On tonight's “Idaho Reports” on Idaho Public Television, I join Jim Weatherby and host Greg Hahn to discuss the events of the week, and Greg interviews Gov. Butch Otter, on everything from school reform to Medicaid to wolves. The show airs tonight at 8 p.m.,…
House Appropriations Chairwoman Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, pulled the budget bill for the Idaho Department of Insurance from the House floor today, after House members indicated they wouldn't pass it with $2.5 million in federal grants in it to allow the state to begin planning for…
Senate Democrats have issued a sharply worded statement on the passage yesterday of SB 1184, the school reform bill, which they all opposed, saying, "Yesterday, Gov. Butch Otter, Supt. Tom Luna and their cronies in the business sector took a major step forward in realizing…
The Senate has voted 31-3 in favor of SB 1179, Senate Transportation Chairman Jim Hammond's bill to limit new specialty license plates to just public agencies or the foundations that benefit them. Hammond said Idaho's getting to many special plates for extraneous causes. Sen. John…
The House Education Committee introduced legislation this morning proposed by House Majority Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts, to make a change to the newly signed SB 1108, repealing a provision that requires teachers who are laid off in the fall due to falling enrollment to get…
The Senate has approved HCR 25, the measure to put off the scheduled $10 bump-up in the grocery tax credit for all Idahoans next year, to save $15 million in next year's state budget. Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, told the Senate, "I don't like this…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — As the state resets its education priorities, the Idaho House will debate a plan to strip millions in funding from driver's education classes, essentially ending a subsidy for programs offered through public schools.…
Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, moved to send HB 222 to the Senate's 14th Order for amendment, saying he's concerned about venues like football stadiums. He said, "I think I know the issue somewhat coming in, and I hear and get exposed to thoughts and comments…
Idaho lawmakers are trying for a second year to revamp rules governing large poultry operations, the AP reports, including moving oversight from the state's environmental agency to its Department of Agriculture. A bill is now up for a state Senate vote, after clearing the House;…
Testimony at the guns-on-campus hearing has now included the BSU security chief, who opposes the bill and said the campus provides 24/7 security escorts and permits mace and pepper spray for personal protection; a Boise police captain who said guns on campus don't reduce crime;…
Jonathan Sawmiller told the Senate State Affairs Committee that students with guns aren't, as some might suggest, "nothing more than drunken frat boys who would stumble about campus firing indiscriminately." A law student, Iraq war veteran and BSU graduate, Sawmiller said, "I am a mature,…
The Senate State Affairs Committee is hearing HB 222 this morning, the guns-on-campus bill. Sponsor Erik Simpson, R-Idaho Falls, told the senators, "It is a basic human right to be able to protect yourself," and said current law that permits Idaho colleges and universities to…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
