The Senate Tax Committee just wrapped up its hearing on HB 588, the grocery tax relief bill, but with a member missing and the Senate going on the floor in moments, it delayed its vote until Tuesday. “It deserves the time for the committee to…
Legislation to turn the legal clock back to 1953 to try to guarantee some Lake Coeur d’Alene property owners the right to put in a boat dock – though their property is now separated from the lake by a public road - died in a…
According to the state Tax Commission, Idaho has 1,093 taxing districts, of which 931 levied property taxes in 2007. And that’s not counting irrigation districts, which technically aren’t taxing districts, and a few other types of districts. It does count cities, counties, school districts, highway…
The IACI bill to phase in repeal of the personal property tax on business equipment – which would give Idaho businesses a $100 million-plus tax break when it’s fully implemented – passed the House Revenue & Taxation Committee this morning on an 11-7 vote, after…
Does Idaho really need three state airplanes, including one mostly used to fly the governor? That’s the question raised by a new legislative audit of the Idaho Transportation Department which states, "The urgency of trips and itineraries indicate that other less expensive transportation options exist…
The House Ways & Means Committee met on short notice this afternoon, and introduced three new vehicle registration fee increase bills. These are much, much smaller than Gov. Butch Otter’s earlier proposal for funding a road maintenance backlog, however, and less than half the magnitude…
The Senate has just recessed until 4:30 this afternoon, before taking up any of the bills on its 3rd reading calendar, as both parties are going into caucus. Meanwhile, the House had computer problems yesterday when it tried to come back on the floor after…
In a complicated deal designed to address the fight between spring water users and groundwater users in the Magic Valley, the state has hatched a plan to buy out a 400-acre fish farm, Pristine Springs, in partnership with the city of Twin Falls and area…
The vote was unanimous as JFAC took another look at the conversion of a Prison Industries Enhancement warehouse at the Idaho Correction Center into a 304-bed minimum custody drug treatment this morning, and approved it. The panel backed a $4,675,500 supplemental appropriation for the current…
The first day of candidate filing for Idaho’s spring primary election drew two candidates to Idaho’s open-seat race for the U.S. Senate – Fred M. Adams of Idaho Falls, and Neal Thompson of McCall – and an array of legislative candidates, including a few challengers.…
If legislators need a reason to start wrapping up their session, now that it’s moved into its 64th day, here’s one: Today is the opening of the filing period for the May primary election, and every seat in the Legislature is up for a vote.…
The State Perspectives Institute at Boston College is partnering with the Boise-based Twiga Foundation, headed by former Idaho First Lady Patricia Kempthorne, on a project to assess the readiness of states to become “employers-of-choice” by recognizing the aging of the public-sector workforce and developing workplace…
Here’s something to ponder: Last week, just as Idaho Gov. Butch Otter withdrew his $150-per-car vehicle registration fee proposal, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter abandoned his unpopular bid to raise car-registration fees there an average of $100. His spokesman, Evan Dreyer, told the Denver Post that…
Gov. Butch Otter signed into law HB 557 today, the compromise legislation on field-burning. Otter, joined by ag representatives and the heads of the state departments of Agriculture and Environmental Quality, read a letter from Safe Air For Everyone executive director Patti Gora and praised…
Idaho’s joint budget committee this morning unanimously approved funding for a new field-burning regulatory system in Idaho, to go along with legislation that passed unanimously yesterday to allow field burning to resume in the state with a new regulatory system that focuses on public health…
Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal for $134 million in additional bonding next year for the GARVEE highway bonding program won strong support in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning, passing on an 18-1 vote with only Rep. Janice McGeachin, R-Idaho Falls, dissenting. Several committee members said…
It’s pretty much just what no one wanted to hear: There’s potentially another $38 million hole in the budget that lawmakers are nearly finished setting for next year. When Congress passed the economic stimulus act – the same one that’ll send rebates to taxpayers across…
HB 557, the mediated compromise legislation on field-burning, just passed the Senate unanimously, after rules were suspended to allow it to be taken up right away. The bill now heads to Gov. Butch Otter for his signature, and the state Board of Environmental Quality is…
A resolution calling on the state DEQ and Office of Energy Resources to put together a report to the governor and a legislative committee on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, focusing on renewable energy opportunities for the state, was shot down in the Senate…
Gov. Butch Otter today sent a letter to the Legislature, addressed to Senate President Pro-tem Bob Geddes, saying, “I am writing today to formally notify you of my intention to withdraw the proposed registration fee and rental car tax legislation that was presented to a…
For the last two days in JFAC, there have been long waits before anyone made a motion, as backers of competing budget plans for public schools and higher education vied for strategic advantage by hoping someone else’s motion would be made first – because the…
In a very rarely seen move, JFAC this morning reconsidered the action it took yesterday on the teachers portion of the public schools budget, and passed an entirely new plan. This time, it was unanimous. The new plan includes a 2.5 percent base salary increase…
The website Congress.org has come out with its latest “power rankings” for members of Congress, both House and Senate, and Idaho didn’t fare so well. Of the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the site ranked Idaho’s Rep. Mike Simpson 220th, and Rep.…
An annual business tax break of up to $120 million would be phased in over five years, under legislation introduced this morning at the request of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry. The bill to phase in the repeal of the personal property tax…
Teachers would get just 2.2 percent in funding from the state for base salary increases next year, plus a boost in the minimum teacher salary from $31,000 to $31,930, under a public school budget set by JFAC this morning after two hours of rancorous debate…
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