The conference committee will reconvene at 11:15, Chairman Bert Brackett just announced. “We’ll have some more discussion, we’ll take some more straw polls and then we’ll decide from there where we’re going to go,” he said. Asked if the panel is at an impasse, Brackett...
Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, poses with his artwork entitled, “The Salamander Kid,” picturing his rendition of Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, who can be seen at right. Loertscher, of course, chairs the House State Affairs Committee, which first killed, then passed legislation to make the…
The House has convened, but recessed until 1:30 p.m....
If one cent or two still divides ‘em And gas taxes are what decides ‘em Why can’t they agree On taxes and fees Before Cowboy Butch has to ride ‘em?
The conference committee has taken four straw polls in a row, and all failed on 4-2 votes, with just Reps. Joe Palmer and John Vander Woude objecting, except for the final one, with just Palmer and Vander Woude supported. The first proposal, from Sen. Roy...
After a brief break, the conference committee has reconvened. Sen. Dean Cameron said he has comments in response to those before the break from Rep. Joe Palmer. “I’m not interested in surviving an election,” Cameron said. “I’m interested in doing the right thing, and doing…
As the conference committee opened its work this morning, Chairman Bert Brackett asked each member, going around the table, to say “where do you think we should end up to go forward with this issue?” House Transportation Chairman Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, went first. “I think…
The conference committee on transportation funding is reconvening this morning...
A House committee is holding up a bill to bring Idaho’s child support enforcement plan into compliance with federal law – potentially losing the state tens of millions of dollars, forcing the layoff of more than 100 state employees and cancelling contracts across the state...
The House has now adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow. Speaker Scott Bedke asked House Transportation Chairman Joe Palmer to give an update on the conference committee. “We moved a little bit today,” Palmer told the House. “Tomorrow we’re going to meet up again at 8…
The conference committee has voted unanimously to adjourn until 8 a.m. tomorrow.
Well, now it’s nearly 4 p.m., the Senate has adjourned to tomorrow morning, and the conference committee has arrived back in room WW 17. Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, distributed a handout listing “Tax Relief Provided during the 2015 Legislative Session.” There are 13 bills listed,…
Let’s say that we have to pay To speed cars and trucks on their way But what is the cost As ideas are tossed Must we see lawmaking in May?
The Senate has just adjourned until 10:30 tomorrow morning - meaning the Legislature is not adjourning sine die today. The conference committee on transportation funding still is at ease; the panel is in mid-negotiations about gas taxes. It has been meeting since 9 a.m. today;…
Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, offered a 4-cent gas tax increase next year, followed by another 2 cents two years later, and then another 2 cents four years out, a total of 8 cents. “That probably gets close to our bottom line,” he said. “That’s less…
Back at the table, the House-Senate conference committee on transportation funding picked up where it left off at its last break – talking about possible indexing of the gas tax in the future. House Transportation Chairman Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, said, “As good as it sounds,”…
Idaho House OKs task force to study state's broadband system Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho House has unanimously approved a new task force to recommend changes to the state's piecemeal broadband system. The action comes after…
Jayson Ronk is still the acting president of Idaho Association of Business and Industry, and will be for the foreseeable future, reports Melissa Davlin of Idaho Public TV’s “Idaho Reports.” Widespread rumors in the Capitol had President Alex LaBeau back on the job; IACI’s board…
House members of the conference committee have come back with a counter-proposal on where to direct funds from a proposed surplus-eliminator, which would be split half-and-half between the Budget Stabilization Fund and transportation. The House members proposed rather than setting up a new fund, altering...
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — A management plan for a popular southwest Idaho federal wildlife refuge that's more accommodating for water skiers is being praised as a good compromise. The Idaho Press-Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/1Jt0vIl) that U.S. Fish and...
The conference committee has gone at ease for 5 minutes at the suggestion of Chairman Bert Brackett, so each house’s delegation “can talk this over.” That came after Sen. Dean Cameron suggested Reps. John Vander Woude and Joe Palmer would be able to sell an…
House Transportation Chairman Joe Palmer has come out slugging from the lunch break. Sen. Bert Brackett said, “When we adjourned, the question was … whether the presenters of the draft … if they would be receptive to including the locals in the surplus eliminator fund…
The conference committee has decided to go at ease until 12:30, after lots of questions about the House GOP's proposed surplus-eliminator plan.
The conference committee has set aside for now the question of including HB 310, the general-fund shift bill that cleared the Senate Transportation Committee yesterday, in the compromise transportation funding legislation, after Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, spoke about the demands on the state budget, including...
With absolutely no debate, the House has voted 68-1 in favor of HB 330, Rep. Mike Moyle’s bill to raise the grocery tax credit by $10 per person next year. The sole dissenter was Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley; Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, missed the vote....
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
| April 2015 | ||||
| 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 24 |
| 23 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 17 |
| 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 11 |
| 10 | 09 | 08 | 07 | 06 |
| 05 | 03 | 02 | 01 |
