The Senate this morning dived right into business, taking up HCR 32, the House-passed measure to create a task force to find a new dedicated funding source for the Idaho State Police and the Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation. "I think this body understands…
The House Transportation Committee is holding a hearing this morning on a bill that actually hasn't yet passed the Senate. SB 1147a, from Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, would allow the Idaho Transportation Department to enter into design-build contracts, something that's been permitted for other public…
At nearly 7:30 p.m., the Senate suspended its rules and took up HB 338, the ethanol exemption bill, and passed it on a unanimous, 33-0 vote. "This is part of the package that we've all now discussed and talked about over and over and over…
The Senate Transportation Committee has approved HB 32, for a task force to identify alternative funding sources for the Idaho State Police and the Parks & Rec Department; HCR 34, to approve a gubernatorial task force to look into overall transportation funding in Idaho; and…
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, just announced, "We will try to finish up in the morning. Our intention is to come back on the floor at 10 o'clock." With that, the House adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow, despite some loudly protesting members who wanted…
The Senate has recessed for a Transportation Committee meeting, and plans to come back on the floor as soon as it ends, in roughly half an hour. The committee has three bills on its agenda, all part of the end-of-session transportation funding deal. Meanwhile, the…
The Senate has passed HB 303a on a 26-7 vote, and then took up HB 275, a House-passed bill that's long been hanging on the Senate calendar. The bill changes the distribution of state lottery proceeds for the next five years, holding the two regular…
As the Senate went back into session, Majority Leader Bart Davis told the Senate he doesn't think they'll be able to adjourn for the session tonight. "I wish that we were there," Davis said. "I think that we're going to fall a little short." The…
There was some heated debate and a divided, 6-3 vote, but the Senate Education Committee has approved HB 374, Rep. Bob Nonini's latest education funding bill. The measure restores language about virtual education that the Senate amended out of a previous education funding bill, HB…
JFAC is now meeting to take up two topics: Authorizing spending authority to match the new transportation bills, and a shift in school funding for fiscal year 2009 to match a newly received directive regarding the use of federal stimulus funds. The shifting about leaves…
The House Ways & Means Committee has met again, and approved a new version of the resolution to create a "gubernatorial task force to consider both traditional and nontraditional sources of revenue for the maintenance and preservation of highways and bridges." Democrats on the panel…
The Senate, after a rather long delay, has voted in favor of two amendments to HB 286: One from Sens. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, and Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, to add language clarifying the north end of the GARVEE-bond funded Garwood-to-Sagle project (the bill originally specified the…
The House has passed all three of the bills on its suspension calendar. HB 211, the higher education residency bill, passed unanimously, 60-0. SB 1130, Sen. Tim Corder's truck trip-permit bill, passed on a 57-3 vote. And HB 376, the new version of the fund…
Both houses have gone back into session. So many lawmakers were milling around in the foyer that when the bell rang unexpectedly, signaling the need for House members to be at their seats for a roll call, groans could be heard. The House has a…
The House Ways & Means Committee just met, down on the second floor of the annex in room 240 to avoid conflicting with a scheduled JFAC meeting that actually isn't happening yet. All that Ways & Means was ready to pass out at this point…
As lawmakers stand around waiting for something to happen - a new, corrected version of a bill, a delayed committee meeting, etc. - Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, recalled a favorite line from former state lawmaker Dane Watkins: "All we know is what we tell each…
The House Transportation Committee has passed SB 1130, a bill sponsored by Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home, to cap the number of temporary trip permits for truckers at three per vehicle per calendar year. Corder explained to the committee that some truckers abuse the self-issued…
After close to half an hour of dithering on the House floor, with various members gathering at the speaker's desk, going back to their seats, staffers being consulted, etc., etc., the House went back into session and Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, explained, "What we're…
With the House at ease over legal flaws Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, identified in HB 374, the new education bill from Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, and other new bills showing holes with a bit of poking, here's a late-session thought:When last-minute versions of lawAre…
"This is one of the issues we've been wrestling with since Day 1 of this session, transportation funding," Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, told the House. "I think we all realize that, at some point in time, we're going to have to look at long-term funding…
The House has begun suspending rules and taking up the new bills passed out of the Ways & Means Committee this morning. First up was HCR 32, to create a task force to study funding for the Idaho State Police and state parks. It passed,…
The Senate has voted unanimously to pass SB 1246, a bill necessitated solely by how long Idaho's legislative session has run this year. "This bill, as long as I've been in the Senate, has only had to be brought one other time," Senate Majority Leader…
The Senate has voted 28-5 in favor of HB 334, the bill to raise DMV administrative fees, for things like title certificates and driver's licenses, by $13.1 million a year. Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, said he was unhappy that the fees "will be imposed…
Two new task forces are created by the new bills introduced in Ways & Means this morning. The first, the governor's task force on modernizing transportation funding in Idaho, would have 15 members, including five from the House and five from the Senate. Its findings…
The three new transportation bills all were introduced in Ways & Means and sent to the 2nd Reading calendar in the House. Chairman Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, expressed concern about setting up a situation where ISP and parks funding would have to rely on a…
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