Idaho's Governor Proposes State Workers Stay Home And Telecommute

"It's 6:45 a.m. and Gov. Butch Otter is anxious to leave for work. He's already let the dogs out, poured his cup of black coffee and taken out the trash in his tailored dark gray suit. He strides briskly to his Ford Expedition waiting in the long curved driveway, the radio tuned to 580 AM and already blaring the road report.

Every day, Otter commutes to the Capitol Mall from his ranch in Star. If he leaves after 6:30, the 18-mile trip can take 50 minutes. That's a lot of time to think, and Otter often ruminates on what he sees on the road.

Otter, 65, has seen a lot of changes to the scenery in the 14 years he's had the ranch. New developments and businesses have sprung up everywhere, adding more cars to stretches of road that used to be remote and empty.

"The problem is, people are just like me," Otter said. "I'm sitting in the car looking and seeing all these people driving with only one person in the car."

Treasure Valley residents depend on their cars, Otter said, but that doesn't mean some can't be taken off the road. Conservation is the answer, he said.

He said he has asked Toni Hardesty, head of the state's Department of Environmental Quality, to develop a plan to let more state employees work from their homes two or three days a week. He also wants more state services available online, so people don't have to drive to the Department of Fish and Game to renew a hunting license, for example.

"If you don't have to drive, you're not going to be tied up in traffic adding to the problem," Otter said. "What can we do not to drive? What can we do so people don't have to come in?"

Otter hopes his plan will cut congestion and air pollution, reduce taxpayer spending on state-employee office costs, and maybe even slow the need for highway expansion and road-building."

Thanks to Jon Cecil