Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A bill intended to give Idaho insurance brokers an opportunity to help clients shop for health insurance is headed for debate in a House committee. The measure introduced in the House State Affairs…
A humbled Idaho schools Superintendent Tom Luna told state lawmakers today that regardless of how it’s done, he wants Idaho to keep investing in teacher pay and classroom technology. Luna, whose ambitious “Students Come First” school reform laws were roundly rejected by voters in November,…
There were cheerleaders. There were students. There was Buster Bronco. There was Gov. Butch Otter signing a proclamation declaring today to be “Boise State University Day.” And there was the band belting out the BSU fight song. All this filled the first-floor rotunda of the…
Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo joined a bipartisan group of senators this week to reintroduce the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, sponsored by Crapo and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont. “I am a longtime champion of preventing domestic violence, because I have seen the…
Ketchum’s city council voted unanimously this week to enact protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in housing, employment and public accommodations, Boise State Public Radio reports. The city’s move follows the enactment of similar ordinances this year in Sandpoint…
The House and Senate Health & Welfare committees have announced a joint listening hearing Feb. 8 from 8-10 a.m. in the Capitol Auditorium, at the request of the House speaker and the Senate president pro-tem. The House and Senate committee chairmen said in a statement…
A former Idaho probation and parole employee is suing the state Department of Correction, charging gender discrminiation and creation of a hostile work environment after her brief relationship with a co-worker turned violent, the AP reports. The lawsuit was filed this week in U.S. District…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A House committee has agreed to debate a bill to lift the ban placed on the ability of telephone companies to make customer cold calls. The House State Affairs Committee introduced the bill…
Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Burdick gave his annual “State of the Judiciary” address to both houses of the Legislature today, telling lawmakers, “I bring greetings from Idaho’s judiciary, who handled over 436,000 filed cases and 655 filed appeals in 2012.” Among the efforts…
As legislative budget writers wrapped up their questions for state schools Supt. Tom Luna this morning, JFAC Co-Chair Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, told state schools Supt. Tom Luna, “I know that we still have a lot of issues to work through, but we’ll work through them…
JFAC Co-Chair Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, asked state schools Supt. Tom Luna about the seven or so places in his budget where his proposals depart from statutory requirements – which would mean either the laws must be changed, or JFAC would have to write in “notwithstanding”…
JFAC members are beginning an hour-long question-and-answer session with state schools Supt. Tom Luna. The first question, from Sen. Steven Thayn, R-Emmett, was about the $33.9 million that Gov. Butch Otter included in his budget for possible proposals from his stakeholders group on school improvement.…
State schools Supt. Tom Luna told lawmakers he’s proposing a 1.67 percent increase in base salaries for teachers, and a $500 increase in the minimum teacher salary to $31,000. That 1.67 percent is the amount that was removed from state funds for teacher pay by…
Among the differences between state schools Superintendent Tom Luna’s budget proposal for Idaho’s public schools next year and Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal: Otter called for $9.6 million for the Idaho Digital Learning Academy next year, as required by the pre-Props 1, 2 and 3 funding…
In his newly revised public school budget request for next year, state schools Superintendent Tom Luna is proposing $1.31 million in state general funds, a 3 percent increase from this year; and $1.6 billion in total funds, a 2.6 percent increase from this year. He’s…
State lawmakers should stick to the funding total that they promised schools for the current year, despite voters’ rejection of Propositions 1, 2 and 3, state schools Supt. Tom Luna told JFAC this morning. “It is important and necessary that districts and schools receive the…
State Schools Supt. Tom Luna is requesting a 3 percent increase in state funding for public schools next year, in his newly revised budget request. Gov. Butch Otter recommended a 2 percent increase in state general funds.
Beginning his public schools budget pitch, state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that much has changed since he first submitted a budget request in September – namely, the repeal of the “Students Come First” laws. “At the same time we…
After Propositions 1, 2 and 3, the “Students Come First” school reforms, were rejected by voters in November, the state Department of Education laid off three employees, state schools Superintendent Tom Luna told lawmakers this morning, in response to questions about the number of positions…
When state schools Superintendent Tom Luna stepped to the microphone in the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee this morning after a harrowing trip in on the icy roads from Nampa, he got a laugh when he commented, “I was anticipating when I listened to the school…
As the 18thday of this year’s legislative session opens this morning, the roads in Boise have some of the worst travel conditions I’ve seen in my quarter-century-plus here. The ice was an inch thick at my house; several of my neighbors had collided at the…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
