The House Ethics Committee, which has pending before it a complaint filed against Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, has set a meeting for Friday morning at 8, with an executive session to be followed by an open meeting. The panel will meet in room EW 40…
Here's some insight into the late-afternoon turnaround yesterday by the legislative task force on alternative funding for the Idaho State Police and state parks: In the current atmosphere - including yesterday's House rejection of a small fee increase on criminal offenders to help fund the…
Idaho lawmakers are taking aim at urban renewal, introducing a raft of bills to trim renewal agencies' authority; you can read my full story here at spokesman.com.
Six of the seven urban renewal bills were introduced on unanimous votes, clearing the way for full hearings; they'll appear online on the Legislature's website with bill numbers tomorrow. The first, a compromise bill from Rep. Mike Moyle, R-Star, and the Meridian Urban Renewal District,…
Rep. Robert Schaefer, R-Nampa, proposing legislation to repeal urban renewal, said urban renewal was originally intended "to seek out blighted crime infested areas and get rid of them," and he said that's not what projects like the Idaho Center in Nampa achieved. "The majority of…
Rep. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d'Alene, proposed legislation to require county-wide elections for urban renewal boards. "I can't believe that I'm finally here and I'm finally talking about urban renewal," she told the House Local Government Committee. "It's been on my mind for many years. ...…
Rep. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, has convened the committee she chairs - the House Local Government Committee - for the first time this session, to consider introducing seven urban renewal bills, many of them challenging the entire urban renewal concept. "Fasten your seatbelts - it's probably…
About 75 protesters gathered on the state Capitol steps today to object to megaloads on U.S. Highway 12 in north-central Idaho, and then filed into the state Capitol, lined up outside the governor's office, and individually presented the governor's office with more than 100 letters…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho's January tax revenue likely beat forecasts by about $15 million. The news, which indicates the economy could be picking up steam, may help mitigate concerns that arose last week about a yawning…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho's Republican-dominated Legislature is taking aim at a global children's rights treaty the United States has yet to ratify, backing an amendment to the Constitution to protect parental rights as a buffer against…
The proposed general-fund appropriation for the Idaho Department of Water Resources next year is about equal to its levels from 2002 and 2005, interim director Gary Spackman told JFAC this morning. The agency would take another 1.4 percent cut next year, under the governor's budget…
The House Local Government Committee, chaired by Rep. Lenore Hardy Barrett, R-Challis, rarely meets. But it's meeting today at 1:30 to consider introducing seven bills aimed at slashing into the authority of urban renewal agencies across the state. House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, has…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — University of Idaho officials say a student is suspected of having bacterial meningitis. The university said Tuesday it is working with public health officials and is notifying students, faculty, staff and parents of…
It's "Pie Day," when the Idaho Coalition of Home Educators brings large quantities of homemade pie, along with displays from and about home-schooled students, to the state Capitol. The event, in the fourth-floor rotunda of the capitol, is scheduled to run from 7:30 a.m. to…
To cope with budget shortfalls, DEQ chief Toni Hardesty has identified a $486,700 balance in the state's hazardous waste emergency fund that could be shifted to the general fund to avoid huge and costly changes, such as losing state primacy over regulatory programs. The use…
Idaho suspended water-quality monitoring through the Beneficial Use Reconnaissance Program, or BURP, for the 2009 summer field season, DEQ chief Toni Hardesty told lawmakers this morning, "in the hopes that it would only be necessary for one year, and then it became two. Suspension of…
State funding for Idaho's Department of Environmental Quality dropped sharply in 2010 and has continued falling. "As a matter of fact, the general fund appropriation I am requesting today will be the smallest general fund appropriation the agency has had since we became a department…
In the latest court filings in the case of Alternative Energy Holdings Inc., a firm that claimed it was planning to develop a nuclear power plant in Idaho, the Securities and Exchange Commission says the firm's CEO and vice president schemed to mislead investors while…
A giant truckload of oil refinery equipment began its lumbering journey late Tuesday onto scenic U.S. Highway 12, the AP reports; ConocoPhillips spokesman Bill Stephens said Tuesday night that the journey "went off just as planned." Click below for a full report from AP reporter…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
