With all of the hub-bub in the other Washington over health care reform, Idaho is leading the nation in telling President Obama and Congress, pass health care reforms if you will, but we'll sue you if we have to.
Idaho is leading the charge in a states-rights push to defeat a proposal in Congress that would require people to buy health insurance, a key piece of reforms being pushed by the President. According to an article in the Seattle Times, Republican Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter used a ceremony Wednesday afternoon to become the first governor to sign into law a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government over any such insurance mandates.
"What the Idaho Health Freedom Act says is that the citizens of our state won't be subject to another federal mandate or turn over another part of their life to government control," Otter said.
There's similar legislation pending in 37 other states, a point Otter stressed when asked if the bill he signed can succeed, given constitutional law experts are already saying federal laws would supersede those of states in a U.S. District Court fight. Last week, Virginia legislators passed a measure similar to Idaho's new law, but Otter was the first state chief executive to sign such a bill, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council, which created model legislation for Idaho and other states. The Washington, D.C.,-based nonprofit group promotes limited government.
David Freeman Engstrom, a constitutional law expert at Stanford University Law School, said all these measures face significant legal hurdles. Freeman said there is the question of whether a state has standing to bring the lawsuit, or if that role is better served by an individual who could show they were harmed by the mandate to buy health insurance. Idaho's law faces an even bigger challenge, he said, by setting up a direct conflict with the supremacy clause in the U.S. Constitution.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and the President are breaking arms today hoping for House passage on Sunday. Meanwhile, the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll shows Americans oppose the reforms by a 57-43 percent margin and only 17 percent think Congress is doing a good job.
A vote in the House is now thought to be Sunday at the earliest.
Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)
