Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho Senate panel dumped a bill aimed at gutting the Department of Fish and Game's authority to regulate where hunters can steer their all-terrain vehicles. The Senate Resources and Environment Committee rejected…
The Medicaid cuts bill that cleared a House committee today on a party-line vote is designed to save the state $34 million, but would also trigger an estimated $73 million loss in federal matching funds, the AP reports. Overall, the $108 million loss represents about…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on today's House vote to require public libraries in Idaho to filter Internet service for adults. State Librarian Ann Joslin said at least one Idaho library district held a public hearing on the issue, "and heard…
The Idaho Education Association has issued a statement saying more than 100 pages of documents it received in response to a public records request still don't answer questions about how state schools Supt. Tom Luna developed his education reform plan and with whom he consulted.…
Idaho would see "positive net benefits" economically if it extended its current tax rebate for development of alternative energy, according to a new Boise State University study that was presented to a legislative committee this afternoon. "Our research shows that the development of alternative energy…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Legislation cutting $35 million in Medicaid programs and services in the next fiscal year is headed to the full House for debate. The House Health and Welfare Committee voted 8-2 along party lines…
Idaho is now the only state that doesn't collect and catalogue DNA samples from all convicted felons, the AP reports; SB 1067, legislation to change that cleared, the Senate today on a unanimous vote and now heads to the House side. Click below for a…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Legislation to ban state insurers from providing coverage for elective abortions through new health care exchanges is headed to its final hurdle in the Idaho Legislature. The House State Affairs Committee approved the…
House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, is back, after suffering severe injuries in a farm accident in which he was hit by a 1-ton bale of hay. "People have described me as being very lucky, and I can't use that word in this circumstance,"…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An eastern Idaho lawmaker has introduced a bill calling for a two-year statewide moratorium on industrial wind-energy projects. Republican Rep. Erik Simpson of Idaho Falls says the moratorium is needed to give officials…
The Meridian School District's proposal to allow advertising on school buses as a money-making move ran into trouble on the House floor today, where several lawmakers had debated sharply against it, when House Education Chairman Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, asked to return the bill to…
The Idaho State School & Hospital, which provides residential care and treatment, both short- and long-term, to the severely impaired who can't remain in the community, still has people showing up at its door demanding to be admitted to the emergency room or receive other…
The Idaho House balked today at legislation - which previously passed the Senate unanimously - to prevent birth records from becoming public for 125 years, rather than the current 100 years; and to prevent death records from becoming public for 100 years, rather than the…
Idaho libraries would be required to filter Internet access for adults, under legislation that just passed the House on a 63-7 vote and headed to the Senate; they're already required by federal law to filter Internet access for children. Rep. Mack Shirley, R-Rexburg, said a…
The House has voted 62-7 in favor of HB 236, a revamped version of Rep. Bob Nonini's bill to let the Kootenai Technical Education Campus, a joint project of three North Idaho school districts for vocational ed, move up its construction schedule by a year,…
The Senate State Affairs Committee has voted along party lines to approve HB 187, the "narrow" fix to last year's "conscience" law to clarify that physicians can't violate people's living wills or end-of-life directives as they die, despite testimony against the bill from several seniors,…
Idaho's state Land Board was unanimous in asking lawmakers to approve SB 1145 to repeal two existing sections of state law regarding cottage sites and grazing leases that have been determined to be unconstitutional, and the Senate State Affairs Committee this morning agreed unanimously, sending…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
