Idaho Fish and Game commissioners will consider doubling the amount of money available to compensate landowners for crop damage caused by deer, elk and other wildlife, the Lewiston Tribune reports. Commissioner Dan Blanco of Moscow said the commission directed the Idaho Department of Fish and…
Idaho’s state Department of Administration had its eye on three properties near the Capitol Mall that the state Land Board decided to auction off last year as part of a shift in its endowment investment strategy, as possible office space for state agencies, but despite...
What if you’re on a two-lane road, and you want to pass another motorist who’s going a couple of miles below the speed limit, but just to get past them safely, you need to exceed the speed limit? Rep. Lance Clow, R-Twin Falls, has an…
Idaho Sen. Jim Risch is staunchly defending his role in blocking a letter from Coretta Scott King from being entered into the record in the U.S. Senate during Tuesday evening’s debate over the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general, saying Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren violated Senate rules by bringing up the letter...
House State Affairs Chairman Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, introduced a bill in his committee this morning targeting tribal gaming, seeking to alter part of the law created when voters passed Proposition 1 in 2002 to authorize tribal casinos. Specifically, Loertscher wants to add a clause banning...
A Meridian woman’s years-long push to get state law changed regarding notification of a lapse in life insurance policies is making some headway, reports Times-News reporter Nathan Brown. He writes that Kathy Peterson got a version of her bill introduced in 2014, but it never…
January state tax revenues came in 6.7 percent ahead of projections, $22.9 million higher, largely due to strong individual and corporate income tax collections for the month. The January figures pushed fiscal year to date collections to 2 percent above forecasts, and were 12.3 percent…
Legislation pushed by House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, cleared the House Revenue & Taxation Committee yesterday on a party-line vote over objections from cities, counties, library districts and others, to address “foregone” revenue for local governments, the amount that builds up and is available…
President Donald Trump's executive orders have spawned more than 50 lawsuits in the past few weeks, but they earned a "hearty congratulations" from Idaho's chief executive, writes Bill Spence of the Lewiston Tribune. In a recent letter, which Gov. Butch Otter described to the Idaho…
Every year, leather-clad motorcyclists come to the Capitol to lobby for motorcycle rights, including a bill to forbid “motorcycle profiling” – and this year, the measure’s been introduced. Rep. Robert Anderst, R-Nampa, said legislation already has passed in Washington and in Maryland; his bill doesn’t…
State auditors say Idaho's child welfare system is overwhelmed, with too few foster parents, too heavy caseloads for social workers and not enough infrastructure to hold it all together. The study from the Legislature's Office of Performance Evaluations found that the number of foster parents has decreased by 8 percent since 2014, while social...
All the testimony in the House Judiciary Committee today on HB 97, a measure to re-impose the same rule for when attorney fees should be awarded in civil cases that Idaho’s had for the past 38 years, was in favor of the bill, and it…
Two award-winning Idaho science teachers are urging lawmakers to approve a new slate of science standards that are designed to encourage students to behave like scientists, Idaho EdNews reports. Because of a mix-up involving the day’s agenda, the House Education Committee took no action on...
On a unanimous, 70-0 vote, the House has endorsed legislation to dump a $75 per year surcharge on gas hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius, that lawmakers enacted two years ago. The fee would remain in place for plug-in hybrids; the bill also wouldn’t change…
The House has voted overwhelmingly against HB 28 to ban the Idaho Lottery’s electronic touch-tab machines, killing it on an 18-52 vote. Rep. Steven Harris, R-Meridian, the bill’s sponsor, told the House that on a recent visit to a local tavern with other lawmakers...
Gov. Butch Otter commented on refugees and religion, Idaho’s health care coverage gap, the need for transparency in Idaho’s oil and gas regulations, faith healing, Idaho Fish & Game fee increase legislation and more during his address to the Idaho Press Club this morning. Here…
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 –...
The Senate Health & Welfare Committee introduced a bill this afternoon proposed by Richelle Vannoy, the mother of a 13-year-old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome, to broaden Idaho’s definition of “assistance dogs” for disabled people to cover any kind of “support animal.” Vannoy, who said her...
Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how horrendous wait times at the only driver’s license office in Kootenai County have prompted the county and state to move to open a second location later this year. “The wait times are often three…
People’s lives were at stake when pavement on Interstate 90 through Coeur d’Alene broke apart earlier this winter, ITD says, so the department put together a $450,000 emergency repair project to patch the potholes that opened during a midwinter thaw. The work was done during…
A new study by the Legislature’s Office of Performance Evaluations concludes that Idaho’s child welfare system not only needs big increases in staffing, it needs formal system-wide oversight through a new entity – possibly a new standing committee of the Legislature. “Gaps in placement services,…
Despite urging from multiple law enforcement representatives to reject it, the House Transportation Committee has voted 10-7 in favor of Rep. Ron Nate’s bill to remove the requirement for a front license plate for any vehicle that wasn’t manufactured with a spot for one. Chairman…
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter says Maj. Gen. Gary Sayler will continue serving as the commanding officer of the Idaho National Guard despite no longer being the state's federally recognized adjutant general. Otter tells The Associated Press that the federal government denied his request to extend Sayler's federally recognized status in January...
Rep. Elaine Smith, D-Pocatello, is back in the House today, after being gone for the session’s first few weeks due to illness, including a heart operation; House members welcomed her back. Rep. Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d’Alene, who’s been out for knee replacement surgery, isn’t back yet....
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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