Idaho lawmakers are in a standstill after Republican infighting halted both chambers from moving forward on any major legislative action. On Thursday, House members only had passed just three bills over the course of eight hours. That's because leadership kept sending the House on breaks after the most conservative members kept requesting that...
Pressed by reporters about the dysfunction in the House GOP caucus this year, House Speaker Scott Bedke said the House functions, in part, on unanimous consent. “If we have unanimous consent, we’ll proceed. If we don’t, then we’ll see what we absolutely have got to…
The House finally returned to its chamber at 5 p.m., and a noticeably hoarse Speaker Scott Bedke went through the formalities of moving toward adjournment for the day. Several House committees are scheduled to meet tomorrow, including the House Ways & Means Committee at 8:30;…
Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, just told the Senate that it will be adjourning for the day, to return at 10 a.m. tomorrow; the Senate has finished everything on its calendar except for SB 1162, the $300 million GARVEE bonding bill. “We’ve got...
In the two hours that the House Republicans have been locked in a closed-door caucus, the Senate has passed, by my count, at least 10 bills, nearly all of them unanimously but a handful with one or two “no” votes. The Senate is busily clearing…
The Senate has voted unanimously, 35-0, in favor of HB 301a, the big oil and gas regulation bill. “This bill comes before you at this point in the session as a compromise bill,” Sen. Abby Lee, R-Fruitland, told the House. “This is a bill where…
Well, the House came back on the floor after its mid-day recess, and when Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, asked unanimous consent to waive further reading of the next bill, the Idaho Transportation Department budget bill, Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, objected. So the clerk read the…
With bumpy course followed by the House this morning – on what’s scheduled to be the next-to-last day of the legislative session, the House got through only one bill this morning – House Speaker Scott Bedke said, “This is to be expected at the end…
HB 67a, the grocery tax repeal bill, will be referred to a House committee for a review of the Senate amendments, House Speaker Scott Bedke says. The committee then would typically make a recommendation to the full House to either concur not concur in the...
House Speaker Scott Bedke has referred Majority Leader Mike Moyle’s bill to undermine regional transportation authorities around the state back to the Ways & Means Committee, rather than assigning it to a germane committee for a possible hearing. Asked about it, Bedke said, “That means...
After Reps. Heather Scott and Priscilla Giddings had spent 40 minutes meeting behind closed doors with legislative leaders, during which there was much milling around in the House, the announcement came that the House will remain at ease until 1:30, and everyone can go to…
When there was another objection to waiving full reading of a bill in the House – this time for the next bill up, regarding children's mental health – House Speaker Scott Bedke put the House at ease. “You’re all in receipt of an email,” he told...
So far in the House this morning, there’s been a sentimental program to recognize and graduate the House pages, and Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, directed that HB 67a – the bill that originally was an income tax-cut bill, but the Senate transformed into a bill…
The House State Affairs Committee this morning barely approved legislation designed to settle a lawsuit by writing an exemption into the state’s laws banning nudity and explicit live performances at places licensed to serve alcohol for “any theatrical or artistic performance which, when considered as…
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee met this morning to do three things: Two “trailer” appropriation bills related to the state’s planned purchase of the HP campus in West Boise, and a reconsideration that turned into something of a tempest in a teapot. On the property purchase,…
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, pushed new legislation in the House Ways & Means Committee this morning aimed at undercutting regional public transportation authorities across the state, because he said highway districts shouldn’t ever be involved in mass transit. “That’s not a function of...
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, persuaded the House Revenue & Taxation Committee this morning to send the unemployment insurance tax cut bill, SB 1195, the House’s amending order to tack on an income tax cut. The move carried on an 11-5 vote in Rev...
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
