A note from the editor 11.6

There was an election this week; perhaps you heard about it.

While results in Idaho were perhaps not as dramatic nor as much in question as in some states, there were still some changes, which could have far-reaching effects on conducting business in Idaho.

That’s particularly true with the upcoming legislative session scheduled for January. New legislators may have new priorities, and there may be a learning curve as they get used to the process. Moreover, a number of important committees will gain new chairs, who may have their own agendas.

In addition, there’s the whole question of COVID. This summer’s extraordinary session featured some degree of social distancing, as well as protests. It will be interesting to see how much each will be seen in January. What will Gov. Brad Little’s budget contain? How will he use the state’s surplus? And will the Legislature go along with his requests?

We talked with a number of Idaho business experts to get their thoughts.

Despite the election, news goes on. In this week’s paper, we have a lovely juxtaposition of Idaho’s old industries and the new: a writeup of the Idaho Mining Conference, by our busy staff writer Catie Clark, and another of Boise Startup Week, by our versatile freelance writer Alx Stevens.

Another big theme this week is energy, with Alx writing about Idaho National Laboratory efforts to create “green” hydrogen that can be used as fuel, as well as what sort of progress is being made on the Small Modular Reactor nuclear energy project. Our intern, Adam Thompson from Boise State University, also has his first news article for us, about how Idaho Power may be exiting its coal-fired power plants sooner than expected — not for environmental reasons, but for economic ones.

Our Focus section this week is on finance. Following up on her analytical efforts earlier this year, Catie looked at bankruptcy filings in Idaho. Is the current dip just due to state and federal relief funding? And is it the calm before the storm? Will we see a big rise in bankruptcy filings later this year or early next? Some people think so.

We also reported on Zions Bank’s economist Robert Spendlove’s economic outlook, as well as that of the state’s economist, Derek Santos. We also wrote about how many loans — both standard and COVID-related — that the Small Business Administration made in Idaho. Finally, we have a Q&A with Mark Houston, a long-time Idaho banker who returned to the state to form the first new bank Idaho’s seen in a while.

Catie also looked at housing permit requests for the year, which are starting to recover from the economic slowdown earlier — at least, in the area of single-family homes. Multifamily? Not so much.

And unfortunately we can’t forget COVID. With cases in Idaho ramping up, some Idaho health care organizations are starting to plan for how they’ll manage if they can’t cope. No, Idaho hasn’t reached that stage yet, but that’s the best time to plan for it. The term to look for? “Crisis Standards of Care.”

Plus, the Coronavirus Financial Advisory Committee — run by the state to administer funds received by the federal government for COVID relief in Idaho — is starting to consider whether it should use some of the money it still has to help provide temporary medical facilities in regions that need them. Are we at that point yet? No, but again, now’s the best time to plan for it. Both of those articles are also written by Catie, who had no idea when she took on our health care beat a year ago just how critical it would prove to be to Idaho business.

See you next week.