This week’s “Idaho Reports” on Idaho Public Television includes a roundup of the events of the week; an interview with Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Director John Tippets on the uncertainty Idaho’s DEQ faces with changes in the EPA at the national level; and a…
After its knock-down, drag-out over gas taxes, the House Transportation Committee this afternoon voted to introduce three more bills: Two different versions of legislation to extend the “surplus eliminator” for another two years, and one measure from Chairman Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, to phase out, over…
The House Transportation Committee has just had a fairly heated debate about a temporary, three-year, five-cent increase in Idaho’s gas tax, before voting 9-7 against even introducing the bill proposed by Rep. Clark Kauffman, R-Filer. “In the last week or so, I think this bill…
With little debate, the Idaho House today killed legislation aimed at making physicians employed by the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare exempt from the state’s classified personnel system, to allow their pay to be increased beyond the state scale. Rep. Phylis King, D-Boise, the…
The House has voted 42-25 to approve legislation to comply with the settlement agreement to the longstanding Jeff D lawsuit by setting up a children's mental health program within Medicaid, to attract millions in federal matching funds; that will allow the services provided to children…
State general funds for Idaho’s state Department of Parks & Recreation are down to less than 10 percent of the department’s budget, Director David Langhorst told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Thursday. “We’ve built our dedicated fund revenue streams to the point where we are…
The Washington Post today has an in-depth look at Idaho’s experience with Obamacare and health care reform, as a microcosm of what’s going on nationwide. It’s headlined, “Republicans in Idaho tried to design a better plan than Obamacare – and failed.” You can read it...
Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning that he expects to have online voter registration, which lawmakers approved last year and is being phased in, “up and going” by next fall. “I doubt that we’ll get it up by...
Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, persuaded the House State Affairs Committee this morning to introduce her bill to clarify that sled dog racing is exempt from Idaho’s ban on dog racing, which was imposed in 1996 amid concerns over reported abuse of greyhounds raced at a…
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden says his office “represents an excellent value for the state,” returning $1.53 to the state for every taxpayer dollar appropriated to it. “Fiscal year 2016 was a successful year for my office,” he told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning,…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
