Idaho Legislature in photos this week 3/16-3/20/09

Here's the 10th week of Idaho's 2009 legislative session in photos

Section:Gallery

Sun., March 22, 2009

Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, proposes legislation to crack down on employers who hire illegal aliens, 3/16/09

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, proposes financial disclosure legislation. On the left is Senate Assistant Majority Leader Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, and on the right, Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
The much-debated proposal to increase Idaho's Fish & Game fees - which was strongly supported in two days of public hearings - cleared the Senate Resources Committee on Monday, but the senators opted to send it to their amending order, where any senator may offer amendments.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Jason Kreizenbeck, chief of staff for Gov. Butch Otter, proposes two new bills to the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday morning as part of the governor's revised proposal to raise gas taxes and vehicle registration fees to fund road work.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, argues for her bill to provide officials state "certificates of fetal death" to women who request them after early-term miscarriages. The bill prompted emotional testimony.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
House State Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Loertscher pitches his bill to permit pharmacists or "any person" to refuse to provide a prescription to a patient on the basis of conscience. Fifteen people signed up to testify at the hearing on the bill on Tuesday morning.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Rep. Marge Chadderdon, R-Coeur d'Alene, proposed legislation Tuesday to require any flags purchased by state or local governments or colleges or universities in Idaho be U.S.-manufactured.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Pharmacist Gloria Hansen testifies to the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday on legislation guaranteeing pharmacists the right to refuse to fill prescriptions on the basis of conscience.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to restore 31 of the 47 temporary tax auditors eliminated through budget holdbacks this year; the $7.5 million in tax revenue the auditors will bring in far offsets the $425,000 cost of reinstating them.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, tried to avoid a $2.1 million cut in substance abuse treatment funds next year by dipping into the $45 million in federal stimulus funds that Gov. Butch Otter wants to spend on road and water projects, but the move fell short Wednesday in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
The Senate Finance Committee - the Senate half of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee - held a rare meeting on Wednesday to introduce legislation to reform the state's catastrophic fund, which pays for health care for the medically indigent. The bill will go next to the Senate Health & Welfare Committee for a full hearing next week.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Deputy Idaho Secretary of State Tim Hurst explains a complex election consolidation bill to the Senate State Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning. The measure earlier passed the House. The Senate committee ran out of time and continued the hearing to Thursday.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Jason Kreizenbeck, Gov. Otter's chief of staff, presents a new vehicle registration fee increase bill to the House Ways & Means Committee on Thursday morning.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
The House Ways & Means Committee, in its first meeting of the session, talks about the latest vehicle registration fee increase proposal from Gov. Butch Otter on Thursday morning.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
House Assistant Minority Leader James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, questions the governor's chief of staff, Jason Kreizenbeck, about registration fees for heavy trucks. Kreizenbeck said Ruchti was correct that higher state fees don't drive interstate truckers to register in another state, because they pay fees proportionally based on the number of miles they travel in each state.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, has long promoted a change in how Idaho's car registration fees are structured for different ages of vehicles. Gov. Butch Otter picked up on Henderson's idea in his latest bill.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, opens debate on the bill to raise Idaho's gas tax to fund more road work.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, debates in favor of HB 246, the governor's bill to raise the gas tax to fund more road work. The bill failed in the House on Thursday on a 27-43 vote.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee gather in a workshop on Thursday afternoon to wrestle with various ideas on how to draft budget bills to implement a proposed 5 percent reduction in personnel funding statewide. Such changes likely would be for one year only; budget bills expire at the end of the budget year.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs, argues for passage of HB 201, the election consolidation bill, in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Friday morning. But the bill, which previously passed the House, failed on a 5-4 vote.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review