The conference committee returned from its break. “We won’t attempt to resolve the hold items at this point. We’ll move on to other issues,” announced Chairman Bert Brackett. “And understand, committee, that there must be a transportation connection on issues that we can include in…
Idaho tax revenue collections exceeded projections by $23 million in March, marking the fifth consecutive month with a positive variance, reports Bill Spence of the Lewiston Tribune. Lower than anticipated corporate and individual income tax returns and higher filings contributed to the results, which were…
The conference committee has now gone at ease for 10 minutes; it’s set aside the areas on which it doesn’t agree: Gas tax, treatment of taxes on gaseous fuels, and a 60-40 split of new road funds raised. There was some debate over a section…
On other pieces of HB 312a, there was much discussion in the conference committee this morning about the addition of a provision to phase in a change in taxing of gaseous fuels, like those for liquid natural gas power buses. Gov. Butch Otter recently allowed…
On the gas tax, on which the Senate is proposing a phased-in, 10-cent hike to Idaho’s 25 cent per gallon tax over the next four years, Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, said, “In my opinion, too many steps and too high a number.” Rep. Joe...
The conference committee has reached tentative agreement on a few of pieces of the Senate amendments that the House disputed: Lowering registration fee increases for older classes of vehicles, keeping a flat $25 increase on commercial trucks, and approving slightly lower fees on hybrid and…
After brief comments about the process the conference committee will follow, Senate Transportation Chairman Bert Brackett asked, “Any questions or clarifications?” When there were none from the other conference committee members, he said with a smile, “This is gonna be easy.” Rep. John Vander Woude,...
“We intend to have this be a short, productive meeting,” said Senate Transportation Chairman Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson, as he opened today’s conference committee meeting between the House and the Senate on transportation funding. Brackett said he’s going to ask Legislative Services Director Eric Milstead to…
Conference committee members are arriving and taking their seats; room WW17 is full for this morning's meeting. There's an overflow room across the hall, with audio; you can also listen online here.
According to Idaho legislative records, conference committees have been convened in seven of the past 30 years. Most – but not all – were successful at working out differences between the House and the Senate. Here are the past ones: 2008: A conference committee agreed...
Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on today’s legislative developments, in which the House and Senate reached an impasse over road funding and both opted to convene a rare conference committee; it’ll meet at 9 a.m. on Thursday. You can listen live…
After bouncing back and forth between the House and Senate multiple times, legislation to raise fines for violations of the Idaho Open Meeting Law won final legislative approval tonight and went to Gov. Butch Otter. The latest version of the bill, HB 324, passed the…
The Senate has reconvened – at nearly 7 p.m. – and named its three appointees to the conference committee on HB 312a, the transportation funding bill. Senate Transportation Chairman Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson, is the Senate chair. The other two appointees are Sens. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert,…
After more than two hours at ease, the House has briefly reconvened tonight, held all bills until tomorrow, and read across the desk the letter to the Senate requesting the conference committee on HB 312a. According to the House’s letter, the committee will meet at…
Shortly after the Senate State Affairs Committee vacated it, top House and Senate GOP leaders began filtering into the small conference room next to Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill’s office, to hear House Speaker Scott Bedke’s petition for a conference committee. Before the door closed,…
The Senate State Affairs Committee, in a brief meeting held in the conference room of the Senate president pro-tem’s office, has agreed to introduce a resolution setting up a new study committee to examine broadband services for Idaho schools and report back to the Legislative…
The Senate has now convened, but Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, said there will be some “starts and stops,” including a “very brief” State Affairs Committee meeting at 4:15. Then, he said, the Senate will reconvene.
After a bit of a delay with the House at ease, the House reconvened and Speaker Scott Bedke announced that there were procedural questions about the earlier voice vote to not concur in the Senate amendments to HB 312. So Sen. Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, again…
The House has voted to accept the recommendation from its Transportation Committee, to not concur in the Senate amendments to HB 312a, the transportation funding bill. “It is my intention to petition the body across the rotunda to convene a conference committee,” House Speaker Scott...
The House Transportation Committee is about to convene; here are its options on HB 312a, the transportation funding bill as amended in the Senate, per House Rule 73: RULE 73 Amended Bills. -- When a bill, resolution, or memorial passed by the House of Representatives...
Chelsea Gaona Lincoln writes on the “Better Idaho” blog today about her meeting with Rep. Paul Shepherd, R-Riggins, which she requested after his comments to the House about gays. “On Thursday, I went with two other gay Idahoans,” she writes. “We sat down with Shepherd,…
With funding for roads on the docket To schools, health and prisons we’ll sock it If things are so dire And funds we desire We’ll just reach in our other pocket.
The Senate has voted 25-9 in favor of HB 95a, the Senate-amended version of HB 95, to exempt materials used in public roads from the sales tax. Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell, the bill’s sponsor, said, “I think it’s important if we’re asking the citizens of…