Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, introduced a bill on Tuesday to the Idaho House State Affairs Committee that replicates a 2023 Texas law creating a new crime called illegal entry.

According to the bill, “a person who is an alien commits an offense if the person enters or attempts to enter this state directly from a foreign national at any location other than a lawful port of entry.”

The bill would allow local law enforcement officers to check the documentation status of individuals.

“This will allow law enforcement to go ahead and take fingerprints, do mug shots, and do all of the things that we would do to document the person,” Crane said. 

The first instance of being discovered as unauthorized by law enforcement would result in a misdemeanor charge, and a second occurrence would lead to a felony charge and deportation, according to the bill. 

The bill is a replica of a controversial Texas law — Senate Bill 4 — that Texas lawmakers approved in 2023. However, the Texas law is not currently being enforced. Legal challenges from the U.S. Department of Justice and immigration advocacy organizations have repeatedly prevented its enforcement, the Texas Tribune reported. 

Crane said the only difference is that the Idaho bill includes a severability clause, which means that if a portion of the law is found unconstitutional, the rest of the law can still stand and be enforced. The bill also declares an existing emergency, so it would take effect immediately after receiving a signature from the governor.

Last year, Crane introduced the same bill. The bill passed the House floor, but the legislative session ended before it could reach the Senate floor.

Rep. Todd Achilles, D-Boise, said the bill “clearly violates” the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which grants the federal government authority to establish laws that supersede state laws, including those related to immigration.

Achilles said he also is concerned about the civil immunity clause in the bill, which he said weakens accountability for law enforcement. Additionally, he said he was concerned about the bill’s fiscal note. It proposes a $250,000 appropriation along with a $1 million general fund allocation, raising concerns about the potential costs associated with training, jail operations and court proceedings.

The committee voted to move the bill forward, clearing the way for a full hearing at a later date.

A college student tragically died after falling from a muddy Hawaii hiking trail during an illegal New Year’s Eve party.

Tiare Couto, 19, slipped and plunged to her death while walking out of the Pūpūkea-Paumalū State Park Reserve in Oahu while it was pouring rain on the early morning on January 1.

More than 200 teens and young adults gathered for the annual illicit party in a woodsy area along the trail.

According to a Honolulu police report obtained by The Honolulu Civil Beat, a group of young women found an officer in an elementary school parking lot near the head of the trail at around 12:30 am. 

They told the cop they had lost their friend while leaving the crowded party. The officer and the women waited for three hours as other attendees emerged from the trailhead. 

By 4 am, the police officer was told that Couto, originally from Oahu, was still nowhere to be found and had not filed out of the trail with the other partiers. 

The cop went to explore the trail when he heard someone urgently screaming for help, according to the report.

A father of one of the women who told the officer that they could not find Couto had located her – she had fallen and was unresponsive.

The Hawaii native was studying Environmental & Sustainability Studies and Political Science at the University of Utah 

More than 200 teens and young adults gathered for the annual illicit party at trail 

The Honolulu Fire Department arrived at the scene to get her out of the woods. Around 6 am, emergency services transported her to the hospital in critical condition. 

Couto later succumbed to her serious injuries in the hospital. 

Phillip Verso, an investigator with the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office, told the Civil Beat that her cause of death was a ‘penetrating injury’. 

The fatal party has raised concerns from locals each year, Civil Beat reported, with young party-goers hiking through dangerous, dark and slippery conditions. 

The party, organized on social media and through word of mouth, has prompted community complaints for several years. 

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) is now investigating the unpermitted event. 

DLNR spokesperson Dan Dennison told the DailyMail.com: ‘The DLNR Division of State Parks would never approve a request for an event of this type, night or day, in an undeveloped park reserve area without safe and developed facilities and access routes.

‘When given advance warning of advertised illegal events like this in the past (typically vis social media), DLNR has been successful in contacting the organizers and getting the events cancelled.’

Couto has been described as a kind and adventurous person, who was often pictured traveling with her friends 

Couto enjoyed surfing while growing up in her hometown of Oahu. Her father used to be a professional surfer 

Part of the investigation will include a ‘timeline that includes when and what information was provided,’ police spokesperson Michelle Yu told the Civil Beat when she was asked what caused the delay in Couto’s search. 

Couto attended the University of Utah and was pursuing a double major in Environmental & Sustainability Studies and Political Science, according to her school’s website. 

She was drawn to Utah because she loved to ski, she wrote, and she chose her fields of study because of her ‘strong passion for promoting sustainable change through policy and advocacy.’

‘One of my biggest aspirations is to exemplify to those of ALL backgrounds that there are things they may not realize are reliant on the well-being and health of our planet and require our efforts to protect,’ she said in November, 2024. 

‘You can be an environmental science major, a business major, a Republican or Democrat, raised by the beach, or in the middle of Ohio, to realize that the things you love won’t be able to flourish without the protection of our planet, with the priority of our planet being put first in front.’

Couto’s Instagram page was flooded with pictures of her skiing, surfing and traveling with friends.  

In the two weeks after Couto’s horrific death, her loved ones have been mourning the sudden loss of the outgoing student.

Her father Danilo, the founder of Big Wave Risk assessment Group and former pro-surfer, shared photos of him and his daughter smiling together in a heartfelt Instagram tribute last week. 

Couto aspired to help protect the environment and advocate for sustainable change

On Sunday, community members gathered to celebrate and honor Couto’s life though a traditional dance performance

One of Couto’s friends wrote that ‘she was the kind of person who made life better simply by being there’ 

He said: ‘My daughter, rest in peace and calm, your mission was accomplished with excellence, you taught true love wherever you went, continue loving teaching and with your infectious energy live your new divine journey.’

One of Couto’s friends, Ella Male, shared sentimental words about her in a post on Saturday.

‘At just 19, Tiare had the brightest smile, the kindest heart, and a joy that could lift anyone around her. 

‘She was the kind of person who made life better simply by being there, and her light touched everyone she met.’

A GoFundMe has been created to support Couto’s family during these difficult times and $2,500 have been donated so far toward its $25,000 goal. 

Briel Allman, the page’s creator, wrote: ‘She fully embraced the vitality and energy that life gave her. Experiencing it with an open heart and a passion to do better for our planet.

‘She had the love of Oahu’s breathtaking North Shore and the backdrop of Utah’s snow-capped mountains as two of her many inspirations to protect and fight against single use plastics, climate change, and environmental racism.

The DLNR said they would never allow an event like the party where Couto died on New Years

Couto was found several hours after her friends notified a police officer that she had gone missing 

Her father Danilo, the founder of Big Wave Risk assessment Group and former pro-surfer, shared an online tribute for his daughter 

‘Tiare’s spirit will be in every grain of sand and every snowflake, her memory carried in the hearts of so many. We are all better because of her light, her passion, and her joy. May she rest in peace and know that her short life inspired countless people.’

On Sunday, community members gathered to celebrate and honor Couto’s life though a traditional dance performance.

The DailyMail.com has reached out to Honolulu’s police and fire departments for comment.

Increasing teacher pay, finding ways to get more money to school districts and boosting students’ early math skills are on the agenda as Montana legislators plan to take up a broad range of proposals this year addressing the K-12 system’s most chronic challenges.

On the funding front, several House Republicans have already signaled plans to tackle one of the most pressing education issues in the state: teacher pay. Low starting salaries for early career educators are a driving factor in Montana’s ongoing teacher shortage, making it hard for many local districts to recruit and retain staff. 

Montana Free Press wrote extensively last month about the still-evolving STARS Act, a proposal shepherded by Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, that aims to use Montana’s school funding formula as a vehicle to increase wages for early career educators. 

In an adjacent move, Rep. David Bedey, R-Hamilton, the incoming chair of the Legislature’s education budget subcommittee, has introduced a bill to diffuse the local funding burden on property taxpayers by levying that support countywide rather than from taxpayers in specific school districts.

Recent bill drafts also shed light on how House Democrats are approaching the issue of adequate K-12 education funding. One proposal calls for directing revenue from the state lottery straight to the Office of Public Instruction for distribution to public schools, while another seeks to increase per-pupil state payment rates for sixth graders to match rates for other middle-school grades. 

In a virtual press call with state media last month, Rep. Connie Keogh, D-Missoula, acknowledged that enhancing funding for schools without overly burdening local taxpayers will be a “delicate balance” but said she’s confident lawmakers can work with other education leaders to achieve a solution.

“There’s plenty of money in the budget,” Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, said during the same call. “The budget is a matter of priorities. It expresses our values, and Democrats value public education.”

Outside the funding conversation, Democrats in both chambers have at turns drawn policy inspiration from conversations that played out during the legislative interim. Rep. Melissa Romano, D-Helena, vice chair of the House Education Committee, requested a bill to expand pre-kindergarten academic interventions to include early childhood numeracy. 

The proposal builds off last session’s early childhood literacy bill, carried by Republican Rep. Brad Barker, of Roberts. It addresses concerns raised by state education leaders regarding declining student performance on statewide math assessments and increased demand for remedial math courses at in-state colleges and universities. 

Legislators on both sides of the aisle last fall expressed interest in policy targeting early numeracy. The issue is also high on newly elected state Superintendent Susie Hedalen’s list of policy priorities for the coming months.

“As a former kindergarten teacher, we talked about ‘numbers sense’ a lot and having that understanding of mathematics, those basic foundations,” said Hedalen, a Republican who has worked as a Montana teacher and superintendent and was vice chair of the state Board of Public Education. “When the early literacy bill passed [in 2023] and we started these programs, everyone realized that math is also one of those key components to students being successful.”

Hedalen added that, in addition to early numeracy, the Legislature is poised to take up the issue of increased costs to local districts incurred as a result of recent guidance from the Board of Public Education. Last year, Hedalen and other board members unanimously adopted a resolution encouraging school districts to add a third year of math to their high school graduation requirements. 

While existing math classes and offerings through the Montana Digital Academy should give most students ample opportunity to meet such a requirement, Hedalen said, she’s met with business leaders and the state Department of Labor and Industry to discuss crafting courses tailored to students pursuing trades-based education, an effort she’s hopeful will attract state funding.

In a recent interview with MTFP, Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, echoed the prediction that early numeracy and teacher pay will be prominent on the Legislature’s education agenda. Fuller said he also anticipates policies dealing with school choice and the powers of public school boards will feature heavily before the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee, which he chairs this session. 

Fuller noted that the Montana Constitution and its deference to local control will likely drive much of the debate around school boards. As for school choice, Republican lawmakers have already submitted proposals to expand eligibility for state-funded education savings accounts to all public school students and to grant a state commission tasked with overseeing publicly funded “community choice” schools the authority to seek state funding of its own. Both bills build on policies passed last session, which brought about some of the most significant advancements for the school choice movement in Montana in decades. 

Other bill language and draft titles suggest the policy conversation will touch on classrooms more directly. One still-percolating Democratic request calls for the creation of a “teachers’ bill of rights,” while a Republican-led proposal aims to assert teachers’ authority to “maintain a positive classroom learning environment” and codify school protocols for the treatment of disruptive students. 

Individual lawmakers are also pursuing bills to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments throughout public school buildings and to grant parents the explicit right to seek the deletion of their child’s educational data from OPI’s statewide K-12 data system, setting the stage for debates over the legal nuances of public education.

With a wide array of education proposals in the offing this session, Hedalen said she intends to play an active role in the Legislature’s debates and will have “no qualms” taking a firm stance on specific measures that may adversely impact students and educators — a marked contrast from the no-advocacy approach of her predecessor, Republican Elsie Arntzen. Based on her own policy priorities, Hedalen is poised to back any efforts to improve student safety, enhance student mental health support and bolster funding for school infrastructure. The tenor of conversations among state leaders over the past year and a half have Hedalen feeling optimistic about the Legislature’s appetite for supporting public education.

“We don’t expect to see as many education bills as last session, I think that was definitely a record,” Hedalen said. “People have done a lot of the work through the interim, so we’ll be able to make more movement and I think there’ll be less controversy this time.”

Much of that movement will likely happen through adjustments and additions to how Montana pays for the education of its youth. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have already expressed a shared interest in reexamining details of the state’s education funding formula, itself a deeply complex topic, and Montana School Boards Association Executive Director Lance Melton said several related proposals are taking shape to address local budget gaps driven by high inflation in recent years. 

Melton noted a growing acknowledgment among legislators of the important role elected school boards play in crafting timely school policies that reflect their individual communities, and said he hopes lawmakers this session continue to embrace policies that promote strategic local action over those that seek a fast statewide fix to a complex challenge.

“We have some fast fixes out there, people that come in and say, ‘I think that we need to have the following uniform rule across the whole state,’” Melton said. “We gently remind people in those circumstances that we continue to believe that the best governance impacting our communities is the governance that’s exercised where you can change it.”