Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, has proposed a new motion setting revenue for both fiscal years 2010 and 2011 at $2.25 billion. That would force the Legislature to cut another $120 million from the current year's budgets - meaning far more holdbacks than Gov. Butch Otter…
The amended substitute motion, from Sen. Hill, died on a 7-11 vote. Then, the substitute motion, from Sen. Fulcher, died on a tied 9-9 vote. Then the original motion, from Rep. Lake, died 5-13.
With some committee members uncertain about what was in which motion, the Joint Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee is taking a 10-minute break to make sure the figures are clearly laid out for all members before a vote.
The joint committee on revenue is now debating the three motions. "We do not have the luxury this year of missing it like we did last year," said House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, who said he favors Sen. Russ Fulcher's substitute motion or…
House Tax Chairman Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, moved to propose the Joint Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee's median projection as the recommended revenue projection for fy 2011, and accept the governor's figure for 2010. Then, Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, proposed a much lower figure: $2.28…
A long list of human rights leaders, including two former Idaho governors, three former directors of the Idaho Human Rights Commission, and more, have sent an "open letter" to the Idaho Legislature opposing Gov. Butch Otter's proposal to phase out all state funding for the…
December state tax revenues are down by $12.6 million from forecasts, Mike Ferguson, chief economist for Gov. Butch Otter, told the Joint Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee. You can see Ferguson's complete handout to the committee here. Despite the bottom-line drop, "There is embedded…
The Joint Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee has begun its meeting in the basement auditorium of the state Capitol, and is now hearing from the state's chief economist, Mike Ferguson. The committee's draft report - members will vote on their final recommendation today -…
The Boise Weekly reports that Gov. Butch Otter is proposing cutting his own office's budget by 3.8 percent for fiscal year 2011, but accounting for some of his policy advisers the same way former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne did until 2006: By stashing them in other…
Senate Republicans caucused for about half an hour today, and House Democrats for an hour. GOP senators had Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron give an update on state revenues and the governor's budget recommendation. "This is the first opportunity we've had to give the full…
Idaho could find a whole lot more big fossils - wooly mammoths and the like - in coming years as big energy transmission projects spread across the fossil-rich southern and eastern portions of the state, and state officials want to gear up by shifting some…
Idaho enacted a state law regulating and permitting wine tastings five years ago, so why not allow the same for distilled spirits? That's what Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, proposed this morning in legislation that the House State Affairs Committee agreed to introduce on a…
The Joint Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee will meet at 2 p.m. today in the large auditorium in the west underground wing of the Capitol to finalize its report to the Legislature on revenue levels on which to base the state budget. The meeting…
This morning, legislative budget writers are in the second of three days of hearings on the Department of Health & Welfare budget, with today's focus on mental health and substance abuse services, psychiatric hospitalization, child welfare and developmental disabilities - all areas where budget cuts…
Though he's been actively campaigning since last spring, Vaughn Ward, GOP candidate for the 1st District congressional seat, has scheduled a 14-stop "Official Ward for Congress Announcement Tour" with "Special Guest Secretary Dirk Kempthorne," starting next Tuesday in Emmett. He'll hit Meridian, Boise, Bonners Ferry,…
The Idaho Meth Project released poll results today showing it's making progress toward its top goal - convincing Idaho teens and young people that it's dangerous to try methamphetamine even once. In the project's latest survey, 66 percent of teens and 78 percent of young…
State Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, who's running in the GOP primary for the 1st District congressional seat, has announced that he raised $30,000 in December, bringing his campaign warchest to a total of $80,000. That's because he also put in $50,000 of his own money,…
Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, proposed legislation this morning that he's calling the "Idaho Health Freedom Act" to both ban the state from enforcing any requirements for Idahoans or Idaho businesses to purchase health insurance, and ban enforcement of any penalties for not doing so.…
After two tied votes, a deadlocked House State Affairs Committee refused this morning to introduce legislation proposed by the state Department of Parks & Recreation to increase fees for invasive species stickers for boats that just were imposed last year. The fees for non-motorized craft,…
Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, asked Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong whether he'd considered cutting department employees' salaries and benefits. "Have you done an analysis for your department about salary reduction, and how that might save front-line services?" she asked. Armstrong said furloughs already reduce…
JFAC Co-Chair Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, says "in all likelihood" the state will have to impose yet another holdback, beyond the 1.6 percent additional mid-year budget cut already proposed by Gov. Butch Otter. "That was based on numbers as of Nov. 30th," Cameron said of the…
Budget cuts have had severe impact at the state Department of Health & Welfare, Director Dick Armstrong told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning. Much of Health & Welfare consists of programs in which the federal government provides matching money tied to state spending; in…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the Idaho House and Senate Democrats' decision today to abandon open caucus meetings and instead move all their caucuses behind closed doors. "It was unanimous," said Senate Minority Leader Kate Kelly, D-Boise. "It was a…
Amid all the hubbub in the Capitol today, the Coalition of Idaho Charter School Families had to hold its rally on the Statehouse steps - with 550 kids and parents in attendance - without any amplification, because the state-owned P.A. system it planned to use…
The Capitol is filled with people - parents and children watching from every floor of the rotunda at the state's official Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights Day ceremony; high school and college students, some of whom took part in rallies earlier; older folks who…
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