Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how Coeur d’Alene Rep. Luke Malek's bill to make attacking a health care worker a felony - a measure requested in part by Kootenai Medical Center, which says violent attacks there are increasing - was…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — House lawmakers voted 35-33 against shifting money from hunting licenses to compensate ranchers for livestock losses and fund state efforts to kill wolves. Thursday's narrow rejection came after the Idaho Department of Fish…
Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little said not 10 minutes before he was called on to break a tie vote in the Senate today, he’d been talking with Senate pages, who asked him if he ever got to vote. He explained that he voted only in…
A federal judge today refused to dismiss a Federal Election Commission lawsuit against former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig for using $217,000 in campaign funds for his legal defense after his arrest in a 2007 airport bathroom sex sting, the Associated Press reports. Craig had argued…
Sen. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, declined to respond to questions from a reporter about his debate against HB 292, the health worker assault bill, or his response to Rep. Luke Malek, R-Coeur d’Alene, the bill’s sponsor, who said Nonini questioned his ethics for sponsoring the…
Rep. Luke Malek, R-Coeur d’Alene, a former Kootenai County deputy prosecutor whose first bill as an Idaho state representative was defeated on a tied Senate vote today – a tie that was broken by a no vote from Lt. Gov. Brad Little – said, “I’m…
The joint meeting of the House and Senate Education committees that Senate Ed Chair John Goedde had announced earlier today - which was set for 8 a.m. Monday - has been canceled, at least for now. "It appears that the ideas being developed for the…
Rep. Luke Malek’s House-passed bill to make assaults on health care workers a felony has been defeated in the Senate, after Lt. Gov. Brad Little broke a 17-17 tie vote, voting against the bill and killing it. The bill, HB 292, was sought by Kootenai…
Rep. Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, urged passage of both lands-transfer measures. “For the management of the resource, I think this is a discussion that we have to start,” he said. Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, moved to approve HCR 21, the study committee resolution, and his motion…
Jonathan Oppenheimer of the Idaho Conservation League spoke against both public lands transfer resolutions, HCR 21 and HCR 22. HCR 21 would set up a study committee on a state takeover of federal land within the state; it passed the House on a 64-4 vote.…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said today that he’s no longer working on his $10 million “Hire One More Employee” or HOME tax credit this year; the bill, HB 88, passed the House on Feb. 14, but never got a hearing in the Senate Local Government…
House Resources Chairman Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, is pitching his two federal lands transfer measures to the Senate State Affairs Committee this afternoon. The measures, he said, “make the historic and legal case for the transfer of title of the public lands within the boundaries of…
Senate Education Chairman John Goedde announced at the close of today’s Senate Education Committee that “there will be an RS (bill) or two that will be printed in the House committee tomorrow,” and then will come up for a hearing before the joint House and…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — On party-line votes, the House approved two school board association-backed bills aiming give to districts more leverage during negotiations as well as require the teachers union to prove it represents a majority of…
Just as soon as the Senate Education Committee convened this afternoon, Sen. Branden Durst, D-Boise, moved to approve HB 65 and send it to the Senate with a recommendation that it pass. Sen. Steven Thayn, R-Emmett, seconded the motion. “It seems to me that for…
Five bills were introduced in the House Transportation Committee this week for big boosts in state funding for roads, from shifting sales taxes from sales of tires and automotive equipment to the highway fund, to phasing in a 10-cent increase in Idaho’s gas tax, to…
Senate Education Committee Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, has just announced that the Senate and House Education committees will hold a joint hearing on Monday morning at 8. He said notices will be going up shortly for that joint hearing. Meanwhile, the Senate Education Committee…
The Senate has voted 28-7 in favor of HB 221a, the bill overhauling charter school governance in Idaho. Like HB 206a, the charter school facilities funding bill, the measure now heads back to the House for concurrence in the Senate amendments.
Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, said HB 221a, the charter school governance bill, overhauls Idaho’s charter school system in ways negotiated by stakeholders including the Idaho Charter School Network, the Idaho School Boards Association, the State Department of Education and others. “It made great strides…
The Senate has voted 20-15 in favor of HB 206a, the charter school facilities funding bill. That measure now returns to the House for concurrence in the Senate amendments. Now, the Senate is taking up HB 221, the bill making changes to charter school governance…
In the debate on HB 206a, the charter school facilities funding bill: Sen. Branden Durst, D-Boise, said, “We’re talking about taking money out of the general fund. … They actually set up a parallel system rather than integrating systems together. … We’re making new statutory…
The Senate is now debating HB 206a, the bill to provide state funding for school facilities at charter schools, to be distributed through a per-student formula. “I would argue that all schools have improved due to the presence of these public charter schools, and as…
Talking with reporters after his bill-signing ceremony this morning, Gov. Butch Otter called his meeting with key lawmakers and others last night on the failed public school vote in the Senate yesterday a “successful” one. “I believe that No. 1 that meeting that we had…
Gov. Butch Otter held a bill-signing ceremony this morning for HB 100, establishing a $3 million “Idaho Opportunity Fund” in the state Department of Commerce to help the state convince existing and new businesses to create jobs in Idaho, by awarding grants to communities to…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
