Redistricting commissioners can't be removed by those who appointed them, according to an Idaho Attorney General's opinion issued today in response to an inquiry from Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa. "No mechanism exists for the removal of a Commissioner once appointed," Deputy Attorney General…
The House State Affairs Committee has wrapped up for the day after more than an hour of testimony; there were also quite a few called to testify who said they'll speak Monday instead. Those testifying covered a range of ages and occupations, from a 19-year-old…
House State Affairs Chairman told Idaho ACLU head Monica Hopkins that if she testifies today, she won't be allowed to testify on Monday, so she went ahead today. Several others have said they can be here Monday, so they won't testify today. K.C. Hunt, a…
Among testimony at this morning's hearing on legislation to evict the Occupy Boise encampment from state land across from the Capitol: Mike Despot of Boise, who had a supporter read his statement for him because he's legally blind, asked, "Is it truly an emergency to…
"Virtually everyone" who's signed up to testify on the anti-Occupy bill today has said they can't return on Monday, said House State Affairs Chairman Tom Loertscher, so they'll be allowed to testify this morning. First up was Dana Jablonski of Marsing. Asked who she represents,…
Occupy Boise released a statement this morning, saying it'll hold a march from the state Capitol to the federal courthouse this afternoon, with Boise Police officers as escorts. Click below to read their statement, which says the proposed anti-Occupy legislation "attempts to silence Idahoans who…
The House convened and read the new version of the anti-Occupy bill across the desk; it's HB 404. Rep. Tom Loertscher announced that the House State Affairs Committee will meet immediately upon adjournment, and the House adjourned.
Now there's a delay, and Occupy Boise supporters are milling around in the House State Affairs hearing room. Committee Chairman Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, said the committee's report must be sent up to be read across the desk when the House reconvenes in a few minutes,…
Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, suggested that if the House State Affairs Committee wants to take any testimony this morning on legislation to ban camping on state property on the Capitol Mall, it should first vote to introduce the bill, so he made a motion…
Rep. Brent Crane told the House State Affairs Committee that he's concerned about putting off the hearing on the anti-Occupy bill when so many people are here to testify; the room is full. "My concern is there's folks here that want to testify today that…
House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, presenting the new version of his bill to forbid camping on state property in the Capitol Mall, told the House State Affairs Committee this morning, "If this law is passed, this would make our camping policy consistent with…
House State Affairs Chairman Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, just said that the committee could decide to hold its hearing on the new version of the no-camping bill for the Capitol Mall today, but "that would be a little unusual." The measure's sponsor, House Assistant Majority Leader…
This morning's planned hearing on legislation to evict the Occupy Boise encampment is being put off to Monday, due to a clerical error in the bill. "We have discovered a technical problem," said House State Affairs Chairman Tom Loertscher, R-Iona. Loertscher said the committee will…
Unemployment figures for Idaho for December show that the state's jobless rate has dropped for the fifth straight month, falling to 8.4 percent. More than 698,000 Idahoans were working in December, the Idaho Department of Labor reports, 13,000 more than the previous December. You can…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Republican House Speaker Lawerence Denney may fire his appointee to Idaho's redistricting commission, former GOP state Rep. Dolores Crow, because party members don't think she protected their interests. That's after Idaho Supreme Court…
Next Friday, Gov. Butch Otter will bring a bevy of top state officials to tiny Murphy, Idaho - population 97 - for his 51st "Capitol For A Day" event. Click below for Otter's full announcement. “Murphy is one of America’s smallest county seats – but…
The Occupy Boise group has sent out a press release declaring HB 380, the bill to evict its encampment from state property across from the state Capitol, "an attack on the civil liberties of the Idaho people's constitutional right assembly." The group wrote, "Our vigil…
The House committee hearing on legislation to boot the Occupy Boise encampment off state property will be early tomorrow morning, House State Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Loertscher said today. "We felt that it's a good idea to get it through, get it out of here,"…
Idaho's citizen redistricting commission has set public meetings for two days next week: Thursday Jan. 26 at 9 a.m., and Friday Jan. 27 at 9 a.m. The group will convene in Room C110 of the state Capitol; it's been ordered back to work by the…
The Idaho Attorney General's office and the Idaho Sheriffs Association have gotten together to make available free, wallet-sized cards to Idahoans who have a long-term civil protection order, so they can quickly alert law enforcement officers to the order in case of violations. The cards…
The Idaho Supreme Court has issued its decision in the second challenge to the state's current legislative redistricting plan, L-87, repeating its reasoning from yesterday's decision, which ruled the plan unconstitutional for dividing too many counties. It therefore didn't take up arguments on other issues…
The House Education Committee, like the Senate Education Committee before it, has voted with just one dissenting vote to accept the new State Board of Education rule requiring two online courses to graduate from high school in Idaho, with the caveat that the state board…
For the past two years, the traditional Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights Day human rights rally on the steps of the state Capitol has had to be moved, because the Idaho Freedom Foundation scooted in early and reserved the steps for a Tea Party…
The House State Affairs Committee has voted unanimously to introduce two bills dealing with this year's primary election: One from committee Chairman Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, to delay the state's primary from May to August while also doing away with the presidential primary; and one from…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how the Idaho Supreme Court overturned the state's new legislative redistricting plan today, ordering a citizen commission back to work and throwing into doubt the state's schedule for its May primary election. Thursday morning, a…
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