Soaring numbers of Idaho smokers are trying to kick the habit, the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare reports, to the point that they've used up the rest of the year's worth of funding for a free nicotine replacement therapy program. Since last July, Project…
Rex Rammell has had to change the colorful graphics on his giant, decorated "Conservative Express" RV twice in the last month and a half. First, he changed, "Time for a new kind of Senator" to "Time for a new kind of Congressman," when the former…
Musing on some of the things some lawmakers said about him this year, Gov. Butch Otter said this week, "In the heat of battle there's some passion that sometimes is released. I'd like an opportunity to set down and let 'em know where I thought,…
Rex Rammell, a former elk rancher and veterinarian who ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent in 2008, garnering 5.4 percent of the vote, announced a couple of weeks ago that he'd challenge U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson in the Republican primary next year, but…
Idaho already had more than 70 options for special license plates, from breast cancer awareness to snow skier to Pearl Harbor survivor. Now it's got four more, as Gov. Butch Otter signed a bill into law today creating a "Gold Star Family" license plate for…
Here's a link to the final, 17th week of this year's legislative session in photos as a slide show. And you can click below to read the various limericks and haiku in which I chronicled events of the final, tumultuous week.
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the final day of Idaho's legislative session today - the 117th day - and here's a link to my sidebar on the snafu in which Rep. Frank Henderson's Garwood-to-Sagle bill got killed in the House…
Otter's message as lawmakers leave town: "If an admittedly stop-gap measure can provide a level of certainty and predictability, this is it. Our work is just beginning, but this will enable us to meet our most immediate needs ... while planning how best to pay…
"I'm a user-pay guy, and the people that buy gasoline use the roads," Gov. Butch Otter said, explaining why he wanted a gas tax hike to fix roads. But he said more than that, he wants revenue to fix the roads, and he wants certainty…
Opening his press conference at the close of the legislative session, Gov. Butch Otter said he wanted to "run over" some of what happened, then stopped himself, amid laughter, saying perhaps that wasn't the best phrase. "I've already signed 313 pieces of legislation," he said.…
When Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, moved to adjourn the House for the session - sine die - Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, responded, "Mr. Speaker, I can't tell you how happy I am to second that motion." Unlike most days, when Speaker Lawerence Denney…
"This is kind of tough for me," House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, told the House just now. When SB 1147, the bill to allow design-build contracts at ITD, arrived at the House, it'd been amended in the Senate. "To kind of clarify one of…
The Idaho Senate has adjourned sine die, Latin for "without a day," meaning they've ended their work for the legislative session. Lt. Gov. Brad Little banged a rubber mallet on a foot-long wooden handle that serves as his Senate gavel, to close the session. "Very,…
The Senate has passed its final bill, SB 1245, the appropriation for the agricultural research and cooperative extension service. Now, with some final comments, the Senate is preparing to adjourn.
The Senate has voted 27-3 in favor of SB 1147, the bill from Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, to allow ITD to have design-build contracts. The bill also now includes the original thrust of HB 286, the measure from Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, to pinpoint…
The Senate has just agreed to amend SB 1147, the design-build bill for ITD - adding into it the sections from HB 286 about the Garwood-to-Sagle project on Highway 95 in North Idaho. Senate Transportation Chairman John McGee, R-Caldwell, told the Senate, "These amendments should…
The House has voted unanimously, 58-0, on final passage of HB 338, the ethanol bill as amended in the Senate. "We're still waiting on one appropriation bill from the Senate to come over," said Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, the House majority caucus chairman. The House…
HB 303a, a controversial education funding bill that spawned a following "trailer" bill, has won final approval in the House as amended in the Senate. The vote was 57-2.
Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, asked the House to not concur in the Senate amendments to his bill, HB 286, and the House unanimously agreed. Henderson said lawmakers long ago signed onto policies stating that they wouldn't pick highway projects, they'd leave that role to…
The House has been waiting around all morning for the Senate to send it the last few bills. Now, the House is preparing to go on the floor. First up: "Probably not concur to the Senate amendments in HB 286," said House Majority Caucus Chairman…
Senators have reluctantly approved HB 376, to shift the ISP and state parks off the highway fund a year from now, as of July 1, 2010. Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise, dubbed it "pretty much a shell game" and said it offers "an illusion of having…
HB 286a, Rep. Frank Henderson's bill to pinpoint the southern end of the Garwood-to-Sagle freeway project on Highway 95 in North Idaho, came up for a vote in the Senate as amended - with two Senate additions. One also pinpoints the northern end of the…
After much debate, the Senate has passed HB 374, House Education Chairman Bob Nonini's virtual education bill, on a 23-9 vote. Sen. Dick Sagness, D-Pocatello, charged that the bill was part of a deal with the House, and if the Senate didn't go along with…
Tempers flared in the Senate just now, as Sen. Dick Sagness, D-Pocatello, was gaveled down mid-debate on HB 374, the virtual education bill. Sagness, speaking against the bill, addressed its Senate sponsor, Senate Education Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, and said, "You said on the…
Next, the Senate took up HCR 34, the resolution to endorse a gubernatorial task force to explore long-term transportation funding issues. "Senators, this is part of the going-home transportation package and I would urge your aye vote," Senate Transportation Chairman John McGee, R-Caldwell, told the…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
