On tonight’s “Idaho Reports” program on Idaho Public Television, I join Jim Weatherby, Dan Popkey, Emilie Ritter Saunders, who’s filling in for co-host Aaron Kunz this week, and host Melissa Davlin for a discussion of the events of the legislative session’s eventful fifth week; also,…
Idaho’s latest monthly general fund revenue report is out, and January state tax revenues came in 8.7 percent below the revised forecast, for a year-to-date shortfall of 1.4 percent. However, year-to-date receipts are still 4.1 percent higher than the same period in fiscal year 2013.…
Legislation to take the first step in Idaho’s justice reinvestment project was introduced this afternoon in the Senate Judiciary Committee; it could be up for a hearing next week. The bill, co-sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chair Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, and House Judiciary Chair Rich…
Rep. Ed Morse, R-Hayden, a longtime real estate appraiser, introduced legislation today to repeal a section of Idaho state law that says a conservation easement “shall not have an effect” on property values for tax purposes, and values for properties with those easements “shall be…
Legislation introduced in the House Revenue & Taxation Committee today would extend the existing sales tax exemption for prescription medications to glasses and contact lenses. “The prescription exemption has been on the books since 1966,” Kris Ellis, lobbyist for the Idaho Optometric Physicians, told the…
Former Idaho Sen. Evan Frasure, R-Pocatello, who’s running for Secretary of State, was back in the Statehouse today, passing through along with GOP schools superintendent candidate Randy Jensen of American Falls; the two are headed to Lewiston tomorrow and Moscow the next day, on a…
Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, told the House today that presenting HB 378, his bill to establish an “Idaho Day” to “be celebrated with great jubilation every year on March 4th”, the anniversary of the day that President Abraham Lincoln signed the congressional act creating…
Seven-term state Rep. Darrell Bolz, R-Caldwell, vice-chair of the budget-writing Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, announced today that he won’t run for an eighth term. Bolz, who said he’s not endorsing anyone for his seat, said he’s enjoyed his time in the Legislature and found it rewarding,…
Five to 10 percent of Idaho has no broadband services available, Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, told the House Revenue & Taxation Committee this morning, and it’s mostly the remote parts of rural Idaho. He compared the situation to the days when the federal Rural Electrification…
Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee Chairman Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, brought legislation to the House Rev & Tax Committee this morning to remove regulated utilities and railroads from the partial personal property tax exemption on business equipment that lawmakers enacted last year. “Bottom line is…
Seventy percent of Idaho’s 143 public libraries are the only source of free interstate access in their communities, Idaho Commission for Libraries Director Ann Joslin told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning. “In Idaho, residential broadband continues to lag the national average,” she said. “Our…
Mercy for Animals, the national group that took the hidden-camera video that showed workers at a southern Idaho dairy beating, kicking and jumping on cows and led to criminal charges against the workers, has issued a statement today decrying the introduction of legislation yesterday to…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
