After a mad scramble over the course of the past week, all but one of Idaho’s school districts has now secured broadband service to replace the defunct Idaho Education Network, state Department of Education Technology Director Will Goodman reported to lawmakers today. “We’ve been very...
Among other agency budgets set in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning: * In the special programs budget for the state Board of Education, lawmakers backed Gov. Butch Otter’s recommendation to add staff at the Small Business Development Center (equivalent of four positions) and the…
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has voted 19-1 in favor of boosting the WWAMI program, through which Idaho students attend medical school partly at the University of Idaho and partly at the University of Washington in Seattle, by five more students next year. It’s the third...
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Legislation seeking to exempt public road materials from the Idaho sales tax is one step closer to making it to the governor's desk. A Senate panel approved HB 95 Thursday, clearing the way…
Dozens of women gathered in the Capitol rotunda over the noon hour today to denounce two anti-abortion bills now pending in the Idaho Legislature, HB 154, which is scheduled for House debate on Monday and would place new restrictions on medication-induced abortions in Idaho; and…
Three names have been forwarded to Gov. Butch Otter as nominees for the Idaho Senate seat vacated by Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise, who was appointed a state tax commissioner, topped by Boise City Council President Maryanne Jordan. Second on the list: Nicholas Warden, an attorney;...
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Ridesharing company Uber has suspended operations in Boise. The company in a three-page letter to city leaders on Thursday says it became clear at a city council work session on Tuesday that the…
An online retailer of contact lenses battled major manufacturers of the lenses in an Idaho House committee today, and the retailer won, the AP reports, as the House Health & Welfare Committee approved HB 149 and sent it to the full House for a...
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Two individuals have filed federal lawsuits against Idaho contending the state retaliated against them after each informed officials that the Idaho Commission on Aging failed to properly distribute federal money. The lawsuits filed…
IACI President Alex LaBeau offered to resign yesterday, reports Melissa Davlin of “Idaho Reports,” after a profanity-laced email he wrote about the Senate tax chairman was leaked to Senate leaders. Mark Dunn, chairman of the board of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry business...
The House has voted unanimously in favor of HB 90 and 91, to create a new title in state law called “Transparent and Ethical Government” and move three now-scattered laws into the new title: The Idaho Open Meeting Law, the Idaho public records law, and…
Seven school districts opted out of a statewide high school WiFi system to write their own contracts last year – but still, the contractor for the statewide system received more than $238,000 for work in those districts, Idaho EdNews reports. That’s one finding from a...
With tens of millions in legal fees, contract bailouts, settlements and more adding up for the state, it’s time for Idaho to create an office of Inspector General to receive and investigate complaints of waste, fraud, abuse and malfeasance in state government, House Minority Leader…
HB 45, the bill to extend a popular tax credit for donations to schools, was killed in the House Revenue & Taxation Committee this morning, but a new version was introduced on a unanimous vote that still would extend the credit, in the same amounts…
As JFAC continues setting state agency budgets this morning, the budget that it set for the Military Division leaves out the $1.3 million 20-year lease prepayment Gov. Butch Otter had recommended for mountain-top transmitters and other public safety communications equipment that’s now on state endowment…
Idaho state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra praised lawmakers and Gov. Butch Otter today for speeding through the stopgap broadband funding for Idaho schools in the wake of the state’s legal and financial debacle over the Idaho Education Network. “I am pleased by the quick actions…
A day after Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, spoke out on the House floor about supporters of a concealed-carry bill harassing lawmakers’ families, the Associated Press reports that the National Association for Gun Rights posted a picture online of Loertscher superimposed over the preamble to the…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho jurors in lengthy trials are one step closer to getting a bigger paycheck. The House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee advanced the plan on Wednesday, which would pay jurors $50 per day…
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, wants to do away with daylight saving time in Idaho. Under legislation he got introduced today in the House Ways & Means Committee, which he’s co-sponsoring with Rep. Jason Monks, R-Meridian, Idaho would no longer “fall back” an hour…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A legislative panel is endorsing a bill to require Idaho sign language interpreters to get a professional license from a state board. Several Idaho residents who are hard of hearing told the House…
Last year, Rep. Ilana Rubel, R-Boise, spoke to an Eastern Idaho mother whose son committed suicide after repeated bullying incidents. Rubel promised she would do more to try to prevent similar things happening to other students, reports Clark Corbin of Idaho EdNews; since then, hundreds…
After a fervent, hour-long debate, the House has voted 37-31 in favor of HB 113, Rep. Janet Trujillo’s parental rights bill. Backers included Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, who told a story about objecting to his teenage daughter’s school health class mentioning masturbation, and being…
Gov. Butch Otter today signed the stopgap funding bill for Idaho school broadband service into law, allocating $3.64 million to the state Department of Education to hand out to school districts for the service, to replace services previously provided by the defunct Idaho Education Network,…
The House Health & Welfare Committee voted unanimously in favor of HB 177 this morning, the new GOP bill to require parental consent for 14- to 17-year-olds to use artificial tanning beds and prohibit their use entirely for those ages 13 and under. That matches...
HB 44, creating a new elk license plate to benefit the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, has passed the Senate on a close 19-15 vote, and now heads go the governor’s desk. Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, asked the sponsor, Sen. Marv Hagedorn, whether the new…
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