Gov. Butch Otter had a lot to say this morning at his annual on-the-record Q-and-A session with the Idaho Press Club, including some comments about the legislation that’s up for debate in the House today to outlaw the Idaho Lottery’s electronic touch-tab vending machines – machines that have been in place for six years, are legal, and that currently are raising $3 million a year for Idaho schools and the state’s Permanent Building Fund.

“We’ve been successful with the touch-tabs, very successful,” Otter said. “I’m not going to say what I would do when it reaches my desk, but if it has been successful, if it is legal, if it meets all of the criteria that we had when we created it, then I see no reason to change it.” He added, “In fact, I heard that was a reluctant vote.”

Otter also said Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson received clearance from the governor's chief of staff to testify against the bill in committee. 

The bill, HB 28, is the first one up for debate during the House floor session that starts at 11 a.m. today.

I’ll have more to post soon from the governor’s comments to the Press Club this morning – but first, I’ll be making my way through the current blizzard back to the Statehouse. The governor’s address to the Idaho Press Club this morning took place at Beside Bardenay.