COEUR d’ALENE — An estimated 430 people packed The Altar Church for a town hall meeting with North Idaho Legislators on Saturday.

For about 2 1/2 hours, eight elected leaders heard from people on many issues, including property taxes, abortion, the Panhandle Health District’s mask mandate, medical marijuana and Gov. Brad Little’s state of emergency to deal with the coronavirus.

Some were not happy with Little's handling of the matter.

“He’s passing edicts that have the effect of law that is completely outside the scope of constitutional state governance and yet here we are, drifting along, indefinitely, without a correction from those who are supposed to be closest to the people,” said Michael More of Coeur d’Alene.

After the meeting, More said his take was that “people are extremely concerned with the state of local governance, state governance, national governance.”

Rep. Doug Okuniewicz said he was pleased with the turnout and said it might have been driven by post-presidential election unease.

“People are paying a little more attention, staying engaged and involved,” he said.

He said none of the issues that came up, nor the responses from legislators, were surprising. It was mostly a pro-life, pro-limited government, Republican crowd.

“Property taxes are obviously a big issue,” Okuniewicz said. “Everybody is wanting to see property tax relief in some form or fashion.”

Citizen Scott Herndon said the Legislature’s ability to call itself back into session, independent of the governor, was on the minds of many at the town hall. He said a constitutional amendment to allow that to happen could be on the ballot in 2022.

“I think their ability to call themselves back into session is a good idea," he said.

A bill to restrict the governor’s emergency powers is likely this session, Herndon said, as there are a few versions in the works.

"I think there may be some reasonable curtailment of what the governor is able to do in a state of emergency or time of peril,” Herndon said.

He said the session will probably not adjourn “sine die,” which means it will technically remain in session should legislators need to reconvene later this year.

Herndon said he was disappointed that many answers from legislators talked about political expediency and what is politically possible, rather than "what is actually constitutional.”

Jeff Tyler, Kootenai County Republican Party election committee chairman, liked seeing a big crowd and said it was comprised mostly of Republicans and supporters of former president Donald Trump. Many remain unhappy with the outcome of the presidential election, he said.

“This community is fired up. They’re going to every kind of event that they can find,” he said.

Tyler said people are feeling the pressure of the mask mandates, vaccines, rising property taxes and gas prices, and the direction of the federal government,

“The majority of people that were here today were in agreement with our legislators that they get it," he said. "Our northern Idaho legislators get it and they’re doing the best they can."

Tyler believes a key issue was that people want three equal branches of government.

“It’s turning out the legislators, the representatives of the people, are a diminished branch. The executive and the judicial have far too much power and the legislative does not,” he said.

Okuniewicz agreed the people want something done in that area.

“The group seemed to be very pro toward having the Legislature recapture some of its constitutional powers,” he said.

Terri Seymour, vice chair of the Kootenai County Republican Party election committee, said her take after listening for more than two hours was that “people are anxious.”

“People are upset because of the election, COVID, not being able to go see their loved ones in nursing homes,” she said.

She pointed out there are several school levies coming up, too, which are funded by taxpayers.

“People aren’t really happy right now. They’re been out of work, shutdown, the mask mandate,” she said. “They’re frustrated. They’d like their legislators to do something.”

Pastor Tim Remington of The Altar Church attended the meeting

“People are flooding into this community that are conservative that really want to stand up and make sure our legislators know exactly what they want down in Boise,” he said.

A few key issues Remington said he heard at the meeting:

• “We are trying to get it to where the legislators can pull themselves right back onto session and so that will no longer be mandated by the governor.”
• “We’re trying to make sure there is no mandate for vaccinations. That was one of the things, one of the bills, that’s coming up, which is good. We don’t want to be mandated. If they want a vaccination, they’ll get one. If they don’t want one, then they shouldn't have to take one."