Senate Health & Welfare Committee Chairman Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, told the crowd at today’s Medicaid expansion hearing, “We’re certainly happy that all of you have come today. We have two options. There’s one that I would like to pursue, and that is to have…
Hundreds of people have filled the halls of the state Capitol's garden level this afternoon for the hearing on two bills to expand Medicaid in Idaho, SB 1204 and SB 1205. Only those who are testifying and a few others have been allowed into the…
The Idaho Department of Fish & Game announced today that it has secured a permanent public easement along two miles of Silver Creek, the famed fly-fishing preserve in Blaine County. Fish & Game secured the easement through an exchange with the Purdy family, which owns…
It turns out that voters who want to change their party affiliation at the polls for Idaho’s March 8 presidential primary will be able to do so after all. Legislation proposed by Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney to move up the affiliation deadline...
President Barack Obama has signed a second disaster declaration for Idaho and ordered federal aid. The president signed the declaration on Monday due to severe winter storms in December in northern Idaho that...
A pending rule covering new science and humanities standards is in limbo after members of the House Education Committee complained about the public input process surrounding the creation of the standards, Idaho EdNews reports. Committee Chairman Reed DeMordaunt, R-Eagle, led the effort to reject the…
The House has voted 66-2 in favor of launching a computer science education initiative in Idaho’s public schools, with just Reps. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, and Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton, objecting. The legislation, sponsored by House Education Chairman Reed DeMordaunt, R-Eagle, calls for the state’s STEM Action…
Idaho’s state parks aren’t requesting any increase in state funding next year – Gov. Butch Otter’s budget proposal actually calls for a 2.1 percent decrease in state funding – but they have a long list of plans for park improvements and repairs coming from other…
As the presidential race focused on Iowa yesterday, Idaho Sen. Jim Risch was at an elementary school in Iowa Falls campaigning for Marco Rubio in the Iowa caucuses; Rubio finished third, with Ted Cruz in the lead and Donald Trump second. Risch called Rubio “the...
Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little pressed the Senate and House Education committees today to support his resolution backing the state’s “go-on” goal, which calls for 60 percent of Idahoans age 25-34 to have a post-secondary degree or certificate by the year 2020. “It starts in...
Gov. Butch Otter has named attorney Susan Buxton to head the state Division of Human Resources, effective March 1. She replaces Vicki Tokita, who retired in 2014; since then, David Fulkerson, fiscal officer for the state Division of Financial Management, has been filling in as…
After hearing testimony both for and against HB 380, the tax-cut bill, the House Revenue & Taxation Committee debated the bill and voted down two competing motions before passing it. “I agree education is important,” Rep. Mike Moyle, R-Star, the bill’s lead sponsor, told the…
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, opened the Rev & Tax committee hearing on his tax-cut bill this morning by saying, “I think there’s a misnomer, if you listen to some of the people, that Idaho is right where it needs to be, that we’re...
House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, has returned to the House chamber today, after naming substitutes for the first three weeks while he helped care for his wife, Kay, while she underwent treatment for cancer. “She had brain surgery the first of last month,” Rusche…
The House State Affairs Committee has voted 13-3 in favor of HB 387, to require community college trustees to run from designated zones. Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, said community colleges boards currently don’t provide enough representation to rural areas within their districts. Mark Browning, vice president...
After much testimony and discussion, including a rant from former fringe candidate for governor Harley Brown, the House Revenue & Taxation Committee has voted 13-2 in favor of HB 380, Rep. Mike Moyle’s tax-cut bill. The only two “no” votes came from Reps. Mat Erpelding, D-Boise, and Mark Nye, D-Pocatello...
The House State Affairs Committee, which had been scheduled to take up HB 388 this morning, a proposal from Secretary of State Lawerence Denney for new public records exemptions to protect certain contact information in candidate and PAC filings, has put that off. “We’re going…
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle’s tax-cut bill, which lowers individual and corporate income tax rates while raising the grocery tax credit by $10, is up for a hearing in the House Revenue & Taxation Committee this morning; you can listen live here. The meeting starts...
Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, is bringing back his proposal to change the Idaho Constitution to allow the Legislature to call itself back into special session, solely for the purpose of overriding a veto by the governor. Vick proposed the same constitutional amendment in 2014...