Can Good Friday get better? Idaho lawmakers aim to adjourn before Easter
The Legislature’s top leaders are pressing to adjourn March 29 — the Friday before Easter — and taking steps to cut off introduction of new legislation. Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill,...
View ArticleAre both education budgets in trouble?
House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley On Monday, I interviewed House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, on education — and the legislative “interim committee” that he would like to put together to study...
View ArticleLong personal property tax hearing ends; one-on-one lobbying to resume
The public, business interests and local governments weighed in for almost three hours Tuesday on two competing bills to repeal or scale back personal property taxes on business equipment in Idaho....
View ArticleSchool budget battles: the plot thickens
Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg Some senators oppose the proposed 2013-14 public schools budget proposal, Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill said Tuesday. But is the opposition...
View ArticleDebate begins on Otter’s health exchange, with rumor of defections from ‘Gang...
The Idaho House began debate at 9:53 a.m. Wednesday on Gov. Butch Otter’s House Bill 248, which would establish a state-run online health insurance marketplace under the federal Affordable Care Act. A...
View ArticleConnecting dots: Tuesday’s school levy results and the personal property tax...
Thursday could be decision day on the personal property tax — at least in the crucial House Revenue and Taxation Committee. The panel could decide between two competing plans: House Bill 272, a...
View ArticleNampa Rep. Crane twists history, says Rosa Parks stood up to the feds
“We need to have our Rosa Parks moment,” House Assistant Majority Leader Brent Crane said in Wednesday’s debate against a state-run health exchange, erroneously making the U.S. government the bad guy...
View ArticleWorn out by long almost all-GOP debate, House majority takes a breather from...
Idaho House Republicans had planned to meet behind closed doors Thursday, but Majority Caucus Chairman John Vander Woude said told the House shortly before the lunch recess that Wednesday’s health...
View ArticleSeven Idaho lawmakers ask AG to investigate robocalls opposing Otter’s health...
Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, and six other lawmakers have asked for an inquiry into possible violations of the Idaho Telephone Solicitation Act by opponents Gov. Butch Otter’s health insurance...
View ArticleIdaho ‘Add the Words’ campaign to get heard, but no bill and no vote
In deference to a request from Boise Democratic Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb, the Senate and House State Affairs committees will meet Wednesday at 8 a.m. to hear an informational presentation on the effort...
View ArticleInitiative/referendum rewrite heads to House floor
Before the House State Affairs Committee gave party-line support to a bill tightening the initiative and referendum process Monday, the Idaho Farm Bureau’s Russ Hendricks made an interesting remark...
View ArticleDespite silence and unanimous committee vote, IACI’s not playing dead on tax...
Conventional wisdom after Tuesday morning’s unanimous vote for personal property tax relief in the fast-tracked House Bill 315 holds that the battle between partial and all-out repeal is over. “I...
View ArticleAnti-abortion clinic presses for hearing on Idaho sales tax break
Anti-abortion supporters of a sales tax exemption for pregnancy clinics will rally at the Capitol at noon Thursday to press the Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee to hold a hearing before...
View ArticleMat Erpelding’s old-school debate
You never know what lawmakers will reveal about themselves during debate. So it was Wednesday, when first-year Rep. Mat Erpelding stood up to debate against a bill that would offer $10 million in...
View ArticleSenate amends charter school bill — significantly
For Ken Burgess, a lobbyist representing charter school advocates, it was a dreaded scenario. His two controversial charter school bills on the Senate’s “amending order” — where any senator could offer...
View ArticleMore on Rosa Parks in the Idaho Legislature and an unexpected apology from...
Civil rights hero Rosa Parks’ name was invoked again Thursday by an opponent of a state health exchange, arguing Idaho shouldn’t cooperate with President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Sen. Steve Vick,...
View ArticleBill barring credit cards for Idaho lottery tix advances; plastic still good...
The Senate State Affairs Committee on Friday approved a ban on using credit cards to buy state lottery tickets and recommended its passage to the full Senate. House Bill 120 passed the House, 44-23....
View ArticleThe dark Statehouse art of ‘radiator capping’
The operative phrase at the Statehouse Tuesday was “radiator capping.” This is a term lawmakers use to describe the process of completing rewriting a bill on the House or Senate floor. Think in terms...
View ArticleIdaho Senate kills K-12 funding bill, likely blocking plans for Friday...
Video: Senate kills K-12 budget Led by opposition from Senate Education Committee Committee Chairman John Goedde and Vice Chairman Dean Mortimer, the Senate rejected the $1.3 billion public schools...
View ArticleGOP lawmakers battle on Facebook over Idaho gun rights, school safety bills
An intramural spat over gun rights and school safety legislation prompted by December’s Connecticut school shooting has erupted on Facebook between House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, Sen. Marv...
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