Idaho Legislature: Ask Legislators to VOTE NO on S1071 - Vision health, donations (posted 02/11/25, edited 03/28/25)

• Bill: legislature.idaho.gov/s…

• Contact Legislators: Please use Idaho Legislature website to find contact info. Details here: tinyurl.com/2r4uuj32

(Check the linked page or use My Bill Tracker for the bill’s current status.)

_____________

S1071 amends the Idaho driver's license application process to add an optional $2 voluntary contribution for vision health. The contribution that will be transferred to "Envision Sight," an Idaho nonprofit organization and to "Intermountain Donor Services". The contribution is separate from the standard driver's license fees and will be collected with administrative costs deducted before transfer to the organization.

Although the nonprofit is required to submit an annual report to the legislature detailing how the funds were collected and spent, this bill is a hard NO for several reasons:

• State money should NEVER be funneled into nonprofits for any reason.

• Nonprofits often start out with good intentions but can morph into corruption over time (note what happened with USAID, a supposedly benevolent aid organization that proved to be anything but).

• People can donate directly to any nonprofit they choose, without incurring administrative costs to transfer money to the organization.

• Designating a specific nonprofit smacks of corruption and could lead to applicant coercion by “guilting” them into donation “for a worthy cause” at the time they apply for a driver’s license.

• Why these specific nonprofits? Who benefits? Why not every nonprofit under the sun?

• Organ donation is fraught with issues (see "Brain Death..." reference below).

References:

• Envision Sight: envisionsight.org

• Intermountain Donor Services (renamed Donor Connect): donorconnect.life/about…

• BRAIN DEATH: Defining Death! With Heidi Klessig, MD (01/30/24). Dr. Marilyn Singleton and guest Dr. Heidi Klessig discuss the tricky definitions of death and brain death, the decline of medical ethics related to brain death, how euthanasia (now euphemistically called Medical Aid in Dying in Canada) no longer requires a person to be terminally ill, and how to prevent your organs from being harvested (podcast 58 min):

  • Listen: americaoutloud.news/def…

  • Related Respect for Human Life website : respectforhumanlife.com

  • Idaho Organ Donor Status Changes (Yes Idaho, site is case sensitive - use UPPERCASE): yesidaho.org

  • Wallet Card for Refusing Organ Donation: halovoice.org/wp-conten…

  • Related Article in American Thinker (02/01/24):