Legislative budget director Cathy Holland-Smith is briefing JFAC members on all the numbers, in preparation for the committee setting budget target numbers for both the current and the 2010 fiscal years. The background is complex as can be, and every theoretical change - whether or…
Here's a link to my full story in today's Spokesman-Review on the legislative reaction yesterday to Gov. Butch Otter's plan to boost roads but cut schools; and here's a link to my full story on the Senate's 30-5 passage yesterday of the day care licensing…
Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, offered a chance to defend her district after it was dissed by state budget director Wayne Hammon (he told her, “The future of Idaho is not contained in the North End”), had this to say: "The Statehouse is in my district…
House Education Chairman Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, says a bipartisan group has reached a compromise on legislation to suspend various state laws temporarily to allow cuts in Idaho's public schools next year. Nonini, who first proposed the controversial HB 117 - a bill that would…
The day-care licensing bill, SB 1112a, has passed the Senate on a strong 30-5 vote. Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home, gave an impassioned 40-minute opening debate, in which he said, "It's not our policy to interfere in family business, but it is our policy to…
Legislative Democrats were waiting outside Gov. Butch Otter's stimulus press conference to give their response. While they gave the governor high marks for deciding to take the stimulus money, and had some praise for the process he followed, they objected to the magnitude of cuts…
Gov. Butch Otter said Reps. Moyle and Bedke came over and pitched to him their idea of using $45 million of federal stimulus for corporate tax cuts - all the discretionary money the governor had to divide. "Listen, they've got a lot of different ideas…
"I accepted the money reluctantly and cautiously," Gov. Butch Otter just said of the federal stimulus money. "We've had a backlog in infrastructure, obviously highway infrastructure." But there's also a backlog of communities needing help with drinking water systems, he said. So when it came…
Wayne Hammon, the governor's budget director, was answering a question from Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, about transportation priorities when he went a step further and added this dig: "The future of Idaho is not contained in the North End." The North End of Boise is…
After hearing the governor's proposals for spending stimulus money and adjusting Idaho's state budget - largely by boosting road spending and cutting everything else - Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said, "I applaud the governor in his desire to protect the infrastructure of the…
Idaho school districts will receive sharply increased funding from the federal government for special education through the IDEA program under the federal stimulus - offsetting some of the districts' own local funds they've been putting into the federally required programs. Under questioning from Sen. Jim…
Gov. Otter's budget director made it clear to JFAC this morning that the governor's plan to fund eight major road projects around the state with federal stimulus money - including the Dover Bridge and the Vista Interchange - is dependent on the Legislature also approving…
Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, asked Wayne Hammon, the governor's budget director, "You want to increase taxes for roads, spend stimulus for roads, borrow for roads and cut education. ... I'm truly trying to understand ... (why the governor would want) to have education suffer that…
Gov. Butch Otter's plan for spending stimulus money calls for still cutting 5 percent from statewide personnel costs for all agencies funded by the state general fund, his budget director, Wayne Hammon, just told lawmakers - and, in response to a question from Sen. Shawn…
"The governor's first priority is to protect jobs," Wayne Hammon, Gov. Butch Otter's budget director, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning as he began presenting the governor's recommendations for spending $1.24 billion in federal economic stimulus money. "People think there's a $1 billion bucket…
The federal economic stimulus funds coming to Idaho include $44.8 million that are up to the discretion of the governor, to be used for anything from education to public safety to “other government services.” Here’s Otter’s recommendation for the money, which many had been eyeing:…
Gov. Butch Otter is endorsing the first-ever cuts in public schools funding in Idaho, saying the $1.24 billion in federal economic stimulus funds he’s decided to accept aren’t enough to stave off the cuts. Otter, who released his recommendations for taking the stimulus money late…
Gov. Butch Otter has released his recommendations for spending $1.24 billion in federal economic stimulus funds, including: $408,770,000 for health and welfare programs; $260,468,980 for public schools; $36,078,300 for higher education; $159,978,000 for unemployment benefits and workforce development; $61,894,000 for environmental quality projects; $200,334,100 for…
After intense debate, the House has voted 31-39 on HB 155a, Rep. Raul Labrador’s local vehicle-registration fee bill, killing the bill. “We have different needs around the state, and sometimes we need some local authority to take care of those needs,” Labrador told the House.…
Did you know that it was illegal – a misdemeanor – for any Idaho retailer to limit the quantity of a particular item to be sold to a customer, to any number lower than the entire number the retailer has? I sure didn’t. Apparently, no…
Here’s a news item from AP: “A push to reform Idaho's liquor license system that now doles out permits based on population-based quotas has won a Senate hearing, but some lawmakers fear time may be running out for such a complicated — and controversial —…
Lawmakers have taken their first formal action to spend federal stimulus money, as the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted unanimously this morning to cut this year’s budget for public schools by $85.1 million, but immediately fill in the hole with an equal amount of federal stimulus…
Two House GOP leaders have hatched a plan to use $45 million from the federal economic stimulus to cut corporate tax rates, and floated the idea to IACI, Idaho Statesman political columnist Dan Popkey reports today. You can read his full report here. The plan,…
After a long, packed hearing, the House Environment Committee voted overwhelmingly to approve Rep. Eric Anderson's quagga mussel bill, which requires every boat owner in the state - motorized or not - to purchase a sticker to help fund boat-washing efforts to keep the invasive…
The Senate Transportation Committee has voted unanimously in favor of SB 1089, to eliminate Idaho's current exemption from child car-seat requirements when a parent decides to take the baby out for feeding or to change a diaper while on the road. That exception - which…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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