Idaho’s Constitutional Defense Council meets this morning to consider two items: Payment of $401,663 in attorney fees and court costs to the winning side in the same-sex marriage case, per a U.S. District Court order; and payment of $55,000 in fees to outside attorneys that…
With a quick meeting, no questions or comments, and a 6-1 vote the House Ways & Means Committee has voted to introduce the “Add the Words” bill, to add the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights Act and ban discrimination...
Gov. Butch Otter has named Grangeville attorney Gregory FitzMaurice a 2nd District judge, to succeed, Judge Michael Griffin, who retired at the beginning of this year. The new district judge will take office immediately. FitzMaurice has practiced law at his own firm in Grangeville since…
The state has outlined its timetable to rebid the Idaho Education Network broadband contract, Idaho Education News reporter Kevin Richert reports, and it suggests Idaho will likely have to do without the federal e-rate funds that were supposed to fund 75 percent of the project…
After a 20-minute break, this afternoon’s legislative ethics training session has started back up. Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, announced, “I’d like to welcome our Secretary of State, Lawerence Denney. I appreciate him joining us for this portion of the session.” The next portion…
Legislative leaders have distributed the Idaho Legislature’s new ethics manual to all lawmakers in the Lincoln Auditorium, as part of today’s ethics training. “Please write in the margins, please take notes,” House Speaker Scott Bedke told the group. “This is so important that I want…
Idaho Court of Appeals Judge Karen Lansing plans to retire June 30 after 22 years on the bench, she announced today. “The opportunity to serve Idahoans as a Court of Appeals judge has been one of the greatest honors of my life,” said Judge Lansing.…
By my count, there are about 135 people gathered in the Lincoln Auditorium for the Legislature’s mandatory ethics training this afternoon, though not all are legislators; the session is mandatory for the 105 senators and representatives. Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, thanked them all...
Idaho lawmakers are beginning to gather in the Lincoln Auditorium for today's mandatory ethics training, which will run all afternoon, 'til 5 p.m. House Speaker Scott Bedke and Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill said they haven't had any ask to skip the session. "We do...
In unprecedented move, the House Ways & Means Committee - the leadership-controlled panel that rarely meets until late in the session - has announced a meeting for 5 p.m. today to consider introducing the "Add the Words" bill, the measure to amend the Idaho Human...
Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra will push for a 6.4 percent increase in public school funding for next year, slightly less than the 7.4 percent boost sought by Gov. Butch Otter, Idaho Education News reports. Reporter Clark Corbin reports that Otter’s budget team and…
Idaho’s Constitutional Defense Council will hold a special meeting Thursday at 8:30 a.m. in the Borah Post Office building’s 2nd floor courtroom, to consider paying $400,000-plus in court-ordered attorney fees and costs in the gay marriage case...
Idaho lawmakers will undergo four hours of ethics training Wednesday, in a mandatory session for all 105 senators and representatives. It’s the second straight year the mandatory ethics training has been offered to state lawmakers. Asked why, House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, said, “Because it’s…
Your Health Idaho, the state health insurance exchange, is up to 83,383 customers through December from its first two months of open enrollment this year, the exchange announced today. That includes people renewing from last year and new signups. “We are happy so many Idahoans…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has called for a statewide moment of silence tomorrow at 1 p.m. Mountain time, noon Pacific, to remember the victims of this week's shooting in Moscow, in which three people died. Here is Otter's statement: “It is important that everyone in…
Democratic legislators from both houses offered an unusually positive response today to GOP Gov. Butch Otter’s State of the State message to lawmakers yesterday. “Clearly we need a better way forward, and the governor and our GOP leaders are beginning to understand that,” said House…
Idaho’s state Board of Examiners, which consists of the governor, the secretary of state, the attorney general and the state controller, has voted unanimously to approve the claim for $401,663 in attorney fees and costs in the state’s same-sex marriage litigation that a federal judge…
Boise 8th grader Ilah Hickman’s bill to make the Idaho giant salamander the official state amphibian is the first bill introduced in the Idaho Legislature this year, after the House State Affairs Committee agreed to introduce the measure this morning. “I’m hoping this will be…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter called for boosts to school funding and tax cuts for businesses and top earners in his State of the State message to a joint session of the Legislature on Monday. But the chairman of the Senate Tax Committee, Jeff Siddoway, said school funding must come before tax cuts, and schools in his areas are hurting...
A new report from the Legislature’s Office of Performance Evaluations today finds that when the Legislature doesn’t allocate any money for pay raises for state employees and instead directs agencies to use any salary savings they incur for raises, the result is an inequitable distribution...
Speaking with reporters at a news conference after his State of the State address today, Gov. Butch Otter said he wants Idaho lawmakers to agree to join the streamlined sales tax project – something lawmakers have been debating but have resisted in recent years –...
“Ladies and gentlemen, look high above you,” Gov. Butch Otter told lawmakers as he concluded his State of the State message today. “Within this magnificent chamber so beautifully renovated just a few years ago, you see an Idaho sky through a vaulted dome of glass....
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter had this to say about the same-sex marriage issue: “It is incumbent upon those of us sworn to uphold and defend our Constitution and to do so based on its content now – not on changing societal values since it was…
After funding the state’s first behavioral health crisis center in Idaho Falls this year, the state should add another next year, Gov. Butch Otter told lawmakers in his State of the State message today. His budget includes $1.7 million for a second center, but doesn’t...
Gov. Butch Otter has made reference to his Medicaid redesign workgroup’s findings. “I have studied the recommendations of my Medicaid Redesign Workgroup and agree with its findings – up to a point,” he told lawmakers. “I especially appreciate the work group’s strong focus on personal…
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