Today, the House will reconvene after lunch to continue its floor session from this morning, in which the chamber considered and voted on nearly a dozen bills. That means all early-afternoon committee meetings, which otherwise would be at 1:30, are held on adjournment of the House – which could be anytime after that. The House is coming back on the floor at 1:15.

The final bill taken up before the lunch break, HB 399, passed on a 49-18 vote. It raises the cap on annual community college tuition from $1,250 to $2,500, doubling it. However, Sen. Marge Chadderdon, R-Coeur d’Alene, noted that community colleges still can’t raise their tuition more than 10 percent a year. “It hadn’t been changed since 2002,” she said. At North Idaho College, she said, students pay about 23 percent of the cost of their education. Both NIC and the College of Southern Idaho are now close to bumping up against the cap. The new College of Western Idaho will be limited to the old amount of $1,250 for its initial year, or $625 per semester. Click below to see the roll call on the bill.

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