Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

So far, 43 have testified in two hours

Lawmakers listen as Shiloh Blackburn of Rexburg testifies at Friday's hearing on Health & Welfare funding; in her wheelchair, she's partially hidden behind the podium. (Betsy Russell)
Lawmakers listen as Shiloh Blackburn of Rexburg testifies at Friday's hearing on Health & Welfare funding; in her wheelchair, she's partially hidden behind the podium. (Betsy Russell)

So far, 43 people have testified in two hours to JFAC on Health & Welfare funding this morning, including disabled people who receive services, their advocates, parents and other family members, and numerous providers, ranging from dentists to those who provide psycho-social rehabilitation services to people with mental illness. Here, members of JFAC, who have been joined by several members of both the House and Senate Health & Welfare committees, listen as Shiloh Blackburn of Rexburg testifies; in her wheelchair, she's partially hidden behind the podium. Blackburn urged lawmakers to consider raising revenue rather than cutting services for Idahoans with disabilities. A recurring theme among those testifying is that those cuts will actually cost the state more, by forcing more people into costly institutionalization.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

Follow Betsy online: