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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Otter has no comment on tax reform; addresses helping people in health gap; state’s purchase of HP site…

Taking questions from reporters at today’s legislative preview, Gov. Butch Otter was asked if he had anything to say about tax reform and his priorities on that issue as this year’s legislative session convenes. “Let me answer that question: No,” Otter said. “Stay tuned Monday.”

Asked who the health care executive order he’s signing is aimed at helping, Otter said, “It is aimed at the people in the gap. If you can lower that insurance rate, it is aimed directly at those folks that have not been able to access the insurance exchange and get the subsidies.”

Otter also brought up state Department of Administration Director Bob Geddes to discuss the state’s acquisition of the Hewlett-Packard campus in west Boise. Geddes said the purchase has been finalized, and he announced that HP will remain as a tenant of the state at the complex – a priority of the governor’s, who didn’t want the move to mean that Hewlett-Packard would leave the state. Geddes said the state Tax Commission should be able to move into the facility in the fall of 2018, and other state agencies will move their offices there as well.

“It will be a very good investment for the state of Idaho long into the future,” Geddes said. “I’m happy to report that this will meet the needs of the state of Idaho now and for many, many years.”



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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