Half a dozen Idahoans who are in same-sex marriages urged against approval of the Tax Commission’s rule requiring them to re-do their tax returns when they file their state income taxes, so that they file as a married couple for the federal returns, but recalculate…
Legislative budget writers this morning are delving into the details of Health & Welfare programs, starting with the divisions of welfare and Medicaid. Medicaid takes up 80.6 percent of the budget request for the state Department of Health & Welfare for the coming year, down…
As the House Revenue & Taxation Committee opened its hearing this morning on the state Tax Commission’s temporary rule on same-sex married couples’ tax filings, Chairman Gary Collins noted, “This is a hearing on a pending rule, it is not a hearing on same-sex marriage.…
Idaho is no welfare state, legislators were assured Monday, even though 20 percent of the population now receives some form of public assistance. Idaho's benefits remain paltry compared to most states, and even after big jumps in the state's food stamp rolls through the recession,…
YourHealthIdaho.org, Idaho's state health insurance exchange, reports today that 19,922 Idahoans have now purchased health insurance plans through the exchange, 48,082 have completed applications, 40,205 have been determined eligible to buy insurance on the exchange, and 26,665 have been found eligible for federal financial assistance…
A Second Amendment rally on the Statehouse steps today drew more than 150 people, many of them with firearms at their sides or slung across their backs. “It’s a Second Amendment rally, so it’s kind of a given that you’re going to have guns here,”…
At peace talks in Paris today, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a pair of hefty Idaho potatoes, prompting an oddly festive moment of diplomacy during otherwise grim talks. Kerry quickly sought to disavow any deep diplomatic meaning…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A Boise lawyer plans to run as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Jim Risch. Nels Mitchell aims to announce his run Tuesday at Boise's historic train depot.…
An array of backers gathered in a packed state Capitol meeting room this morning to unveil legislation to launch a pilot program for pre-K education in Idaho schools. “This is about the future of this state,” declared Rep. Hy Kloc, D-Boise. “Idaho’s future will be…
Idaho H&W chief Dick Armstrong this morning highlighted three “important state initiatives” that are coming in the next year: Behavioral health community crisis centers for those with mental health or substance abuse disorders. Three are initially proposed around the state next year, with plans to…
The Idaho Department of Health & Welfare, the state’s biggest agency, is down 270 positions from the 3,119 employees it had in 2008, before the recession, Director Dick Armstrong told legislative budget writers this morning. Turnover is up, rising to 15 percent in fiscal year…
Six thousand people in 2,500 Idaho households were told they qualify for Medicaid when they went through Idaho’s health insurance exchange to attempt to buy insurance and access possible federal subsidies. But Idaho Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong said those eligibility determinations, which were…
A week of budget hearings on health and human services programs has kicked off this morning in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. Idaho Department of Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong told the lawmakers that the department budget for next year reflects only a 1.6 percent…
On tonight’s “Idaho Reports” program on Idaho Public Television, I join Jim Weatherby, Kevin Richert and hosts Melissa Davlin and Aaron Kunz to discuss the events of the legislative session’s first week, including Idaho political developments. Also, Davlin interviews the co-chairs of the Joint Finance-Appropriations…
You can read my full story here at spokesman.com on how Idaho lawmakers on a special legislative committee voted unanimously today to give state workers average 2 percent pay boosts next year, despite Gov. Butch Otter’s recommendation for no funding for raises. The joint legislative…
The Legislature’s special employee compensation committee has voted unanimously, 17-0, in favor of the motion from its co-chair, Rep. Neil Anderson, R-Blackfoot, to fund 2 percent in raises for state employees next year – 1 percent for one-time bonuses, and 1 percent for permanent pay…
Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, said, “This motion may create some expectation that our educators would get something similar, in a percent increase. Do we have a number on what that would mean?” The answer: Each 1 percent in raises for state employees costs the…
Rep. Neil Anderson, R-Blackfoot, has proposed a motion to fund 2 percent in raises for state workers next year: 1 percent of that to be permanent, and 1 percent as a one-time bonus. He also included an additional $99,000 amount to boost pay for those…
The Hay Group study of state employee compensation concluded that the state’s salaries and benefits overall are 29 percent behind the private sector market, and 10 percent behind other states. “The benefits offset some of that impact of the lower salaries but not all,” David…
The Legislature’s joint Change in Employee Compensation Committee has convened in the Lincoln Auditorium; you can watch live here. This afternoon’s agenda includes a presentation on the Office of Performance Evaluations 2013 study of state employee compensation and turnover; a review of the 2013 Hay…
GOP activist and former Senate Majority Leader Rod Beck, R-Boise, tops the list of three nominees to replace former Rep. Mark Patterson, R-Boise, reports Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey. Beck, who served in the Senate in the ‘80s and ‘90s, has clashed with Gov. Butch…
Both the House and the Senate have now adjourned until Monday, with the House wrapping up its brief session early this morning, and the Senate, pictured above (the blur is a young Senate page on the move), finishing just now. One big piece of business…
Enrollment in insurance plans through Idaho’s state-run health care exchange has swelled since the federal government fixed the website that residents use to sign up coverage, the AP reports, with about 20,000 Idahoans enrolling in time for their coverage to begin Jan. 1. That’s up…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Lawmakers aim to honor the longest-serving judge in Idaho history — and husband of one of their own — by recognizing his tenure. The Senate State Affairs Committee Friday introduced the measure to…
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning quietly accepted the report of the Legislature’s revenue assessment committee, which yesterday voted unanimously to go along with Gov. Butch Otter’s revenue estimates of $2.80822 billion for the current year, fiscal year 2014, and $2.987767 for the coming year,…
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