Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A plan to restore funding protections for school districts with enrollment declines is getting a hearing in the 2012 Idaho Legislature, though it'd be at districts' own expense. The state previously let shrinking…
The House has voted 49-19 in favor of HB 481, Rep. Bob Nonini's bill to lift the cap on the number of new charter schools that can be created each year. The bill would lift both the six-per-year statewide cap, and the one-per-school-district cap. Nonini,…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on today's introduction in Idaho of legislation to require an ultrasound before any Idaho woman could have an abortion; similar legislation caused a brouhaha before being withdrawn in Virginia last week because of the prospect that…
Asked Gov. Butch Otter's reaction to today's ruling on the Occupy Boise encampment, Jon Hanian, press secretary for Otter, said, "We just received it about an hour and a half ago. ... Obviously we're going to follow the law and the judge's order." The governor…
Gov. Butch Otter's IGEM initiative, a $5 million push to speed commercialization of university research into commercial products, has passed the House on a 63-2 vote, with just Reps. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, and Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, objecting. The bill, HB 546, now moves to…
The Senate has voted unanimously, 34-0, in favor of SJR 106, which would amend the state Constitution to add a right to hunt, fish and trap. To amend the constitution, the measure must pass both houses by a two-thirds margin and then receive majority approval…
U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill wrote in his Occupy Boise decision today, "The Court directs the state to delay until March 2, 2012, the seizure of any personal belongings at the encampment to give all parties a chance to read, understand and comply with this…
"Occupy Boise's tent city is a political protest of income inequality," writes U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill in his decision today, which blocks the state from removing tents on the site on 1st Amendment grounds, but upholds the state's new ban on camping there. "Once…
U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill's ruling is out, and he's granted the Occupy Boise motion in part, and denied it in part. What that means: The state would be enjoined from removing "the symbolic tent city erected by Occupy Boise," but Occupy Boise participants would…
Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Meridian, said the original version of his pre-abortion ultrasound bill specifically mentioned the use of a wand inserted into the patient's vagina, the method by which very early-term ultrasounds before six to eight weeks of gestation, must be conducted in order to…
The Senate State Affairs Committee has voted on party lines to introduce legislation requiring any Idaho woman who has an abortion to first have an ultrasound. "Because ultrasound is a key element of informed consent, it should be required that a woman have that before…
Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood, proposed a non-binding memorial to Congress this morning opposing federal requirements that health insurance cover contraception or sterilization. "This is the greatest attack on our rights since Roe vs. Wade in 1973 condoning the abortion of the unborn child," she told…
An effort by Sen. Lee Heider and Rep. Jim Patrick, both Twin Falls Republicans, to insert an extra $25,000 in state general funds into the budget for the Office of Species Conservation for next year for travel related to meetings about heading off potential listing…
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has set a budget for Idaho Fish & Game for next year that appears to show a 20.5 percent increase in total funds, but that's largely because of a $13 million federal grant to construct the Springfield Fish Hatchery. Aside from…
Legislation that caused a brouhaha before being withdrawn Virginia is up for introduction in Idaho this morning, requiring an ultrasound before an Idaho woman could have an abortion; the issue is that at very early stages of pregnancy, a regular abdominal ultrasound doesn't provide a…
On tonight's "Idaho Reports," I join Jim Weatherby and host Greg Hahn to discuss the legislative developments of the week, from Sen. John McGee's abrupt resignation to legislative retirements to fees and tax breaks. The program also includes Hahn's interviews with Sen. Mitch Toryanski, R-Boise,…
U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill, who held a hearing this afternoon on a motion to block a new law that would evict the Occupy Boise encampment from state property across from the Capitol, told attorneys for both sides that he'll issue his ruling on Monday.…
Legislation to impose a $10 fee on all criminal convictions, traffic citations and the like to fund the "Victim Information Notification Everyday" or VINE system, which notifies crime victims of changes in the offender's status or case, already passed the Senate 30-5 and cleared a…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Former U.S. Attorney and Democratic activist Betty Richardson says she's running for a seat in the Idaho Senate. Richardson announced Friday that she would run in West Boise's newly redrawn District 15. Former…
Six-term state Rep. Sharon Block , R-Twin Falls, has decided not to seek re-election, the Twin Falls Times-News reports; you can see their story here. Block is the current chair of the House Commerce & Human Resources Committee.
The House has voted 64-0 in favor of HB 489, to do away with a little-known tax on free sips of wine or other beverages handed out at free tastings. "Wineries did not know that use taxes applied to free tastings," Rep. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise,…
The Senate has voted 17-16 in favor of SB 1256, legislation from Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, and Rep. Mike Moyle, R-Star, to establish new "Governor's big game auction tags" and auction them off to raise money for Fish & Game programs. The Idaho Fish &…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — State education officials say one out of every two Idaho students qualified for free and reduced-price lunches in 2011. The Post Register reports (http://bit.ly/w9ntlt ) that 50 percent of students were eligible…
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, introduced legislation this morning to cut the budgets of local taxing districts whenever anyone gets a big new property tax exemption - like the big one lawmakers granted to Micron Technology several years ago when they capped its taxable…
Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, has decided not to run for another term, after serving two terms in the Senate and two in the House. "The job that I've had, I think, often is just speaking up for those who are about to lose, the side…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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