An Idaho House committee voted 12-4 on Wednesday to strip out large sections of the state’s proposed new school science standards, including standards for teaching kids about renewable and non-renewable energy resources and their impacts on the environment – including air pollution. Rep. Scott Syme,…
Idaho's top prison official wants about a 7 percent budget increase, with much of the money going to fund beds and services for the state's growing prison population and to revamp the state's computer system for tracking inmates. If approved, the Department of Correction's budget would reach $264.4 million for the fiscal year beginning in July...
An Idaho Senate panel has introduced a Democratic senator's bill to allow women to receive up to a 12-month supply of prescribed birth control. Currently, many Idaho insurance providers have a one-month or three-month limit. The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee agreed to introduce Democratic Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb's proposal...
Sen. Mary Souza’s latest bill to move school board elections is in the legislative hopper, reports Idaho EdNews, and this time, she’s not facing opposition from the Idaho School Boards Association. The Senate Education Committee voted Wednesday to introduce Souza’s bill, which would move school…
The House Business Committee has approved legislation from Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, to add an exception to Idaho’s minimum wage law for anyone under 18 who is employed by a family member or at a family business. Two committee members, Reps. Elaine Smith, D-Pocatello, and…
The Senate Resources Committee vote unanimously this afternoon to recommend confirmation of the appointment of former House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, to the Idaho Water Resources Board. The vote came two days after the same panel put the appointment on hold, after Sen. Cliff…
After more than an hour’s debate and two unsuccessful motions, the House has voted 59-11 – a straight party-line vote, with all Republicans voting yes and all Democrats voting no – to pass HB 463, the governor’s income tax-cut bill. House Majority Leader Mike Moyle,...
Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, moved to “divide the question,” dividing HB 463, the governor’s tax-cut bill, into two parts – conformity with federal tax changes, and cuts to Idaho income taxes, including rate cuts and a new child tax credit. Nate said he was making...
As the House debates HB 463, the governor’s income tax-cut bill, Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, interrupted with a motion to send the bill to general orders for amendment. Scott said she wanted the bill sent to the amending order “to add grocery tax repeal and...
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, informed the House this morning that the governor's income tax-cut bill, HB 463, will be moved up the calendar and debated and voted on today. Otherwise, it would have been the 11th bill on House's 3rd Reading Calendar today.
The House State Affairs Committee took another three hours of public testimony today on the proposal to call for an Article V convention of states to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution, but concluded its meeting today without taking a vote on the measure. The…
The House Health & Welfare Committee has voted 7-5 in favor of HB 464, the Idaho Health Care Plan, sending it to the full House with a recommendation that it “do pass.” “There was a lot of great testimony today,” said Rep. Jarom Wagoner, R-Caldwell....
The House Health & Welfare Committee has heard more than two and a half hours of testimony so far this morning on HB 464, the Idaho Health Care Plan, nearly all of it in favor. One of the few exceptions was the Idaho Freedom Foundation,...
Here is the section of Idaho’s proposed new school science standards that the House Education Committee has voted to delete, along with all sections of “supporting content” throughout the science standards: "ESS3-4 Earth and Human Activity Students who demonstrate understanding can: ESS3-4-1 Obtain and combine...
The House Education Committee has voted 12-4 in favor of a motion from Rep. Scott Syme, R-Caldwell, to remove one standard regarding earth science, energy and pollution and how fourth-graders should be taught about it from the proposed new school science standards for Idaho, and...
Rep. John McCrostie, D-Boise, offered a substitute motion to approve the school science standards as presented. “The reason why I make this motion is based on hearing from so many science teachers from my area, from across the state, and in respect for the diligent…
Rep. Scott Syme, R-Caldwell, has moved to approve the proposed new school science standards with two changes: Deleting one section, in which he said he objected to a single sentence regarding energy, including air pollution from burning of fossil fuels, that he said he felt “led to conclusions;” and eliminating all sections...
As the House Education Committee this morning takes up school science standards, Rep. Gayann DeMordaunt, R-Eagle, asked state Superintendent of Schools Sherri Ybarra if the proposed new standards are based on “next generation” science standards, and how many other states have followed that model. “This…
Idaho Department of Insurance Director Dean Cameron told the House Health & Welfare Committee this morning, at the hearing on HB 464, the Idaho Health Care Plan, “This is an innovative, creative solution that addresses the problems we’re having here in Idaho. … The goals…
The House Health & Welfare Committee has opened its hearing this morning on the Idaho Health Care Plan, HB 464; that’s the Otter Administration’s dual-waiver plan. It would authorize the state to seek waivers from the federal government in order to launch the plan, which…
A proposal to use $11.4 million in tobacco settlement dollars to pay for the governor's "dual-waiver" health care plan caused a partisan rift Tuesday among the Joint Millennium Fund Committee, The Lewiston Tribune reports. The money comes from a 1998 settlement with the major tobacco firms. Four Democrats on the committee suggested...
Rep. Paulette Jordan, D-Plummer, announced today that she is resigning her legislative seat to focus full-time on her campaign for governor. “It has been my privilege to be elected by and to serve the people of the fifth district since 2014,” said Jordan. “My priority...
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
