Compromise legislation to trim back Idaho's costs for health insurance for state retirees, in part by moving all Medicare-eligible retirees off the state plan, passed the House today on a 59-11 vote. "I know there is opposition to this bill," Rep. Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, told…
It was another full house this morning for the hearing on the proposed increase in Idaho's beer and wine taxes to fund substance abuse treatment. Today, another 25 people testified, 13 of them for the bill and 12 against. That's after yesterday's hearing, in which…
Idaho state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna is heading to Washington, D.C. today to get first-hand answers about the federal stimulus package from Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and other White House officials. "This is an important trip because the…
JFAC learned this morning that Idaho's share of stimulus money for education budget stabilization is $201.7 million. But that's for both public schools and higher education, and it's for three years: Fiscal years 2009, 2010 and 2011. Half the amount could be used up just…
Idaho still will have to make substantial cuts in state agency budgets, despite the help it'll receive from federal economic stimulus funds, state lawmakers said today. "There's somehow this feeling that this bill will solve all the problems, and it just won't," said Senate Finance…
Micron Technology, formerly the state's largest private employer, announced today that it'll phase out manufacturing of 200 mm wafers at its Boise plant, meaning 500 layoffs "in the near term" and "as many as 2,000 positions by the end of the company's fiscal year." In…
House Tax Chairman Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, was taken to the hospital today shortly after the House convened. "They're just checking on him," said House Majority Leader Mike Moyle. "He wasn't feeling good, so he went in to see if he was all right." Last year,…
Former Idaho Gov. Phil Batt, who also is a former chairman of the Idaho Republican Party, had this letter to the editor published in the Idaho Statesman today lauding Democratic congressman Walt Minnick:'I appreciate Minnick's stand for responsibility'"I didn't support Walt Minnick during his campaign…
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle is a big gun-rights supporter, but he's the sponsor of HB 137, the bill this year to allow the state parks board to regulate discharge of firearms in state parks, despite the "pre-emption" law lawmakers enacted last year sharply limiting…
A vote on HB 61, the House-passed bill to make permanent this year's 4 percent holdbacks, other budget cuts, and transfers from the public education stabilization fund, has been put off again in the Senate, this time until March 3rd. Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron,…
Here's a sampling of some of the testimony this morning on the proposed hike in beer and wine taxes to fund substance abuse treatment. Of the 24 people who testified, 14 were in favor, nine against, and one neutral. Rev & Tax Chairman Dennis Lake…
It's standing-room only at the hearing this morning on legislation to raise Idaho's beer and wine taxes - unchanged for the past four decades - to fund substance abuse treatment. "This increase is pocket change for the vast majority of responsible drinkers," sponsor Keith Allred…
Idaho's legislative budget director, Cathy Holland-Smith, told JFAC just now that the federal economic stimulus bill is 407 pages long. Legislative budget analysts have printed it out. The 1,100-page stack of papers U.S. Sen. Jim Risch earlier showed the Idaho Senate included the House version,…
Members of the Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee are beginning a week-long look into what's in the federal stimulus bill for Idaho. To start, JFAC Co-Chairwoman Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, told legislative budget director Cathy Holland-Smith, "I know how hard you've worked on this, to help us…
Tune in tonight to Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television, which airs at 8 p.m., to hear a discussion about the events of the sixth week of the Legislature. I join BSU political scientist emeritus Jim Weatherby, Idaho Statesman Editorial Page Editor Kevin Richert, Times-News…
A small group of activists gathered on the Capitol Annex steps at mid-day today to urge Gov. Butch Otter and lawmakers to make use of the federal economic stimulus funds. Holding signs with slogans like, "It's our $$ Take the Stimulus" and "People not Potholes,"…
The Senate State Affairs Committee just voted down a motion to introduce legislation to extend the Idaho Human Rights Act's anti-discrimination provisions to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, gave a heartfelt pitch to her fellow senators to introduce the measure,…
Gov. Butch Otter has named the eight-member panel that will help him study how Idaho can make use of federal stimulus money. It includes three former governors and five former state budget directors, and is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Click below to see…
Here's a news item from the AP: 'One Idaho legislator wants to put the state's checkbook online, saying it will make government more transparent and could save money in the long run. Athol Republican Rep. Phil Hart told the House State Affairs Committee Thursday that…
Idaho journalism circles have been buzzing today about the firing of Idaho Falls Post Register Editor Dean Miller, who's been editor there since 1995 and formerly worked as the Statehouse reporter for The Spokesman-Review (at that time, I was Dean's editor, a task both challenging…
Athol Rep. Phil Hart wants Idaho to allow all evidence of a past arrest or trial that didn't result in a conviction to be erased, including trial records and national law enforcement databases of arrests. He brought legislation today to allow a judge to expunge…
Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, proposed legislation today that would ban repeat drunk drivers or those who drive drunk at far above the legal limit from buying or possessing alcohol, for anywhere from five years to life. "Have you ever read in the paper about…
The Senate has given near-unanimous final passage to HCR 10, a measure rejecting a rule from the state Lottery Commission that even the commission said would inadvertently have shut down the three-day-a-week charitable bingo at the Coeur d'Alene Greyhound Park, in an attempt to target…
Sens. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, and Denton Darrington, R-Declo, cast the only "no" votes in a 30-2 vote this morning on SB 1061, a measure from Sen. Lee Heinrich, R-Cascade, to allow counties to ticket motorists who drive onto groomed snowmobile trails. "Too much government," Darrington…
House Transportation Chairwoman JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, is calling for the state to use federal stimulus money to "buy back some of the GARVEE bonds, reduce some of the interest we pay," and "put that into maintenance" in rural Idaho. Wood, giving her recommendations to JFAC…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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