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Eye On Boise archive for Jan. 1, 2006

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2006

TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2006

JFAC agenda includes ‘Strengthening Idaho’

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee’s agenda is up for Wednesday morning, and don’t be fooled – it’s all there. There are decisions on funding on various bills that have passed, from capitol restoration to elected officials’ salaries; decisions on funding school-construction legislation; and something called the…

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Candidate for governor announces engagement

1st District Congressman Butch Otter, who’s running for governor, has announced his engagement to Lori Easley, a vice principal in the Meridian School District. A photo of the engaged couple is posted on Otter’s campaign website, showing the two smiling tensely. The site notes that…

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MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2006

It’s a hot time in the Gold Room

Things are getting hot in the Gold Room of the state Capitol, where people have been lined up shoulder-to-shoulder for hours and every seat is full, as testimony stretches on about a controversial bill regarding water rights, Idaho Power, and recharging the Snake plain aquifer.…

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FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2006

‘A bad day for bad people’

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne declared, “This is a good day for law enforcement. This is a bad day for bad people,” as he signed legislation today to crack down on gang activity and to toughen sex-offender registration and sentencing laws. People need to know where sex…

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THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2006

'Patron Saint of the North'

Sen. Dick Compton, R-Coeur d’Alene, was giving a rundown of everything North Idaho lawmakers have had to go through in the past to cadge a bit of money each year to protect water quality in the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer, and he mentioned the role Senate…

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Minimum wage bill killed, 12-5

The House State Affairs Committee, after a hearing that ran nearly two hours, has voted 12-5 to kill HB 843, a Democratic proposal to raise Idaho’s minimum wage from the current $5.15 an hour to $6.15, and to index it to inflation in the future.…

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Crowd bids farewell to influential tax chair

The House Revenue & Taxation Committee meeting room was transformed into a party room this morning, with three kinds of cake, lots of visiting and reminiscing, and congrats to longtime Chairwoman Dolores Crow, R-Nampa, who is retiring after this session.When Randy Nelson, head of Associated…

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006


North Idaho water adjudication bill passes

HB 545, the bill to adjudicate all the water rights in North Idaho, just passed the Senate on a 30-5 vote and headed for the governor’s desk. “There is nothing more sacred in the state of Idaho than water,” sponsor Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake,…

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'A good day for North Idaho'

Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, commented, “It’s a good day for North Idaho,” just after the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee voted unanimously just now to approve funding for the North Idaho water rights adjudication. Just before that, they’d voted 19-1 in favor of a…

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TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2006

Enough is enough!

Everyone’s starting to feel it – this legislative session has gone on too long already. Lenette Bendio, attaché in the legislative bill and mail room, decided to announce her feelings about it today by hanging a bright red “Out of Order” sign around her neck.…

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MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2006

FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2006

Maybe Risch will get his session

At first blush, it certainly seems that with only 8 months in office and no legislative session, the upcoming Risch Administration might not make much of a mark legislatively, despite Gov. Jim Risch’s long history as one of the state’s most skilled state senators and…

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Risch won’t run for governor

Lt. Gov. Jim Risch just announced that if Gov. Dirk Kempthorne is confirmed as the new Interior secretary, he’ll step in and serve out Kempthorne’s final term as governor, but he won’t change his plans to run for re-election as lieutenant governor.“I think the decision…

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THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2006




Late this afternoon could be the time

Senators are now looking to start amending property tax bills around 4 this afternoon, after they weren’t quite ready to start this morning. With six major House-passed property tax reform bills awaiting amendments – and one of the year’s hottest political issues hanging in the…

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2006

Talkin' amendments

The Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee is going over possible amendments to the various property tax bills and their impacts, and conferring publicly with experts like state Tax Commissioner Duey Hammond and administration chief economist Mike Ferguson. It’s the same workshop format the committee…

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