When House Speaker Lawerence Denney swung his gavel to adjourn the House sine die, all the representatives in the upper balcony tossed little paratrooper toys off the upper tier, which then floated down festively onto their colleagues below under small parachutes. “A little love from…
The Senate has just voted 23-11 in favor of HJR 5, the new constitutional amendment regarding local government debt – but that wasn’t enough. The measure needed 24 votes to have the needed two-thirds to ask voters to amend the constitution. So that measure is…
Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake just asked for unanimous consent to concur in the Senate amendments to HB 599a, and there was no objection – so it was unanimous. Now the House still must debate and take a final vote on the amended bill. The…
Senate Tax Chairman Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, just told the Senate, as he opened debate on the amended personal property tax bill, HB 599: “If you don’t know what this bill does at this point, you probably don’t deserve to be re-elected.” The comment was greeted…
The dreaded sheep tie has arrived and been placed around my neck, and it turns out to depict a black sheep standing out among the fluffy white ones. Meanwhile, the Senate has received the report of the conference committee, taken HB 599 to the 14th…
On the final day of the Legislature, the Idaho Senate has gotten itself embroiled in a protracted debate about primary election procedures. After moving SB 1507, the “call-for ballot” bill, to the 14th order for amendment, the Senate amended it to allow a party to…
In the end, the changes the House insisted on in the Senate-amended version of HB 599, the bill to repeal the personal property tax on business equipment, actually limited the tax break legislation further, rather than expanding it. “I’m very, very surprised at the House’s…
House Republicans on the conference committee so far aren’t too excited about splitting the difference to $87,500, and are pushing for sticking with their proposal of $100,000. They also want an economic “trigger,” and when Sen. Brent Hill asked if there’s general support for that…
“I get the sense we’re really not that far apart,” Sen. Brent Hill told the conference committee as it reconvened. “I’m very encouraged with the attitude of everyone here.”
So far, there’s possible agreement on the concept of maybe adding some kind of an economic trigger to allow the tax break to be put off if the state’s budget dips, but no agreement on the question of the interplay between the 3 percent budget…
Senate Majority Bart Davis, reading from Mason’s Rules, said his interpretation is that for the conference committee to reach an agreement, its report must be signed by a majority of the members from each house – not just a majority of the committee. That’s because…
Click below to read my full story from today’s Spokesman-Review on the fight over the personal property tax break that’s dominating the final days of this year’s legislative session. Meanwhile, Statehouse reporters have been wearing ugly ties for the past week and a half as…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
