State law requires a study and report to the governor and Legislature each year on how Idaho’s state employee compensation stacks up compared to the market. The result this year: Idaho’s classified employee salaries are 18.9 percent below market. That’s compared to comparable jobs in…
David Hensley, chief of staff for Gov. Butch Otter, said the governor’s proposal for a state health care exchange is “really straightforward.” He said, “We are exercising our state sovereignty and maintaining as much decision making authority as possible.” The exchange would be a quasi-governmental…
“I feel a bit like a warm-up act for some big band,” said Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, as he stepped forward to introduce his proposed bill in Senate Commerce this afternoon on state hiring of disabled veterans. Next up after his proposal is Gov. Butch…
There’s a pretty full house in the Senate Commerce Committee this afternoon, where the governor’s long-awaited health insurance exchange legislation is scheduled to be introduced. It’s the third item on the agenda; it’s not a public hearing, just a bill introduction.
House and Senate Democrats unveiled a five-bill package of legislation this morning aimed at enhancing voting rights, from allowing online voter registration – something they said 15 states already have – to, like most other states, adopting a “Motor Voter” law requiring voter registration materials…
Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, asked Karen Echeverria, executive director of the Idaho School Boards Association, whether Proposition 1 actually passed “throughout the state.” Said Nielsen, “Throughout the state, was there districts or precincts or whatever you want to say that actually support Prop 1,…
The House Education Committee has voted 12-3 along party lines to introduce legislation reinstating two more provisions from the voter-rejected Proposition 1: Requiring that teacher contract negotiations be conducted in public, and allowing school districts to unilaterally impose contract terms if an agreement isn’t reached…
Non-resident deer and elk tags from Idaho Fish & Game used to sell out, but they don’t now, F&G Director Virgil Moore told legislative budget writers this morning. “We had a quota, so they would sell out early each year and we had that revenue…
Senate Education Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, said he backs new legislation allowing school boards to cut the salaries of experienced teachers because it beats laying off teachers. “When you’re given X number of dollars to employ teachers, either you employ less teachers and increase…
Idaho Education Association President Penni Cyr is disputing Idaho School Boards Association chief Karen Echeverria’s assertion that the IEA only had problems with two portions of Proposition 1, regarding continuing contract rights and limiting teacher negotiations to just salary and benefits. “Frankly, everything in Proposition…
Before she proposed her four pieces of new legislation this afternoon, Karen Echeverria, executive director of the Idaho School Boards Association, said she thought the Idaho Education Association, the state’s teachers union, really only objected to two parts of the voter-rejected Proposition 1: Banning teachers…
Sen. Branden Durst, D-Boise, asked Idaho School Boards Association Executive Director Karen Echeverria about the recent Office of Performance Evaluations report that found a sense of “despair” among Idaho’s school teachers, and how the legislation she’s proposing to bring back parts of the “Students Come…
Four new bills proposed by the Idaho School Boards Association were introduced on party-line votes this afternoon in the Senate Education Committee to roll back collective bargaining rights for Idaho teachers, echoing some of the provisions in the voter-repealed Proposition 1. On all four, the…
Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf has been unanimously confirmed by the state Senate; he was appointed to the post after elected Controller Donna Jones stepped down to focus on recovering from injuries suffered in an auto accident. “It’s not often that we have a vacancy…
The House has voted unanimously to honor Kristin Armstrong, the two-time Olympic gold medal cyclist from Boise. “In my estimation, Kristin Armstrong has grit and courage and determination – she doesn’t give up,” said Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise. “And she reminds us that the Idaho…
State Department of Lands Director Tom Schultz distributed a laminated card to lawmakers showing the acreage burned in wildfires in Idaho from 1983 to 2012, plus in the catastrophic fire year of 1910. 2012, at 1.75 million acres burned, was almost as high as 1910,…
Idaho Department of Lands Director Tom Schultz, who is making his budget pitch to lawmakers, got lots of questions from members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, including why, when the state is reaping record timber harvests, its timber revenue has dropped; see this chart here.…
Things are gearing up, as the Legislature heads into the fourth week of its session. This afternoon, the Senate Education Committee is scheduled consider four bills from the Idaho School Boards Association to limit teachers’ collective bargaining rights, some of them restoring changes that voters…
Idaho’s state parks department, which now gets only $1.3 million a year in state funding, is making its budget pitch to lawmakers this morning. “We are very proud to say we’ve been able to keep all 30 of our state parks open,” state Parks Director…
The intrusion of an armed open-carry advocate who blended in with an evening Cub Scout tour of the Idaho House and then used the opportunity to rifle through lawmakers desks in the House chamber, go through trash cans and photograph papers has state lawmakers considering…
On tonight’s “Idaho Reports” program on Idaho Public Television, I join Jim Weatherby, John Freemuth and host Greg Hahn to discuss the week’s developments in the Legislature; the program also includes Hahn’s 30-minute interview with Gov. Butch Otter on everything from the First and Second…
While a professor lectures to a classroom full of University of Idaho students, above the students’ heads, brown water marks stand out on the classroom ceiling. Window frames are rotting. A corroded and leaking boiler heats a building at Idaho State University, and sidewalks are…
The Milk Producers of Idaho have come out in favor of Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal for a state-based health insurance exchange in Idaho. “The board strongly felt that it is important to have decisions regarding health insurance coverage in Idaho to be determined by Idahoans…
The House Education Committee today voted unanimously to introduce a bill sponsored by its chairman, Rep. Reed DeMordaunt, R-Eagle, and Senate Education Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, to restore funding left in limbo by the November defeat of Propositions 1, 2 and 3 back into…
The governor’s Task Force for Improving Education is meeting today from 10-3, at the Yanke Family Research Park, Room 207, 202. E. Parkcenter Blvd. in Boise. The morning portion of the meeting is being streamed live here, though the afternoon work session won't be streamed;…