The public is invited to offer testimony on Friday in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee's second-ever public hearing, this time focusing on funding for state Health & Welfare programs. The public hearing will run from 8-11 a.m. in the Capitol Auditorium, and people can start signing…
It's definitely not light reading, but State Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna has posted on his website draft versions of two bills to implement his sweeping school reform plan. The first one, entitled "Modernization and Reform," is 91 pages; the second, entitled "Labor and Entitlements,"…
AP reporter John Miller reports on new concerns House Republicans leaders are raising over the state's budget challenges: That the impact of conforming Idaho's tax code to new federal rules could cost Idaho's state coffers $70 million over the next two years, while sales tax…
Megaloads opponents have announced that they'll file no further challenges to the four megaloads on U.S. Highway 12 planned by ConocoPhillips. 'We are proud of the work we have done over the last 10 months helping educate our friends and neighbors about the threats that…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — State wildlife managers expect to hear back in the next six weeks on Idaho's petition to kill wolves in the upper Clearwater River Basin. Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Fred Trevey told lawmakers…
State Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna will appear on Idaho Public Television's "Dialogue" program tonight to explain his school reform plan and take calls from the public. The show airs live statewide, at 8:30 p.m. Mountain time, 7:30 p.m. Pacific time. Questions can be emailed…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — About 33,000 Idaho state and local government retirees are due to get a 1 percent cost-of-living increase in their benefit payments. State pension fund director Don Drum told the Senate Commerce Committee on…
The House Revenue & Taxation Committee has put off a vote on HB 35, legislation from Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, designed to let the Kootenai Technical Education Campus in Rathdrum open a year earlier than it could otherwise, until Tuesday. Committee members said they…
Idaho's child immunization rate has gone up by 10 percent since last year, when it was the worst in the nation. State public health division Administrator Jane Smith said three pieces of legislation that lawmakers enacted last year helped: A new mechanism for funding vaccines,…
The state's budget shortfalls have forced millions in cuts at the state's psychiatric hospitals, State Hospital South and State Hospital North, with "disturbing" results, Kathleen Allyn, division administrator at Health & Welfare, told JFAC this morning. "The hospitals have difficulty staffing the units at safe…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
