BOISE — Nearly a month after it passed the House, legislation that restricts a county’s ability to finance new buildings through long-term lease agreements is on the move again.

House Bill 575 passed the House in February on a 53-15 vote. The Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee sent it to the Senate floor with a favorable recommendation after a 45-minute hearing Tuesday.

The measure only applies to county courthouses or jails. It requires counties to secure a majority public vote before they enter into leases for such facilities, if the lease term is longer than five years.

Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, noted that county commissioners currently have the authority to approve long-term leases without a public vote, obligating taxpayers to agreements that can last up to 30 years.

“In my view, that’s long-term debt,” he said.

HB 575 would end the practice, which Skaug described as doing “an end run” around Idaho’s constitutional restriction on long-term debt.

Several local government officials testified in opposition to the bill, including Nez Perce County Commissioner Doug Zenner, Auditor Patty Weeks and Treasurer Rebecca McLaughlin, who all attended the committee meeting remotely.

McLaughlin noted that state law requires counties to provide courthouses and jails “as may be necessary.”

“So what’s ‘necessary?’ ” she asked. “When the buildings no longer meet ADA (disability access) requirements? When they become uninhabitable or condemned? The Nez Perce County courthouse is at this stage of necessity.”

Portions of the aging building — some of which predates statehood — are off limits because of plumbing issues or unsafe conditions, McLaughlin said. It doesn’t meet ADA requirements and has noticeable cracks and crumbling masonry in places.

The county is currently planning to use a long-term debt instrument called “certificates of participation” to finance a new courthouse. Private investors would actually pay for the building, but would then lease it back to the county; at the end of the 30-year lease, the county would own the facility.

Skaug postponed the effective date of HB 575 until next year, specifically to give Nez Perce County time to complete its financing plans and avoid the need for a public vote. Nevertheless, county officials said the legislation undermines local control.

“It’s necessary for our community to have a safe courthouse,” McLaughlin said. “So, how do we finance this large expense that (according to state law) we ‘must’ do? You say by a vote, but history has proven that a majority of votes for construction of courthouses — let alone jails — don’t pass.”

Demanding a public vote on such agreements, she said, just adds time and expense that ends up getting passed on to county taxpayers.

“I ask you to vote against this bill and allow our county commissioners to do what state code requires of us,” she said.

Several Canyon County residents, by contrast, urged approval of the legislation, saying the public vote requirement protects taxpayers from over-eager local officials.

Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 791-9168.