When Butch Morrison, owner and operator of the Crescent 'No Lawyers' Bar & Grill, addressed the Senate State Affairs Committee yesterday as the president of the Idaho Licensed Beverage Association, backing the governor's proposed reform of Idaho's liquor license system, Sen. Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls,…
After more than a two-hour debate, the House Education Committee has voted 10-6 in favor of HB 262, legislation from the committee's chairman, Rep. Bob Nonini, to freeze teacher salaries on the salary grid for a year and to phase out an early retirement incentive.…
The joint budget committee this morning has set budgets for Vocational Rehabilitation, the Commission for the Blind, the Division of Veterans Services and the biggie, the Department of Correction. The corrections budget is based entirely on the assumption that there will be no growth in…
The budget set by JFAC this morning for the state's prison system shifts various funds around to cover the $2.5 million bond payment and operational costs of the Correctional Alternative Placement Program, a new facility that's scheduled to open in May of 2010. "The bond…
JFAC has taken formal action this morning to apply the 3 percent across-the-board state pay cut to state tax commissioners, industrial commissioners and public utilities commissioners. The commissioners' pay is set by state law, but the joint budget committee unanimously adopted "notwithstanding" language, setting aside…
Legislation that cleared the House Education Committee today would permanently end state funding for field trips and change how school districts are reimbursed for student transportation. The move is designed to save $4.2 million next year; click below to read the full story from AP…
Promoting his state sovereignty resolution on the floor of the Idaho House of Representatives today, St. Maries Rep. Dick Harwood declared that the United States is really a "confederacy." "To be accurate, we're a confederated republic," the fifth-term Republican then told the House. Political scientists…
HB 213, the bill to require all boats launched in Idaho to carry an invasive species sticker to help raise money to combat quagga and zebra mussels, has cleared the Senate Resources Committee on a 7-1 vote. The bill earlier passed the House; it now…
HJM 4, a non-binding memorial sponsored by Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, to declare Idaho's sovereignty from the federal government and ask the feds to "cease and desist" from violating that sovereignty, passed the House just now on a 51-17 vote. Harwood read from the…
House Agriculture Chairman Tom Trail's resolution encouraging the state Historical Society to conduct a study of the state's historic agricultural buildings was rejected in the House on a 20-48 vote, after House GOP Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, spoke out against the measure, HCR 26,…
Idaho women are paid 60 percent of what men are paid, across all industries, according to the U.S. Census, placing Idaho among the four worst states in the nation for such pay disparity. Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart, D-Boise, drew a unanimous vote of support in the…
"Neighborhood electric vehicles" could putt along roads with speed limits of up to 35 mph, instead of the current 25 mph, under legislation that just passed the House on a 67-1 vote. They could also cross roads that have speed limits of up to 45…
After more than two hours of testimony for and against the bill, the Senate State Affairs Committee has voted 6-3 in favor of SB 1148, Gov. Butch Otter's proposal to reform Idaho's liquor license system, which currently sets population-based quotas for liquor licenses but has…
"It's so disappointing" said several members of the Idaho Women's Commission, who gathered with Director Kitty Kunz in the Capitol Annex hallway after JFAC voted 15-5 to eliminate their funding and staffing. They were talking about scheduling their final meeting, and whether they had enough…
The Idaho Women's Commission would receive no state funding next year and its only part-time employee would be eliminated, under a budget that just won 15-5 approval from the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, made the motion for zero funding. She said each…
The Idaho Rural Partnership will be zero-funded next year, under a budget approved in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning for the state Department of Agriculture. Several committee members objected to the move, but supporters of the budget motion said the partnership's executive director is…
Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, led a move in JFAC this morning to fund $150,000 for matching money for two federal grants for Idaho Public Television to take advantage of a one-time federal opportunity to get licenses for new translators to fill the gaps in the…
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has set a budget for state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna that relies on a federal grant to fund a longitudinal data system, plus allows Luna to carry over $80,000 from this year's budget for that purpose. Gov. Butch Otter had…
Here's a link to a slide show of the 10th week of the legislative session in photos, and here's a link to this week's "Idaho Reports" program on Idaho Public Television. On this week's show, I joined House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, House Minority…
A day after his transportation initiative suffered a big defeat in the House, Gov. Butch Otter decried the state of Idaho’s roads and bridges, and told a Coeur d’Alene Rotary Club he’s headed back to the Legislature to “ask them once again to be responsible…
The House has voted 32-31against HB 214, a measure from Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, to issue official state certificates of "fetal death" to women who have early miscarriages or abortions. The measure was opposed by the state's bureau of vital statistics, which said it issues…
The Senate has voted 31-0 to authorize the state agriculture director to use deficiency warrants to pay for emergency measures to combat invasive quagga or zebra mussels in Idaho waterways. "The mussels right now are in northern Utah," Senate Agriculture Chairman Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home,…
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has voted 14-5 to impose a 3 percent, across-the-board pay cut on all state employees next year, as part of an overall 5 percent cut in personnel funding statewide. The joint committee had been debating between requiring 2 percent or 3…
The Senate State Affairs Committee has voted 5-4 to kill HB 201, the sweeping election consolidation legislation that earlier easily passed the House, despite strong urging from Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Geddes to pass the bill; you can read my full story here at spokesman.com.…
With the defeat today of Gov. Butch Otter's $61.6 million gas tax hike proposal, some are looking back to last year's $68.5 million road-funding compromise that lawmakers offered but Otter spurned. "Hindsight is always 20-20," House Speaker Lawerence Denney told the AP today. "If he…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
