After four hours of testimony Monday, an Idaho House panel passed a contentious foster care reform bill that would allow judges to oversee adoptions and implement a timeframe for relatives to apply to care for a child, the AP reports. The House Judiciary, Rules and…
Sen. Mary Souza’s bill to change school board elections so that trustees still would run from established zones, but voters district-wide would vote on all the positions, went down to defeat in the Senate Education Committee this afternoon. That then doomed a companion bill, to…
Idaho 1st District Congressman Raul Labrador filed for re-election today, seeking a fourth two-year term in the U.S. House. He issued this statement: "When I was first elected to Congress the people of Idaho had a clear mandate for me – to change the way...
Idaho’s firefighters have twice won Senate passage of legislation to recognize cancer as an occupational hazard, when it develops after they’re exposed to known cancer-causing substances while fighting fires. But the bill’s never advanced in the House – until now. Today, House Commerce Chairman Stephen…
Gov. Butch Otter’s mother, Regina, has passed away at the age of 101, KTVB-TV reports. She died over the weekend. A funeral is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Boise.
Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, announced today that he won’t seek re-election to a 9th term in the House. “I would surely have run, but there are some family issues,” Bateman said. “I started 40 years ago.” He served five House terms from 1977 to…
Idaho’s House and Senate resources committees are holding a joint “informational meeting” today in the Lincoln Auditorium, to hear speakers from Utah, including two Utah lawmakers, talk about their efforts to take over federal public lands. You can watch live here. “I don’t believe there’s...
Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, told KTVB-TV over the weekend that he was wrong when he said repeatedly last week that women who are raped or victims of incest are unlikely to become pregnant. "I was in error, and I regret it," he told the…
The House has voted 62-5 in favor of HB 524, Rep. Ken Andrus’ bill to strengthen penalties for torture of a “companion animal” in Idaho, such as a pet dog, cat, pony or rabbit, but only after Andrus assured Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, that the...
A first offense of being a minor in possession of alcohol or a minor consuming alcohol would be changed from a misdemeanor to an infraction, under legislation that cleared the House on a 65-2 vote today. HB 494, sponsored by Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, and…
The Idaho House has voted 66-1 in favor of the “Right to Try” bill proposed by Rep. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, that would allow terminally ill patients to use investigational drugs that haven’t yet gained full FDA approval, at their own risk. They could do so…
Overall, the school budget set today reflects a 6.8 percent increase in state general funds, but it leaves several major pieces still to be decided, including Gov. Butch Otter’s proposed $10.7 million early literacy initiative, which has passed the House and awaits action in the…
The budget for the central services division of the public school budget doesn’t including any funding for state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra’s proposed rural school centers pilot program, for which she had requested $300,000. Sen. Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston, asked why not. Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho...
As JFAC debated the budget for the Children’s Programs division of the public school budget this morning, Rep. John Gannon noted that it didn’t include the governor’s $10.7 million early literacy initiative, which is pending in the House; the idea is that once it’s passed,...
The one big debate this morning during the setting of the public school budget came when Sen. Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow, tried to add $5 million to discretionary funds for school districts next year, beyond the amount needed to get them back up to the fiscal…
Rep. Phylis King, D-Boise, brought props this morning to support her bid to fund part of the Idaho Commission for Libraries request for $183,700 for a STEM initiative. “This was put together by a 5-year-old,” she told JFAC. “It shows that Play-doh can conduct electricity.…
Today is the day that the public school budget – the single largest piece of Idaho’s state budget – will be set in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. The complicated budget is split into seven budget divisions, each with a separate debate and vote; an array…
Tonight’s “Idaho Reports” looks at the seventh week of this year’s legislative session, as co-hosts Melissa Davlin and Aaron Kunz interview House Speaker Scott Bedke; Kunz reports from the Eastern Idaho Water Crisis Symposium in the wake of the settlement agreement regarding the Eastern Snake...
The Idaho Attorney General's office is investigating a political action committee. Spokesman Todd Dvorak tells the Post Register in a story on Friday that the Integrity in Government PAC is being investigated but declined to provide details. Public campaign disclosures show the PAC raised $126,000...
The House State Affairs Committee agreed unanimously today to introduce legislation to repeal a state law that bans depictions of specific simulated sex acts in films or photos at premises with state liquor licenses, replacing it with a law that says licensed premises can’t show…
The Senate has killed legislation proposed by the Idaho Sheriff’s Association to add eight additional crimes to the list of felonies for which gun rights aren’t restored after serving time. The eight: Terrorism, arson, theft by extortion, human trafficking, felony rioting, hijacking, racketeering, and supplying...
The literacy bill that’s had such a rocky path earlier in the session sailed through the House today with just two “no” votes, from Reps. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, and Heather Scott, R-Blanchard. The measure, HB 526, carries out a recommendation from the governor’s task force…
The House has voted 42-24 in favor of the bill to ban powdered alcohol, HB 331a. Rep. Gayle Batt, R-Wilder, said the state Liquor Division already can decide which products are sold in the state. She cited an example: Alcoholic popsicles. “That was a decision…
Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, has introduced legislation to repeal the laws creating the Idaho Women’s Commission, which hasn’t been funded for the past seven years. “They defunded it but all the code is still in law,” Scott said. “It’s kind of outdated. I just don’t…
After a hearing stretching for nearly two hours, the Senate State Affairs Committee has voted unanimously to send SB 1342, Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll’s Bible in schools bill, to the Senate’s 14th Order for amendments. Senators said they wanted to make sure the measure recognizes that…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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