In a landslide victory, the Restoring Constitutional Governance Act, H473 passed out of the Idaho House of Representatives on Monday, 2/26/2018 with a final vote of 63-4-3. This legislation is the strongest in the nation as it explicitly prohibits the laws of war from being used on non-soldiers in Idaho, and Idaho citizens anywhere, and will punish any person, including federal or international agents, who attempts to utilize those powers.
Introduced by State Rep. Bryan Zollinger, H473 would ban the state of Idaho from enforcing sections 1021 and 1022 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act. These sections purport to give authority to the federal government to indefinitely detain anyone, anywhere – without charge or trial. This bill also covers indefinite detention without due process authorized under “any similar law or authority enacted or claimed by Congress or the President.”
The bill was drafted by the Founder of People Against the NDAA (Panda), Daniel Johnson, along with the National Director, Legislative Affairs, Patriot Coalition, Jeff Lewis, and General Counsel, Patriot Coalition, Richard D Fry.
Local groups and individuals in Idaho and abroad from across the political spectrum oppose the indefinite detention provisions of the NDAA. From Idahoan Alma Hasse who was unconstitutionally detained for speaking out in opposition to her county commission’s railroading of the people’s property rights in regard to fracking; to Idahoan Ammon Bundy who was a part of the Standoff in Bunkerville Nevada and Burns Oregon who was held unconstitutionally and not afforded a speedy trial.
Ammon Bundy says: “As you may be aware; The Restoring Constitutional Governance Act was passed in the Idaho House with a final vote of 63-4-3. To this I loudly applaud the Idaho house representatives. This combined effort to defend each other against secrete acts of violence from our government is a great example of how people unite in maintaining and defending individual rights. I humbly remind each of you that the primary taker of life, liberty and happiness in the past has been those working in government position, especially on national levels. For this reason our nation was built upon constitutional limits including checks and balances between local, State and federal. The only purpose for any government is to assist individuals in claiming, using and defending their rights so they can live happy and free. The Idaho house of representatives have taken great steps to defend the people’s rights. I thank and honor them for this and ask that the Senate and Governor do the same by making the Restoring Constitutional Governance Act protective law in Idaho. I also want to thank those at PANDA for their great efforts in bring needed awareness to the perverse and horrifying act of US Congress known as the NDAA.”
From Rachel Maddow and the Young Turks to Judge Napolitano and Ben Swann pundits, journalists, and civil liberties experts agree, the indefinite detention provisions must be stopped.
Panda Nevada State Leader Daphne “I’m just a mom” Lee says: “I would like to thank and commend the PANDA Idaho team and the 64 Idaho legislators for the passage of H473, the Restoring Constitutional Governance Act! They diligently lead the way for other states and municipalities in recognizing the importance of assurance that the rights to due process are a priority and will always be protected.”
Federal Judge Katherine Forrest said: “The Government was unable to define precisely what ‘direct’ or ‘substantial’ ‘support’ means… Thus, an individual could run the risk of substantially supporting or directly supporting an associated force without even being aware that he or she was doing so.” Further, she said that: “This measure has a chilling impact on First Amendment rights.”
Charles C. Krulak and Joseph P. Hoar, four-star generals, in a New York Times editorial said: “Due process would be a thing of the past.”
Anthony D. Romero, ACLU’s Executive Director said: “The statute is particularly dangerous because it has no temporal or geographic limitations, and can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain people captured far from any battlefield.”
Rush Limbaugh said: “This is the kind of stuff that exists in third world banana republics.”
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch said: “By signing this defense spending bill, President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in US law.”
H473 states:
It is the Determination of the Idaho legislature that Idaho is not a battlefield subject to the laws of war and that neither congress nor the president of the United States can constitutionally apply the laws of war to any person in Idaho or citizen of Idaho…
…it is unlawful, for any person to do any one (1) of the following:
- Arrest or capture any person in Idaho or any citizen of Idaho under the law of war;
- Actually subject a person in Idaho to disposition under the law of war; or
- Use deadly force under the laws of war against any person in Idaho, or intentionally subject any citizen of Idaho for targeted killing or murder…”
Any person who commits a violation of this section shall be prosecuted under the Idaho criminal code relating to the substantive law for which the violation pertains including, but not limited to, assault, battery, kidnapping or murder.
If this bill passes into law, Idaho would become the sixth state to take steps to stop indefinite detention, joining Alaska, California, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Virginia. Several local governments have passed similar legislation in the state of Idaho as well including Emmett, Middleton, Gem County, and Bonner County.
All of these states are following James Madison’s blueprint for stopping federal overreach. In Federalist 46, he argued that a “refusal to comply with officers of the Union” along with other actions at the state and local level would create a situation where the federal government would have an almost impossible time enforcing their acts. When several states join together and do the same, Madison said it would “present obstructions which the federal government would hardly be willing to encounter.”
Here is how the house vote broke down:
| AYES – Amador, Anderson, Anderst, Armstrong, Barbieri, Bell, Blanksma, Boyle, Chaney, Cheatham, Chew, Clow, Collins, Crane, Dayley, DeMordaunt, Dixon, Ehardt, Erpelding, Gannon(17), Gestrin(Walton), Gibbs, Giddings, Hanks, Harris, Holtzclaw, Horman, Kauffman, Kerby, King, Kingsley, Kloc(Tway), Loertscher, Luker, Malek, McCrostie, McDonald, Mendive, Miller, Monks, Moon, Moyle, Nate, Packer, Palmer, Perry, Redman, Rubel, Scott, Shepherd, Stevenson, Syme, Thompson, Toone, Troy, VanOrden, Vander Woude, Wagoner, Wood, Youngblood, Zito, Zollinger, Mr. Speaker NAYS – Burtenshaw, Manwaring, Smith, Wintrow Absent – Gannon(5), Hartgen, Raybould |
H473 moves on to the Senate State Affairs Committee. We will update this article when the hearing is announced. You can also check PANDA’s Facebook Page for updates. Thank you to our entire PANDA family for your continued support, you make all of this possible.
We are not an institution, we are a people. We are not an organization, we are a movement. We are not a group, a tribe, a flock, or a crowd. We are individuals, and city by city, county by county, state by state, and nation by nation, we are taking back our future. We are People Against the NDAA, and Tyranny. Stops. Here.
ACTION ITEMS
Contact the Senate State Affairs Committee and politely urge they stand for our most basic fundamental human rights and the oath they took to the Constitution and vote YES on H473.
Chair Senator Jeff Siddoway [email protected] Home (208) 663-4585 Statehouse (208) 332-1342
Vice Chair Senator Marv Hagedorn [email protected] Home (208) 867-5643 Statehouse (208) 332-1334
Senator Brent Hill [email protected] Home (208) 356-7495 Statehouse (208) 332-1324
Senator Chuck Winder (Majority Leader) [email protected] Home (208) 853-9090 Statehouse (208) 332-1354
Senator Patti Anne Lodge [email protected] Home (208) 459-7158 Statehouse (208) 332-1320
Senator Steve Vick [email protected] Home (208) 819-4189 Statehouse (208) 332-1345
Senator Kelly Arthur Anthon (Majority Caucus Chair) [email protected] Home (208) 654-4099 Statehouse (208) 332-1327
Senator Michelle Stennett (Minority Leader) [email protected] Home (208) 726-8106 Statehouse (208) 332-1353
Cherie Buckner-Webb [email protected] Bus (208) 861-5482 Statehouse (208) 332-1339
Take back your town, and find model legislation for your state, here: http://pandaunite.org/takeback
DONATE to keep these efforts going: http://pandaunite.org/donate
we have no rights if we dont protect them
NDAA is unconstitutional overreach of federal govt. Every state needs to nullify this.