Ehardt speaks on DEI, justice system, religious values and ballot initiatives

CODY ROBERTS

croberts@postregister.com

Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, spoke to local community members over a Zoom call Wednesday, describing what she is currently working on in the Legislature and what is to come.

Wednesday’s town hall was organized by Stand Up for Idaho. According to its website, Stand Up for Idaho is a “nonpartisan, nondenominational” organization to “advocate for the common good, well-being, and civic betterment for Idaho citizens, and for the rights and liberties guaranteed (to) Idaho citizens.”

Ehardt described the first few weeks of this year’s session as “fast and furious,” and fairly contentious as lawmakers draft their bills. She said probably around 50 bills have been introduced so far, and it’s common to have around 500 bills by the end of session.

DEI AND EDUCATION

Ehardt is a member of the Idaho House of Representatives Education Committee and a legislative interim committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Ehardt said the latter committee has been tasked with making laws to “rid ourselves of DEI.” “I know many of you probably won’t remember, but I’m actually the one who blew this all up in 2019,” Ehardt said, referencing older discussions on “critical race theory” at Idaho universities.

“We continue to learn more about what all this meant,” Ehardt said. “You kind of get into that critical race theory, which ultimately is all part of DEI. You got your white privilege — which is nothing, talk about social constructs — and the idea of the oppressed and the oppressor.”

Ehardt said she has been “leading the charge” on efforts to shut down critical race theory and DEI, which is why she is on the DEI committee. She said DEI legislation should be coming out soon.

Ehardt said universities were largely to blame for DEI. She said community colleges have “stayed clean,” with the exception of one where she has “a little more digging to do.” She said the College of Eastern Idaho only had one incident several years ago where white privilege was being talked about. Ehardt said she, as well as Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, and former Rep. Gary Marshall, immediately called former CEI President Rick Aman.

“Boy, I’ll tell you what, he responded like that and made sure any and all related (teaching) was immediately shut down,” Ehardt said.

JUSTICE SYSTEM AND RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES

Ehardt is also on the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee, dealing with courts, prisons, parole, etc. She said during her time on the committee she’s worked with many people who had served prison sentences.

“I feel like these are good, upstanding people. We have to remember that once their time has been served, they’re coming back into our community,” Ehardt said. “So, we need to do what we need to do to make sure that when they re-enter our community, they’re re-entering with that opportunity to be successful, because we don’t want anybody to turn back to their old ways.”

Ehardt said she is currently concerned that Idaho is leading the U.S. in incarcerating women, calling it a “sad, sad place to be.”

According to a recent report from the Idaho Justice Project, Idaho has had the highest rate of incarceration for women in the U.S. The report states 62% of women incarcerated in Idaho in 2021 were there for a drug offense. Nationally, only 24.6% of women incarcerated in state prisons were there for a drug offense.

According to its website, the Idaho Justice Project is a nonprofit founded in 2021 seeking to reduce the size of the criminal justice system in Idaho and reinvest in community-based treatment.

“Ideally, we want a society where we all value each other, and we all value our laws,” Ehardt said. “But sometimes some of that stuff has to be learned and retaught and sometimes it’s not being taught — meaning constitutional principles and religious principles because we are a Judeo-Christian nation.”

Later in the event, an audience member asked Ehardt whether legislators were getting rid of enough laws that are old, outdated or mundane.

“I find a lot of us, even as conservatives, we’re forced to bring laws when the people are no longer a moral and religious people and no longer look to the Lord,” Ehardt said. “... We need more laws to control us, because we’re so wicked.”

Ehardt said it has been encouraging to see people rally behind President Donald Trump, giving her a “renewed sense of our Christian-Judeo values.”

RESTRICTING BALLOT INITIATIVES

One audience member asked why Ehardt recently sponsored a bill to limit ballot initiatives in Idaho.

For context, ballot initiatives are citizen-initiated measures that can be voted on if they meet a required number of verified signatures in the state. If an initiative gets on the ballot, Idaho currently requires a majority, 50% plus one, for it to pass.

In 2024, an initiative of this type was called Proposition 1 on ballots across the state. It proposed to change Idaho primaries to a top-four primary and used ranked choice voting to determine close elections.

The initiative, which was voted down by nearly 70% of Idahoans, received much opposition from conservative lawmakers.

As reported by the Idaho Capital Sun earlier this month, Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, introduced a bill to raise the threshold for a ballot initiative to pass to 60% of votes. Ehardt was one of at least 11 lawmakers who co-sponsored the bill.

Ehardt told the audience member Wednesday that ballot initiatives aren’t working the way they were meant. She said ballot initiatives have been “hijacked” by Luke Mayville, the co-founder of Reclaim Idaho, and “outside groups.”

Ehardt said the outside groups are trying to change Idaho as they changed Colorado, Oregon and Washington.

“If I had my way, I would do away with the initiatives and force them to spend their money and try to get all the things they want through their elected officials, which is a much harder push than using all of your Democrat operatives throughout the state,” Ehardt said.

On Wednesday, the Idaho Capital Sun reported that Skaug has proposed another bill that would allow the governor to veto ballot initiatives if they pass with less than two-thirds support from voters.