The Senate has briefly convened, then gone at ease at the call of the chair, with the caution that it will be at least until 3:30. “We met briefly with our friends from the body across the rotunda,” Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls,…
The House was scheduled to come back into session at 1:30, and the Senate at 2, but it’s now past 2:30 Boise time and neither has. In the House, folks are milling around, while members of leadership are in and out of meetings behind closed doors....
Gov. Butch Otter has vetoed HB 197, legislation from Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, to change the way Idaho handles special elections when there’s a vacancy mid-term in one of the state’s two U.S. House seats. “While I appreciate the desire to establish an orderly process…
The Senate has voted 19-16 in favor of SB 1206, the transportation funding bill, sending it to the House side.
More from today’s Senate debate on SB 1206, the transportation funding bill: Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, said, “I have voted for gas tax increases and registration fee increases and done so at political peril in my district, and have taken that heat at campaign time.…
More from the Senate debate on SB 1206, the transportation funding bill: Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, said, “This bill has been a concern for me, it’s given me quite a bit of heartburn, especially the $300 million. As I’ve weighed this bill in my...
From the Senate debate on SB 1206: Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, spoke against the bill, saying, “The state has adequate revenues to pay as it goes and fix its roads. ... ‘Course, that assumes we cut the fat out of the budget.” Sen. Marv Hagedorn,…
Senate Transportation Chairman Bert Brackett, opening debate in the Senate on SB 1206, the transportation funding bill, distributed statements from several agricultural groups supporting the bill, along with a summary from the Idaho Transportation Department of past projects funded by GARVEE bonds in Idaho. "Certainly…
The Senate is in session this morning, and Majority Leader Bart Davis announced that the plan is that it’ll run through several other measures – a memorial calling on the Air Force and Congress to consider locating an F-35 squadron at Gowen Field in Boise;…
The sales tax on food we all pay Lawmakers say should go away Our families would save Both parties would rave But only Butch has the last say.
Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on today’s passage of legislation to repeal Idaho’s 6 percent sales tax on groceries – legislation that now goes to Gov. Butch Otter, who has hinted at a possible veto...
After passing four "trailer" appropriation bills, including HB 318, funding a new administrator of invasive species in the governor's office, and HB 317, allowing the Idaho Department of Fish & Game to spend money from a newly approved "price-lock" fee increase, the Senate has adjourned…
The full Senate will not be debating SB 1206, the big new transportation bill, tonight after all. “We have heard from a few of you that you would like to have a chance to reflect more on the transportation bill,” Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis,…
After passing the grocery tax repeal bill – sending it to Gov. Butch Otter’s desk – the House has now adjourned until 10 a.m. on Tuesday.
The Senate Transportation Committee spent lots of time debating before finally voting in favor of SB 1206, the $320 million-plus transportation funding bill, on a voice vote.. Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, moved to approve the bill, and Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, seconded the motion.…
The House has voted 51-19 in favor of HB 67a, the bill to remove Idaho’s 6 percent sales tax on groceries. Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, spoke out in favor of the bill. “I think it’s immoral. I think it’s wrong to tax people on their...
The House is now taking up HB 67a, the grocery tax repeal bill. Meanwhile, the Senate Transportation Committee is in the midst of debating SB 1206, the new transportation funding bill.
At 3:56 p.m., the Senate gaveled back into order. Immediately read across the desk was SB 1206, the new transportation funding bill. Also read was a joint memorial supporting an F-35 million at Gowen Field, HJM 9. Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, announced…
Finally, the Senate Judiciary Committee got the new transportation bill from Sen. Bert Brackett, Rogerson. He went over the provisions of the bill, and as soon as he’d finished, Sen. Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, moved to introduce the bill. Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, seconded the...
The House came back on the floor, and received the Rev & Tax Committee’s recommendation in favor of concurring with the Senate amendments to HB 67, the grocery tax repeal bill. The House then agreed by unanimous consent to concur in those Senate amendments. The...
The Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee, which had been scheduled to meet at 2:15 to introduce a new transportation bill, had a holdup as it waited for the new bill to be printed; it’s still waiting. The new bill, from Senate Transportation Chairman Bert Brackett,...
The House Revenue & Taxation Committee has voted unanimously, 16-0, in favor of concurring in the Senate amendments to HB 67a, to repeal the state's 6 percent sales tax on groceries.
In his closing comments to the House Rev & Tax Committee, Sen. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, said of the current 6 percent sales tax on groceries, “It’s not the best policy in the sense that it is a necessity. … It can become a dire necessity.”…
In more testimony on the grocery tax repeal bill, all in favor of it: Eileen Stachowski of the Idaho Farmers Market Association said her members support the bill, and it would help those who sell food as well as those who buy it. Tammy Nichols...
Among those testifying at this afternoon’s hearing on the proposal to repeal Idaho’s 6 percent sales tax on groceries: Fred Birnbaum of the Idaho Freedom Foundation said he believes the estimates of the cost of the repeal are “high end,” and he believes it actually…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
| Dec. 2017 | Nov. 2017 | Oct. 2017 | Sept. 2017 |
| Aug. 2017 | July 2017 | June 2017 | May 2017 |
| April 2017 | March 2017 | Feb. 2017 | Jan. 2017 |
