Gov. Butch Otter hasn’t included expanding Medicaid in his budget proposal for the coming year. “On the issue of Medicaid expansion, we should not jump into the deep end without knowing what’s on the bottom,” he told lawmakers. “We must not risk our other priorities…
“I’m sure some will argue that the proposals I’m putting forward today are not bold enough, not front-loaded enough or simply not enough,” the governor told a joint session of the Legislature. “But peaks and valleys are not the best way to manage any enterprise…
Idaho would boost its rainy-day savings, under Gov. Butch Otter’s budget proposal, plunking another $35 million into the already capped Budget Stabilization Fund, which now has $135.7 million, and creating a “surplus eliminator” for the current year’s budget to put additional funds into the Public…
Gov. Butch Otter is calling for more partnerships in the state’s workforce training program. “You can expect to see more targeted use of grants for training employees not just for individual businesses, but for the market-driven growth of industry sectors that add value to Idaho’s…
The proposal that’s been languishing to add a second year to the University of Idaho’s law school program in Boise – which now includes only the third year of law school – has won the endorsement of Gov. Butch Otter. He called on lawmakers in…
Gov. Butch Otter has included money in his proposed state budget for next year to continue the five- to 15-year WiFi contract that state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna signed this year with Education Networks of America. The initial funding was just from a one-year,…
Process is important, Gov. Butch Otter told lawmakers. That’s “why I appointed a task force representing a broad cross-section of stakeholders to carefully assess our options. Now that group has delivered its findings, and we must be just as careful in how we enact them.”…
“I will not sanction growing our state government as fast as our economy,” Gov. Butch Otter told a joint session of the Legislature, which is assembled in the House chamber along with state elected officials and Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges. “I…
As he opens his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature today, Gov. Butch Otter is honoring four Idahoans who lost their lives in military service in 2013: Specialist Thomas Murach, Specialist Mitchell Daehling, Staff Sergeant Octavio Herrera, and Captain…
The Idaho Senate’s newest member, Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, was sworn in this morning, as the legislative session kicks off today; here, she’s shown leaving the Senate chamber after the ceremony with her mom, Eloise Ward, and other family members. Ward-Engelking, formerly a state representative,…
Yes, there was political news this weekend, but I have to admit to spending my Saturday more focused on which runs were groomed up at Bogus Basin than which resolutions were passing at the GOP Central Committee meeting in Boise. I’ll have more on that…
On tonight’s “Idaho Reports” program on Idaho Public Television – the kickoff to the program’s weekly coverage of this year’s legislative session - I join Jim Weatherby, Dan Popkey, and hosts Melissa Davlin and Aaron Kunz to discuss what’s ahead. Also, Davlin interviews former House…
AP reporter John Miller reports that Republicans today dampened expectations about broadening Medicaid health care eligibility this year for poor Idaho residents on the same grounds they balked in 2013: Before taking extra federal money, the existing system should be overhauled to encourage beneficiaries to…
Click below for a full report from AP reporter Rebecca Boone on Gov. Butch Otter's announcement today that he's ordering the state Department of Correction to take over the troubled Idaho Correctional Center, the privately run state prison south of Boise; it's a dramatic turnaround…
House Speaker Scott Bedke and Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill both agreed with earlier comments from Gov. Butch Otter this morning about defending Idaho’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage from a legal challenge. Otter said Idaho voters enacted the measure into the Constitution, and the…
Legislative leaders from both parties sparred over Medicaid expansion this morning. Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said, “I think there need to be some changes to the law at the federal level, and that’s probably not going to happen in the next 10 days.”…
As legislative leaders take center stage this morning at the AP Legislative Preview, Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, told the assembled reporters, “You’re really not as intimidating as a group as you are one on one.” Hill said he’s “really excited” about the state’s…
Click below for Gov. Butch Otter's full announcement that he's ordering the state to take over operation of the Idaho Correctional Center, the troubled privately operated state prison south of Boise that's been the target of numerous lawsuits and scandals. Otter said he's been advised…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter closed out his talk to reporters at the AP Legislative Preview this morning by inviting up Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Patti Anne Lodge and House Judiciary Chairman Rich Wills to talk about the state’s criminal justice reinvestment project. The project, in which…
Even though he’s challenging him in the GOP primary, Gov. Butch Otter said today that he’ll still welcome Senate Majority Caucus Chairman Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, to legislative leadership meetings in his office during this year’s session. Otter said both he and Fulcher have the interests…
Gov. Butch Otter says he’s very interested in what states like Arkansas, Indiana and Iowa are exploring, in taking the federal Medicaid expansion funds and instead using them to purchase private health insurance for the new recipients. But he said he wants changes in Idaho’s…
Gov. Butch Otter reiterated his support for the Idaho Core Standards today, saying, “There was a very healthy vote in favor of the standards when the Legislature addressed the issue.” He said, “I believe it was the right thing to do.” Idaho needs to be…
Education will be the top issue in this year’s legislative session, Gov. Butch Otter told reporters at the AP Legislative Preview this morning, and he’ll be proposing a five-year plan to implement the 20 recommendations of the education stakeholders task force he convened. “My budget…
Gov. Butch Otter just announced that he’s ordering the state Board of Correction to halt its ongoing effort to get new bids from private firms to run the privately operated state prison, the Idaho Correctional Center, south of Boise, and instead move to have the…
Gov. Butch Otter and legislative leaders will address reporters at this morning’s AP Legislative Preview at the state Capitol; for the first time, the event will be streamed live via Idaho Public Television’s “In Session” service, which this year includes expanded video streaming from an…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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