An Idaho Senate panel has introduced legislation that would freeze college and university tuition for incoming freshmen so they would pay the same rate for at least four academic years. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's office unveiled the plan to the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday. The bill would guarantee...
When the head of an Idaho board charged with killing problem wolves was asked directly by a state senator on Monday how many wolves the board has had killed this year and how much it cost, he wouldn’t say. A day later, officials confirmed the reason for the reticence: An operation is now under way to kill more wolves in the Lolo region of North ...
On a party-line vote, the House Business Committee has agreed to introduce “state pre-emption” legislation proposed by the Idaho Retailers Association to ban any local ballot initiatives or ordinances to raise the minimum wage above the state minimum. Pam Eaton, president and CEO of the…
Sen. Jim Patrick has brought a new version of his bill to get rid of the requirement for front license plates on cars, this one just to exempt those vehicles that were “manufactured with no place to put the plates.” Patrick said this measure is…
The House has voted 55-15 in favor of HB 431, the bill to remove the indexing from the homeowner’s exemption from property taxes, instead just fixing the exemption at a maximum of $100,000. Five Republicans and 10 Democrats voted against the bill; 51 Republicans and...
Federal wildlife officials confirmed Monday that they are in the midst of an Idaho-sponsored wolf control effort in the Clearwater Region’s Lolo zone, Lewiston Tribune reporter Eric Barker writes. It’s the third year in a row that the Wildlife Services program and the Idaho Department...
Rep. Christy Perry, R-Nampa, and Sen. Todd Lakey, R-Nampa, presented the findings of the Legislature’s interim committee on public defense to JFAC this morning, and it came with a substantial price tag: $5.48 million a year for a ramped-up Idaho Public Defense Commission, including 4.5…
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden told legislative budget writers this morning that when Idaho’s case over Medicaid reimbursement amounts went to the U.S. Supreme Court, he was immediately contacted by an array of “high-powered, high-priced Washington, D.C. law firms” asking to represent the state before…
Teenager Carson Magee of Coeur d'Alene buttonholed Gov. Butch Otter in 2014 and urged him to proclaim the second Monday in February each year as Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day, and this is the second year for the educational event and annual proclamation at...
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
