Responding to concerns raised by a legislative interim committee and a recent Office of Performance Evaluations report that found that 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…
The Legislature’s Joint Millennium Fund Committee, which makes recommendations on how to spend millions each year in earnings from Idaho’s share of a nationwide tobacco settlement, gave a belated report to JFAC this morning, which is scheduled to set the Millennium Fund budget tomorrow morning.…
The Idaho House ground to a halt Monday, as a handful of lawmakers fearful about international implications of a bill updating Idaho’s notary laws forced an hour-plus reading of the 21-page bill, before it finally passed with just seven “no” votes...
After all that, HB 209, the bill to update Idaho’s notary laws, has passed the House on a 63-7 vote. It’s kept the House on the floor today long past its anticipated afternoon adjournment; anyone who was hoping to attend an afternoon committee meeting that…
After well over an hour of reading by Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, finally opened debate on HB 209, the bill to update Idaho’s notary laws. “It has to do, as you all can surmise at this point, about notaries,” Luker…
She’s still reading. The full reading of HB 209 by Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, in the House has run for nearly an hour now, and is still going. So far, it’s included such scintillating verbiage as: “The fee for a certified copy of a…
To make this whole thing take even longer, the Legislature’s website crashed from over-use, and the House had to go at ease in the midst of Rep. Priscilla Giddings’ reading in full of HB 209, the update of Idaho’s notary laws. That’s because every member…
Something really unusual just happened in the House. When the House returned from being at ease, Majority Leader Mike Moyle moved for a call of the House. That means all members must be present and no one can enter or leave until the call is...
The House was about to take up a bill to update notary laws, when Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, unexpectedly objected to the unanimous consent request to waive full reading of the bill. That meant the 21-page bill had to be read in full. The...
The House has voted 65-2 in favor of Rep. Don Cheatham’s bill to allow active military members to carry concealed guns within city limits without a permit even if they’re not Idaho residents, after a motion to send the bill to the House’s amending order...
Two 2015 laws banning prescription of abortion-causing drugs by telemedicine, rather than an in-person examination, would be repealed, under legislation that cleared the House State Affairs Committee today at the behest of anti-abortion lobbyist David Ripley. Though that procedure wasn’t used in Idaho, backers of…
The Idaho Senate has voted 20-13 in favor of a non-binding memorial to Congress calling for creation of a national park in Idaho at Craters of the Moon, but only if current uses, including hunting and grazing, are protected. It was a long debate, in…
The House has voted 65-4 in favor of raising the invasive species sticker fee for out-of-state motorboats that use Idaho waters from the current $22 to $30 on Jan. 1, 2018. Rep. Terry Gestrin, R-Donnelly, said the bill, HB 211, would raise about $70,000 more…
With no discussion or debate, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning rejected plans to add two new state liquor stores in the Treasure Valley; the change would have bumped Idaho from 66 to 68 state-owned liquor stores, the first change since 2009. Sen. Fred Martin,…
Legislation to declare a school holiday on every election day in Idaho – designed to allow schools to serve as polling places without creating any danger to kids from all the strangers coming to campus – was killed in the House Education Committee this morning,…
More than 2,000 people braved a chilly drizzle and rallied at the Idaho Capitol on Saturday to demand that public lands be kept in the hands of the federal government. Boise hunter Kevin Braley told the Idaho Statesman he doesn't think politicians fully understand the groundswell of opposition to transferring...
Here’s a link to my full Sunday column, on Rep. Sage Dixon’s unsuccessful attempt to kill funding for mental health for recently released felons out of concern for road funding; and on what’s in the works on road funding, faith healing and more.
Described by friends as a gentleman and go-to government expert, writes Lewiston Tribune reporter Bill Spence, longtime Lewiston lawmaker Mike Mitchell died in Boise on Friday. He was 91. Mitchell spent nearly 40 years in public service in Idaho, spanning the executive and legislative branches.…
On tonight’s “Idaho Reports” on Idaho Public Television, co-host Melissa Davlin interviews House Education Chair Julie VanOrden and Senate Education Chair Dean Mortimer; Seth Ogilvie interviews Rep. Sally Toone, D-Gooding, a longtime Idaho teacher; and co-host Aaron Kunz reports on a nuclear cleanup deadline that’s…
After a hearing that stretched for more than an hour and a half this afternoon, the House Resources Committee has voted to send HB 230, the Fish & Game “price lock” fee increase bill and depredation surcharge, to the full House with a recommendation that…
The fight to provide basic health services to Idaho's neediest residents has moved to the Senate, the AP reports. Earlier this week, Rep. Fred Wood pulled back a $10 million plan to provide primary care to...
An Idaho House panel has introduced legislation that would exempt highway districts from clearing snow from sidewalks and streets. Currently, state law requires highway districts to maintain city streets, curbs, gutters and other infrastructure. The law was amended in 2013 to include snow removal, littler control and weed abatement...
It’s time to reform the restrictive liquor license system that’s left some Idaho restaurants on waiting lists for years and driven the price of a liquor license in Coeur d’Alene up to $300,000, Coeur d’Alene Rep. Luke Malek said Friday. Malek introduced legislation to set up a new two-tiered system in which cities or counties could choose to...
A prominent anti-abortion group in Idaho has introduced legislation reversing two abortion laws at the center of a legal battle. Women are currently banned from receiving abortion-inducing medication through telemedicine in Idaho under two laws passed in 2015. The laws required doctors to be present when administering pregnancy-ending pills...
There are lots of people in the Capitol today for the Legislature’s “Idaho Day” celebration, from school groups and choirs to military group sand uniformed Boy Scouts. The House’s ceremony, which ran from 10-11 this morning, included the Boise State Meistersingers performing “Here We Have…