On tonight’s “Idaho Reports” program on Idaho Public Television, I join Jim Weatherby, Melissa Davlin and host Greg Hahn to discuss the week’s developments in the Legislature, including Thursday’s marathon Senate debate on the health insurance exchange legislation. Plus, Aaron Kunz talks with Dan Chadwick…
The Senate has voted 18-16 in favor of SB 1103, a $200,000 supplemental appropriation for staff in the audits and collections program and the revenue operations division of the state Tax Commission, barely passing the bill and sending it to the House. Several senators said…
Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, has asked the Senate to return SB 1053, the bill to stagger Idaho food stamp distributions over 10 days rather than doing them all on the 1st of the month, to the Senate Health & Welfare Committee, “for looking at…
The draft bill released last week by Idaho Gov. Butch Otter to phase out the state’s personal property tax on business equipment would have a “devastating” impact on the state’s public schools, according to a new analysis by Mike Ferguson, the former longtime chief state…
With legislation already pending to make a decade-old extra-heavy trucks pilot project permanent, new legislation was introduced today to expand the use of 129,000-pound semi-trucks statewide, at the discretion of local highway districts. They’d make the call based on road and bridge structural integrity standards…
The hearing that had been set for Monday on a trailer bill proposed by 16 House GOP freshmen to require more legislative oversight in the state insurance exchange legislation has been put on hold, reports Melissa Davlin of the Times-News. House Health & Welfare Chairman…
As lawmakers set the budget for the Department of Fish & Game this morning, they were faced with an extensive budget that includes no state general tax funds, but has an array of projects funded from licenses, fees and federal funds, from hatchery operations to…
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee is continuing to set very tight budgets for state agencies this morning. At the Industrial Commission, which receives no state general tax funds, the budget set for next year shows a 1.3 percent increase. The state Department of Insurance, which also…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A southern Idaho representative is frustrated his son was cited for illegally carrying a concealed dangerous weapon without a permit — because he had a four-inch knife under his car seat. Republican Rep.…
Controversial legislation introduced in the House Education Committee on Thursday would siphon off a share of the state’s public school budget to pay for school buildings at Idaho charter schools. Idaho traditionally has relied on local voters to raise their own property taxes to fund…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho's Department of Administration wants to add an exemption to the state's public records law that would bar people from obtaining surveillance recordings made by systems meant to protect public buildings. At a…
A non-binding resolution unanimously endorsed by the House Resources Committee on Thursday seeks to declare the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness a "disaster area," to recognize damage to trails from wildfires, weather and neglect and prompt the U.S. Forest Service to launch improvements, the…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A bill that doubles the fees charged to sex offenders and creates a statewide electronic offender registry has cleared a House committee. The House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee voted Thursday to send…
While the Senate was engulfed in its six-hour debate yesterday on the insurance exchange legislation, the House came together for an emotional tribute to cancer patients, including Sarah Bedke, wife of House Speaker Scott Bedke, who is currently undergoing treatment. Twin Falls Times-News reporter Melissa…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
