After much debate, all seven pieces of the public school budget for next year – which reflects a 5.1 percent increase in state funding from this year – have passed the House, and are on their way to the Senate. Objections came members of both…
It’s getting very, very difficult to go back inside after venturing out, even briefly. So here’s Legislative Limerick No. 2 for this session: Outside the birds twitter happily A little dog passes by yappily The sun and light breeze Little buds on the trees Let’s…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has signed into law the justice reinvestment bill, SB 1357, after it unanimously passed both the House and Senate. The measure, calls for reforms to Idaho's probation and parole systems in an attempt to reserve prison space for the most dangerous…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter signed 15 bills into law yesterday, including HB 547, which directs that cigarette tax receipts that now are going to pay off bonds on the state Capitol renovation will instead go to road work and water projects next year, once the…
After passing HJR 2, the constitutional amendment to enshrine legislative review of administrative rules in the state Constitution, on a unanimous vote, the Senate has recessed to 1:45, and the House has recessed to 4 p.m. Both houses are planning a signing ceremony for the…
Retiring Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, has endorsed Avista Corp. official Greg Gfeller for the seat Henderson will be vacating next year, as Gfeller heads into a hotly contested three-way GOP primary race. “I was looking for someone with a business background, because jobs are…
With a 67-1 vote of the Idaho House this morning, lawmakers have sent legislation granting raises to the state’s judges and justices to Gov. Butch Otter’s desk. “The judges and justices in the state of Idaho are some of the lowest paid in the nation,…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A new report from Idaho's state auditors shows that sentencing a defendant to life in prison without parole is more expensive than imposing the death penalty. But the Office of Performance Evaluations also…
Budget bills are moving through both houses; among them, the Senate this morning voted unanimously in favor of SB 1415, the budget bill for the state’s community colleges for next year. Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, lauded the inclusion of funds for expanding outreach efforts…
It already passed once, but today the Idaho Senate again passed HB 546, the business tax credits bill, this time as amended to address constitutional concerns raised in an Idaho Attorney General’s opinion. Proposed by state Commerce Director Jeff Sayer, the House-passed bill would allow…
The Senate has voted 28-6, achieving the required two-thirds margin, to suspend the rule that allows former senators floor privileges with respect to one former senator - Nicole LeFavour - in response to LeFavour’s “Add the Words” protest yesterday in which she hid in a…
HB 441, a bill from the Idaho Association of Counties to make a series of technical changes to the law to ease the administration of the $100,000 per-taxpayer, per-county property tax exemption that lawmakers passed last year for business equipment, is headed to the Senate’s…
Twenty people were arrested by Idaho State Police and charged with trespassing late last night after refusing to leave the state Capitol in an "Add the Words" demonstration, including a number who had been arrested on similar charges in earlier demonstrations this year. The protesters…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
