Oddly, the Senate sponsor of HB 404, the anti-Occupy Boise bill, is Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d'Alene, whose district is 400 miles away from the Occupy Boise site. Hammond said he "drew the short straw." He said, "Nobody wanted to do it, so I volunteered."…
The Joint Millennium Fund Committee has voted on where tobacco-settlement funds that go out to health and anti-smoking efforts each year should be directed next year; on an 8-2 vote, it approved $5.7 million in payments, the largest being $2 million to the Department of…
Gov. Butch Otter today signed an executive order creating the "Idaho Leadership in Nuclear Energy Commission," or LINE Commission, to identify "opportunities and challenges associated with hosting the Idaho National Laboratory," the nuclear facility in eastern Idaho. “Idaho clearly has been a recognized leader in…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter raised $124,941 for his re-election campaign from July to December, Idaho Statesman reporter Dan Popkey reports today, and used $50,000 of it to pay himself back for loans he made to his 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Popkey reports that most of Otter's…
The impact of recent years' budget cuts on the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality comes to this: The DEQ's budget request for next year is almost $1.5 million less than its general-fund appropriation was in 2001. "Though our overall workforce is at its lowest level…
Idaho Department of Environmental Quality employees who leave the agency on average get a 36 percent pay boost in their new jobs elsewhere, DEQ Director Toni Hardesty told JFAC this morning, and those who go to the private sector see an average salary boost of…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A new survey shows physical violence among Idaho students is down from 2009, but more teens report they've seriously considered suicide. The state Department of Education is releasing the results of a 2011…
Legislation to make a one-word change to the Idaho Constitution, to clarify that the state Board of Correction has jurisdiction over adult felony probation and parole, but counties can handle misdemeanor probation, passed the House today with just three "no" votes; it had earlier passed…
New Sen. Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston, was assigned to carry his first bill in the Senate today; he's the appointee who replaced Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, who took a job as the chief lobbyist for the University of Idaho. The non-controversial measure, HB 356, came from…
The Senate State Affairs Committee has voted to send HB 404, the bill to evict the Occupy Boise encampment from state property across from the Capitol, to the Senate's 14th Order for amendments. The only "no" vote came from Sen. Michelle Stennett, who said she…
Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, has moved to send HB 404, the anti-Occupy Boise bill, to the Senate's amending order. "Speech that's uncomfortable certainly is entitled to protection of Idaho's constitution and the 1st Amendment certainly as much as speech that I agree…
Senate State Affairs Committee Chairman Curt McKenzie has closed testimony on HB 404, the anti-Occupy Boise bill, after calling on 25 people to testify; all but one, Fairy Hitchcock, spoke out against the bill. Now, the bill's Senate sponsor, Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d'Alene, is…
Congressman Raul Labrador announced today that he's turning back in about $300,000, or 21 percent of the money his congressional office was allotted for fiscal year 2011; he joined a group of other freshman lawmakers to turn back a total of nearly $1.5 million in…
Some of the testimony at the HB 404 hearing this morning, the bill to evict the Occupy Boise encampment from state property across from the Capitol: Russell Buschert, a businessman and 28-year resident of Eagle, asked the senators, "Do you really think that if Jesus…
Among the testimony at this morning's Senate committee hearing on HB 404, the anti-Occupy Boise bill: Katie Fite of Boise told the committee, "This bill refers to aesthetic standards. ... The colorful tents are a vibrant symbol of the Occupy movement. ... They embody democratic…
Bryan Walker, an attorney and Occupy Boise supporter, was the first to testify at this morning's hearing on HB 404. "Our legislature ought not be passing laws which clearly violate the constitutional rights of the citizens," Walker told lawmakers. He said of Occupy Boise, "We…
Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d'Alene, presented HB 404 to the Senate State Affairs Committee this morning. He invited committee members to imagine that anyone who wanted to could camp indefinitely at state parks. "By regulating when how and where you can camp, all citizens are…
The Capitol Auditorium is filling up for the hearing this morning on HB 404, the bill to evict the Occupy Boise encampment from state property across from the Capitol; it's already about half full, meaning more than 100 people are here. So far, 18 people…
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