Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how, after a marathon six-hour debate, the Idaho Senate voted 23-12 today in favor of Gov. Butch Otter’s state health insurance exchange bill, marking a key victory for the GOP governor and sending his signature…
The Senate has voted 23-12 in favor of SB 1042, the governor's state health insurance exchange bill. The measure now moves to the House side. Here's how the senators voted: Voting yes: Sens. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot; Les Bock, D-Boise; Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson; Cherie Buckner-Webb, D-Boise;…
“I thoroughly believe that the state is going to be able to do a much better job of administering a program like this than the federal government,” Sen. John Tippets, R-Montpelier, told the Senate in his closing debate on SB 1042, the state insurance exchange…
Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, debating for the first time, told the Senate, “I debated on whether I would debate, and I promise my remarks will be brief.” He said, “We all know in chambers this will be a split vote. … I believe if we…
Sen. Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa, debating for a second time against SB 1042, read at length from “The Gulag Archipelago” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn about resistance. “That speaks volumes to me,” he said. Next up to debate for a second time is Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood. "I…
Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, said, “All I can bring to the table is my experience in the Navy and my experience in the private sector. … This is probably one of the hardest decisions that I’ve had to make in this legislative body.” Hagedorn said,…
Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, just told the Senate that he thinks the debate will continue for several more hours. Everyone looked at each other. That seems fairly unlikely at this point; the Senate has been debating now for just under five hours. Nonini read…
The Senate is now back to debate on SB 1042. Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, said, “If we opt for a federal exchange, there’s only two choices. … They only have to provide two, and you can bet your bottom dollar neither one of those…
The motion to send the insurance exchange bill to the amending order has failed on the same, 11-24 vote.
The Senate has defeated the motion to send SB 1042, the insurance exchange bill, back to committee on an 11-24 vote. Now it's having closing debate on Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll's motion to send the bill to the 14th Order for amendment.
Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, spoke against amending SB 1042, the health insurance exchange bill. “Frankly, this red-shirt freshman stands with the other freshmen on the other side of the rotunda,” he said, who have proposed a trailer bill to add more legislative oversight. “We can…
When the Senate returned from its break, Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said, “I want to withdraw my question.” He said, “I recognize that this is a very, very difficult bill, it’s a very emotional bill. And certainly everything that’s tied around the Affordable Care Act…
Before debating on Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll’s motion to move SB 1042, the insurance exchange bill, to the amending order, Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, made an inquiry of Nuxoll. “Are you aware of the position of the … Catholic diocese on the Plan B and Ella…
Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwodd, said, “I will have no choice with the exchange. If I buy insurance, I’m paying for abortion. If I don’t buy insurance, I’m paying a penalty, I’m still paying for abortion. … Forcing us to buy insurance through a state exchange…
More from the Senate's debate on the governor's insurance exchange bill, now stretching toward the end of its third hour: Sen. Les Bock, D-Boise, said, “I want this state and I want this country to know that in the state of Idaho there is another…
More from the Senate debate on SB 1042, the insurance exchange bill: Sen. Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, said, “Thomas Jefferson said every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. … To those opposed to the bill, principally I agree with you, but there…
Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, disclosed under Senate Rule 39 that he makes his living as an insurance agent. He referred to Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, saying Siddoway “has great passion when he talks about wolves. I have a similar passion when it comes to talking…
More from the insurance exchange debate in the Senate: Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell, said he’d start with Chief Justice John Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court. Rice, a lawyer, said he has great respect for the courts, but said of Roberts, “He is a supreme…
Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, told the Senate, “I know there’s a lot of work that has gone into this.” But, he said, “Sovereignty is supreme power, supremacy. So when we’re told that states are supreme, I ask the question: What are we doing?” He…
Sens. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, and Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, have, like Sen. Dean Mortimer before them, asked a series of questions of Sen. John Tippets, R-Montpelier, the floor sponsor of the health insurance exchange bill, without actually debating the bill. When the questions began,…
Here’s some of the debate in the Senate so far on SB 1042, the governor’s state health insurance exchange bill: Sen. Steven Thayn, R-Emmett, said if Idaho wants to resist the federal government, “I would maintain that this is not the bill.” He said, “What…
Sen. John Tippets, R-Montpelier, opening debate on the health insurance exchange bill, said, “Senators, here we are. We’re going to vote today, at least I hope we’re going to vote today, on an issue that we’ve been debating for … months.” He said, “If we…
The Senate has convened this morning, with SB 1042, the governor’s state health insurance exchange bill, atop its calendar for debate. A debate of several hours is expected; the Senate previously announced that it won’t take a break today until it’s finished debating and voting…
Though Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden had requested a 9 percent increase in state general funds for his office next year, and 5.3 percent overall, the budget set this morning by the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee shows just a 5.4 percent increase in general funds and…
The Legislature’s joint budget committee set another bare-bones budget this morning for the Division of Professional-Technical Education, coming in just below the governor’s recommendation at a 1.4 percent increase in state general tax funds. It includes small, specific expenditures for equipment replacement at the state’s…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
