Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on today’s dramatic developments in the Senate, in which backers of removing the state’s 6 percent sales tax from groceries successfully held off a series of amendments proposed by the Senate’s top GOP leader to a...
Online retail giant Amazon says it will begin collecting state sales tax from Idaho shoppers starting next month. Boise TV station KTVB reports Amazon will begin collecting the 6 percent sales tax on April 1. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter called the change a matter of fairness...
In a dramatic showdown on the floor of the Idaho Senate this afternoon, backers of removing the state’s 6 percent sales tax from groceries successfully held off a series of amendments proposed by the Senate’s top GOP leader to a House-passed tax cut bill, and…
The Idaho Senate debated and rejected Medicaid expansion this afternoon, as Senate Democrats pushed the plan in an amendment. “Over the past couple of years we had much discussion about waiting for the presidential election,” said Sen. Maryanne Jordan, D-Boise. “Well, that’s happened. Then the...
The Senate is in its 14th Order for amendments, and there are two bills with conflicting amendments: SB 1142, the $10 million health gap bill; and HB 67, the income tax cut bill. The health care bill is up first; you can watch live here.…
The House Ways & Means Committee has voted 6-1 to introduce legislation to allow the state of Idaho to issue bonds to finance a state purchase of the Hewlett-Packard campus in West Boise, while still allowing HP to occupy part of the campus under a…
Sen. Bert Brackett’s big transportation funding bill went down on a 4-5 vote in the Senate Transportation Committee this afternoon, but then a more limited $300 million GARVEE bonding bill, SB 1162, passed on a 5-4 vote. Sen. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, moved to send...
Gov. Butch Otter says the state is seeking approval to negotiate the purchase of the HP Boise campus, the West Boise high-tech campus that formerly housed thousands of Hewlett-Packard Corp. workers, as “a new home for the Idaho State Tax Commission and several other state…
Yet another version of the big transportation funding bill has been introduced in the Senate, and now it’s up for a hearing this afternoon in the Senate Transportation Committee, starting momentarily. Like its predecessor, SB 1184, SB 1188 includes numerous boosts to transportation funding, including…
The House has voted unanimously – 70-0 – in favor of HB 273, the bill to expand the Idaho Open Meeting law to include boards, commissions or councils created by executive order. “We go to great lengths as public officials … that we hold open…
Rep. Karey Hanks, R-St. Anthony, has objected to waiving the full reading of SB 1138, the Idaho Public Television budget bill, forcing a full reading of the appropriation bill in the House. But it only took a few minutes; the bill wasn't long. And then the bill passed without debate...
The House has voted 69-0 in favor of HB 104aaS – that’s “as amended in the Senate” – regarding dog racing. The bill combines two House-passed bills, one from Rep. Clark Kauffman, to grant an exception from Idaho’s strict ban on dog racing for a…
Legislation from Rep. Janet Trujillo, R-Idaho Falls, cleared the House Revenue & Taxation Committee on a party-line vote this morning to cut the budgeting capacity of local taxing districts – including cities, counties, and school districts – in which previously private property is purchased by…
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee met this morning to pass “trailer” appropriations – appropriation bills that fund legislation that’s already passing, covering its fiscal impact, and that “trails” behind those policy bills. Among those: Funding for the Jeff D lawsuit settlement, as approved in HB 43.…
What more will an open mike catch Before session’s out for this batch? True feelings galore An unjust freedom score? Let’s wrap this up with dispatch. (In case you missed it, this year's Legislative Limerick No. 1 is online here; it’s entitled, “How to do…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
