In a surprise move this morning, Sen. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, asked the Senate to move HB 67a – the grocery tax repeal bill that formerly, before it was amended, was a House-passed income tax cut bill – to the 14^th Order for potential amendments. “There is at minimum a technical timing error with the implementation of one of the provisions in the proposed legislation, and hopefully many of you have had an opportunity to see an email that spells that out,” Bayer told the Senate. “That is something that must be addressed and requires amending.”

When a bill comes up on the amending order, any senator may offer amendments; that’s how this bill ended up “radiator-capped” and turned into an entirely different bill that last time it was on the 14^th Order.

In addition, there was another major bill on the Senate’s calendar this morning, SB 1162, the highway funding bill calling for $300 million in new GARVEE bonding, that was passed over for now. Sen. Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson, the bill’s sponsor and chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, first asked for unanimous consent to hold it until tomorrow. Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, objected, and instead asked for SB 1162 to hold its place on the calendar for this morning.

Lt. Gov. Brad Little, the president of the Senate, then announced that without objection, the bill would be held until this afternoon.