate Committee State Affairs.
This is a bill we should all be aware of.
S1011 amends to existing Idaho law to provide that freedom from discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity is a civil right. It has been referred to Senate Committee State Affairs.
This is a dangerous bill that I strongly oppose. Continue to watch for it moving forward.
S1025a amends and repeals existing Idaho law to revise certain requirements regarding marriage. Unfortunately, this bill failed on the Senate floor.
S1029 amends and adds to existing Idaho law to prohibit a child protection investigation based on a child’s immunizations status and to provide that a court shall not grant an order terminating a parent and child relationship based on a child’s immunization status. This bill was sponsored by Sen. Brian Lenney and Rep. Heather Scott and passed the Senate, the House; was signed by the President Pro Tem, the Speaker of the House, and the Governor on February 27th.
S1036 amends existing Idaho law to revise provisions regarding raw milk and raw milk products. This bill passed the Senate floor and has been referred to House Committee Agricultural Affairs.
S1038 adds to existing Idaho law to provide for education savings accounts. This bill made it out of committee but failed on the Senate floor.
S1057 adds to existing Idaho law to establish the Parental Rights Protection of Minors from exposure to harmful materials on certain devices. This bill has been referred to Senate Committee State Affairs.
Keep your eye on this one.
S1058 amends and adds to existing Idaho law to provide for the crimes of aggravated driving while reckless and aggravated driving while distracted. This bill was heard in House Committee Judiciary & Rules.
This bill would create higher penalties and will create mandatory minimum sentences for accidents where drivers were using their mobile devices. This turns minor infractions into felonies without the requirement of proving the mobile device caused the accident. I strongly oppose this bill.
S1071a amends existing Idaho law to prohibit instruction on human sexuality, sexual orientation, or gender identity prior to the fifth grade. This bill has passed the Senate Education Committee and is on its third reading on the Senate floor.
S1100a adds to existing Idaho law to establish privacy and safety standards in public schools. This bill passed the Senate Education Committee and has been referred to 14th Order for amendment.
This bill is extremely important as it ensures that public schools maintain separate bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, dressing areas, and overnight accommodations for biological boys and biological girls; and contains the necessary emergency exemptions.
S1103 amends and adds to existing Idaho law to provide for the Public School Endowment Income Facilities Fund. This bill was held in the Senate Education Committee.
This bill would have been another increase in funding for government schools. I was happy to see the Senate Education Committee choose to hold it rather than send it to the Senate floor.
SJR101 REFERENDA AND INITIATIVES- Proposes a state constitutional amendment to require any referendum petition or initiative petition to be signed by at least 6% of legal voters at the last general election in each legislative district. This Joint Resolution was adopted by the Senate and referred to the House Committee State Affairs.
Be aware of and keep your eye on this one.
SJR102 SECTARIAN APPROPRIATIONS- Proposes a state constitutional amendment to repeal the prohibition on sectarian appropriations. This Joint Resolution has been referred to Senate Committee State Affairs.
Essentially, this would repeal the “Blaine Amendment” of the Idaho State Constitution which says that public funds may not be used for any sectarian (which means sect) or religious purposes, including religious schools. I support this.
Other political updates we should be aware of:
Last month, I wrote about the pending Education Rules for Idaho. Unfortunately, very few people are aware of these Rules and they are quite lengthy so few people read them…including legislators. The biggest issues with the Rules are the little changes to verbiage, particularly concerning concepts such as equity and gender, throughout the entirety of the Rules binder. Concerning verbiage includes gender neutrality and “equitable selection” processes.
Bad news… Last week, the Senate Education Committee passed all of the rules with the exception of one line. However, because this exception does not include a fee, the House must reject it also or it will default pass and become law.
Therefore, the entire Education Rules binder has become law and policy for Idaho.
Here is a link to read the FULL bills. Click Here I know it is exhausting to try to keep up with all this legislation…Believe me, I understand that. I spend free hours at work, car rides to and from places, late nights, and early mornings holding stacks of bills I’ve printed off or buried in my laptop reading these bills. We HAVE to know what they say. We HAVE to know what our legislators are voting yes or no on. There are many bills slipping in bad policies and many good ones that we should be fighting for but we can’t do that if we don’t read them. You can keep up with the session here: Click Here
Caldwell School Board Policy 3281 update: February 13th was the last school board meeting and hundreds of conservatives and believers showed up! Mountain Heights Calvary Chapel led a time of worship and saturated the atmosphere with praise. The evening ended with the School Board deferring the policy to the state legislature. This is why S1100 is so critical. Essentially the School Board will wait on the legislature’s votes to determine whether or not to reconvene and vote on Policy 3281. Attorney General Raul Labrador is fulfilling his word and more to the people of Idaho. Last week he joined Texas in a lawsuit against Biden for his Waters of the U.S rule on February 20th.
Past Rachel Reports
The Rachel Report Issue # 19
The Rachel Report Canyon County Republican Committeewoman Upcoming events THIS MONTH’S LEGISLATIVE UPDATES Bills, bills, and more bills… Let’s talk about January’s legislation. The legislative session is entering week five…
The Rachel Report Issue # 18
The Rachel Report Canyon County Republican State Youth Chair THIS MONTH’S LEGISLATIVE UPDATES School Districts: In December, the Caldwell School Board proposed and is trying to pass a policy regarding…
Prayer
This Month
As we begin week nine of the legislative session today, please pray for the men and women who are making decisions on behalf of the people of Idaho that literally have life-altering consequences. Pray for:
Strength for the legislators. I’ve been at the Capitol, spoken to these men and women, and sat in on floor sessions and committees…They. Are. Tired. Pray for strength to continue to stand and fight. I spoke with a few of our legislators a few days ago and they feel attacked and like they are in a perpetual state of swimming upstream..
Pray that God silences the voices from corrupt interest groups, lobbyists, and individuals that are currently influencing policymaking in negative ways.
Pray for the families and marriages of the legislators who are working extremely long and arduous hours.
Pray for good health for our elected officials.
Pray that God thwarts every evil scheme in the Capitol building. Pray Jesus into those walls.
Dear Liberty Lovers,
Happy March!
As I’m sure you’ve seen and gathered from the above update, there are BIG things happening in our state right now…some good and some bad.
There have been some very discouraging days at the Capitol sitting in committees or listening to floor debates…
But… I have also been very encouraged by much of the legislation being presented and passing through both sides of the legislature; the amount of conservative support we have in the Senate, and the number of people that have been showing up to events, testifying in committees, and participating in politics in their communities.
Idaho is fighting back! We the people are fighting back against woke ideologies, liberal agendas, and godlessness in our state.
But we have a lot of work yet to do.
I was reminded of this again last week when H139 failed in committee as I mentioned above.
Seeing yet another strong bill intended to protect Idaho’s children from pornography shot down- similarly to what we witnessed last year- was deflating.
It is yet another example of our country and state slipping through our fingers and liberal Republicans who are not representing we the people. I ran across this quote in some research a few weeks back and it returned to my mind the day the House Education Committee voted no on H139.
Yusuf Shadhi, or Saladin, who was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria wrote in 1174, “If you want to destroy any nation without war, make adultery or nudity common in the young generation” (Translated to English in 1906).
Goodness does that ring some bells.
We live in a hyper-sexualized culture that is consumed with pleasure.
The narrative the left has sold our society is “sex is power,” “find your true self,” “traditional just means regressive,” “Christianity is outdated,” “speak your truth” which really just means that “there is no objective truth,” and “you do you boo;” meaning “do whatever makes you happy regardless of moral objectivity because it’s all relative anyway.”
Friends, we are in a full-scale culture war for our identity as Americans and it is ripping our country apart.
We are being taken down from within…and I truly believe that is the worst part. Because we have a country unlike any other the world has ever known… built on the idea that humanity is endowed with liberty on merit of nature and divine creation.
This country is exceptional.
In 1831, one of my favorite political philosophers Alexis De Tocqueville traveled to the United States and spent many months observing American life and American democracy. After returning to France, he penned Democracy in America which became one of the greatest commentaries on American political, social, economic, and religious success. In his work, Tocqueville coined the term “American Exceptionalism.”
American Exceptionalism as a concept has been the focus of an enormous amount of scholarship by historians, political scientists, and philosophers alike. The two big questions are: what is American Exceptionalism, and is it true?
The best definition I have read for American Exceptionalism is from David Barton. He defined it as, “the unprecedented stability, prosperity, and level of rights that come from institutions and policies that give [Americans] the opportunity to have what we have.”
Are we Exceptional as Tocqueville contended? Well, let’s break down that definition.
Unprecedented stability- In 1789, the United States adopted the U.S Constitution. That four page document has governed our country and enumerated the rights of American citizens for 234 years. So we fully grasp the magnitude of this, here’s some context. Since 1789, nearly 800 constitutions have been adopted, amended, and abolished globally by independent states. There are currently 195 nations in the world and 193 of these are member states of the United Nations. To break this down farther, Mexico has had four governing documents since 1917, Russia four since 1917, Afghanistan has had five since 1923, Poland has had seven since 1919, and Brazil eight since 1822.
Prosperity- The United States consists of roughly four percent of the worlds population but has approximately thirty one percent of the worlds GDP. Poverty globally is defined by making less than $2.15 a day; however, in the United States, we define poverty as $16 or less a day; and a person living below the poverty level in America is far more likely to own a TV, vehicle, eat red meat, and have an air conditioner than the average middle class individual in Europe.
The stability and prosperity afforded Americans allows for the greatest opportunities politically, socially, and economically as a result of six fundamental principles America was built on:
- An acknowledged Creator,
- The Creator gives certain unalienable rights to all people,
- Governments exist to secure those rights,
- An acknowledged moral law (laws of nature),
- The consent of the governed; and,
- If the government fails to meet those standards, the people have the right to abolish it and create a new one.
Tocqueville did not believe any other democratic nation could ever achieve what we have for one reason: religious virtue.
This belief is even more incredible when considering that Tocqueville argued that democracy and human nature naturally foster “intellectual and moral habits that may be deadly to freedom…” However, in American Democracy, he explained the importance of religion to liberty in America, giving our country a distinct uniqueness.
He believed that America corrected the natural tendency of democratic corruption through Christianity and therefore, stressed that the United States must “maintain Christianity…at all costs.”
The very thing that Tocqueville argued made America Exceptional was our firm and steadfast belief in God.
As John Adams stated, the Constitution was created “for a moral and religious people.”
And this brings us to today. In 2023, we find ourselves in dire straits. We have made too many concessions on morality, compromised on too many values, stayed too silent, and grown extraordinarily apathetic.
And now we are in this place… This place where evil is called good and good evil. This place where our children’s minds are being indoctrinated. This place where our liberty is being stolen and justice is corrupted.
So have we lost our Exceptionalism?
I would argue no. We have not. Not yet.
But it’s time to call on the only thing that will save our country and her Exceptionalism: God and Christian values.
It’s time to bring morality back into legislation. People will tell you “governments shouldn’t legislate morality.” But that is ALL policymakers do!
We are called to be a moral and virtuous people and not to remain neutral in the face of immorality. Our country literally depends on it.
But that means we need to be brave.
That means we need to stand and hold the line.
In the period of time that led up to the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers found themselves in dire straits too. It wasn’t a singular moment when they all said, “okay! Let’s do this! Let’s separate from the most powerful empire known to man and start our own country.” On the contrary, it took many of them a decent amount of time to come around to the idea of separation and revolution.
But their hands were forced. They were losing their properties, businesses, and fearing for their most fundamental liberties… So they chose to assume a bold, radical position, and took a stand.
Things had progressed so far… they were being so disenfranchised… they had lost so much and were poised to lose so much more… And they said this far and no further!
I like to call this moment, “The Declaration moment.”
They joined together and claimed liberty for themselves and their posterity.
This far, and no further!
God is calling us to be bold.
We need to reclaim morality and truth in the United States. And that starts on our knees.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14 it says, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
This verse calls upon us, the church, to repent… He isn’t talking about unbelievers repenting… He is referring to His people- the ones who already call Him Father- to bring countries back to their feet by getting down on our knees (Billy Graham).
I will leave that as my segue into the topic of our issue next month where we will talk about the American church in this tumultuous time.
Keep standing friends. Do not be desensitized to the evil in society and culture. Fight for children. Stand for truth. Remain steadfast in objective morality. And remember the Exceptionalism this nation has been blessed with.
Let’s reclaim American Exceptionalism.
Let’s Keep Idaho, Idahome!
For Idaho,
Rachel Hazelip
“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” ~Dante Alighieri
How To Contact Rachel
In the last report I mentioned the issues of backsliding and disobeying God. This issue provides golden opportunities to the devil to insinuate his evil thoughts and actions into our hearts and minds, thus, the cure for it and a weapon we could use against it is 2 Chronicles 7:14 as Rachel has mentioned above.
On the contrary if we do the opposite of what the scriptures teaches us then our fate will be as the same fate the jews people faced at times of Jeremiah the prophet “And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, or anything which he has sent you by me. Now therefore, know certainly that you shall die by the sword(war), by famine(inflation and price of living increasing), and by pestilence(plagues and diseases). in the place where you desire to go to dwell.” (Jeremiah 42:21-22).
its true and being argues that our country has been allowing immigrants from all over the world to make there way into our societies, which there is nothing wrong with that except the majority are none-Christians’, none believers. Thus, its causing a change in demographic structure of our society resulting in liberal people showing on the political platform governing the nation pushing agendas with ideologies that are far away from “acknowledging our creator , the solution to this problem is simple never stop preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ even in politics. In everything we do in our every day in our life.