State tax revenue numbers are in for December, and the month’s receipts came in 5.8 percent of predicted levels, or $2 million higher. The state has now issued its January revised revenue forecast, which at $2.8082 billion is slightly lower than the August forecast of…
The Change in Employee Compensation Committee has wrapped up its public hearing on a somewhat somber note. "We can promise you process, we can't promise you outcomes," Co-Chairman Neil Anderson, R-Blackfoot, told the audience. "We will give it the best shot that we possibly can."…
In continuing testimony on state employee compensation this afternoon: Shelly Doty told the lawmakers, “I feel as if I’m banging my head against the wall.” She said many people at her agency qualify for food stamps or other aid. Mechelle Thomas, pictured above, who works…
More testimony from this afternoon’s hearing on state employee compensation: Kean Miller, an employee of the state electrical commission, told lawmakers, “When the employee group insurance plan goes up, my take-home pay will go down. That’s the truth. …. The result of that in the…
In testimony at this afternoon’s public hearing on state employee compensation: Donna Yule, of the Idaho State Employees Association, urged lawmakers, “Find some way to give employees at least something.” She noted, “IPEA has been advocating for the reinstatement of this committee for five years.…
As a reporter, I often use a small recording device – these days, my iPhone – to record events like press conferences so I can later double-check my notes. So on Monday when I went to Gov. Butch Otter’s press conference in his office after…
Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, co-chair of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, drew a brief burst of applause for her comments to the Change in Employee Compensation Committee this afternoon. “We have eliminated many, many positions, and those who are left know their jobs and do them…
Like members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee before them, the Legislature’s joint Change in Employee Compensation Committee this afternoon is expressing deep reservations about Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal to again provide zero funding for state employees next year, and instead rely on salary savings within…
The House and Senate education committees have scheduled a joint session for Jan. 22 to hear from a panel of experts on Common Core standards, and the committee chairs say they’ll accept written questions in advance from anyone to be submitted to the panel, Idaho…
Gov. Butch Otter has appointed Boise attorney Ilana Rubel to the Idaho House, to fill the District 18 vacancy created when he appointed then-Rep. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, to the Idaho Senate; Ward-Engelking replaced former Sen. Branden Durst, D-Boise, who left the state. Rubel, 41, is…
Some somber notes on this snowy day in the state Capitol: Today is the funeral in Colorado Springs for Air Force Capt. David Lyon, who died in Kabul, Afghanistan, after his vehicle was hit by an explosion. Lyon, 28, was about a month away from…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho senator who ranches sheep is promoting Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's proposed wolf population control panel, saying the $2 million the Republican governor has set aside will boost livestock and elk herds.…
For the first time this season, Bogus Basin has announced that it's opening the Superior chair on the backside today, the last major section of the mountain that's not been able to open so far due to the thin snowpack. There's more info here at…
There is no truth to the scurrilous rumor being spread that I headed straight to Bogus Basin this morning; no, I’m here at the Capitol, and this is the snowy approach to it this morning, viewed through Capitol Park. It has a bit of the…
A.J. Balukoff, Democratic candidate for governor and chairman of the Boise School Board, has issued a response to GOP Gov. Butch Otter’s State of the State message, focusing on education needs, health care and the economy. “While Gov. Otter’s State of the State Address offers…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
