Idaho Legislature Week 5

The 5th week of Idaho's 2010 legislative session in photos

Section:Gallery

Fri., Feb. 12, 2010

Mike Gwartney, head of the state Department of Administration, fields questions from legislative budget writers on Monday morning about consolidation moves he's proposing to save the state money.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Rep. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, pitches legislation to the House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Monday morning that expands a property tax break bill lawmakers passed two years ago, but that hasn't been used. It was among two new tax break bills introduced by the committee on Monday morning; the other is for aircraft repairs.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, urges the House on Monday to pass HB 435, his bill to grant a temporary, two-year sales tax exemption to non-profit homeless shelters. The House passed the bill on a 70-0 vote.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, tells the House on Monday that his bill, HB 422, would eliminate an "archaic" law imposing misdemeanor penalties on law enforcement officers or prosecutors who know about any type of gambling, including office pools, but don't prosecute. The bill passed 69-1 and moved to the Senate.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Lt. Gov. Brad Little presides over the Senate, which voted Monday to pass HB 379, eliminating a tax checkoff that now benefits political parties. The bill already had passed the House; it now moves to the governor's desk.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Mike Kane, lobbyist for the Idaho Sheriffs Association, proposes legislation to excuse boaters from reporting accidents with damage of $500 or more, in favor of a $1,500 threshhold, to match up with car accidents. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to introduce the bill.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Sen. Les Bock, D-Boise, proposed legislation Monday to remove outdated terms like "mentally retarded," "mentally deficient" and even "lunatic" and "idiot" from an array of state laws, replacing them with more modern terms like "disabled" and "impaired."

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Donna Hutchison, CEO of the Idaho Digital Learning Academy, tells the Senate Education Committee that Idaho high school students are increasingly taking online classes through the state academy to supplement their other courses, as their local school districts face cutbacks. Now, however, Gov. Butch Otter is proposing phasing out state general funds for IDLA over four years.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Wayne Hammon, Gov. Butch Otter's budget chief, tells the Senate Education Committee on Monday afternoon that the administration thinks online courses being offered to Idaho students through the Idaho Digital Learning Academy are being "double-funded." Otter has proposed phasing out state funding for IDLA over the next four years.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Lloyd Knight of the Idaho Department of Agriculture pitches invasive species amendments to the Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee on Tuesday; the panel rejected the bill as too broad, saying it would allow Ag to order any driver pulled over, jailed and fined.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Roger Madsen, left, state Department of Labor director, and Pam Parks, right, director of the Idaho Human Rights Commission, say they're gearing up for a July 1 merger of the two agencies. The commission will move into the Labor Department, which will draw on some of its funds to replace state funding that previously helped operate the commission.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, urges the House to back his Idaho Health Freedom Act, opposing federal health care reform, on Tuesday.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, argues in favor of the Idaho Health Freedom Act in the House on Tuesday.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Bill Roden, lobbyist for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, presents the tribe's law-enforcement legislation to the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. The committee voted unanimously to introduce the bill.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Chief Allan, chairman of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, was surprised and happy after a House committee voted unanimously to introduce the tribe's proposed law-enforcement legislation on Tuesday.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Mike Ferguson, the governor's chief economist, briefs the House Democratic Caucus about the latest state tax revenue figures. They showed another shortfall in January, but Ferguson said the number is misleading because of a timing change in tax filings, and the state's revenues appear to be on forecast.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Celia Gould, director of the state Department of Agriculture, makes her budget pitch to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Wednesday morning.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Wayne Hammon, Gov. Butch Otter's budget chief, presents the governor's office budget to legislative budget writers on Wednesday. Hammon noted that if Otter is re-elected, the state would save $15,000 that otherwise would go to transition costs after the gubernatorial election.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Patti Tobias, administrative director of the Idaho court system, proposes an emergency surcharge on offenders to offset $5.1 million in proposed budget cuts to the courts over the next year and a half. Justice can't be delayed, she told legislative budget writers on Wednesday.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
There's a full house for the Idaho Land Board meeting on Wednesday, at which the state's top elected officials will vote on a school funding proposal.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
The Idaho Land Board debates a school funding proposal on Wednesday.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Gov. Butch Otter questions whether state schools Supt. Tom Luna's proposal to tap endowment reserves to help public schools through a budget crisis next year creates "a constitutional dilemma." His comments came during a special Land Board meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Idaho Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna, under questioning from his fellow members of the state Land Board, declares that the authority to decide on an additional payout to schools next year rests with the Land Board, and no approval was required from the Endowment Fund Investment Board, which he said gives the Land Board advice.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Land Board members debate constitutional and fiduciary duties, the state endowment and the needs of schools during a special meeting Wednesday.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
State Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna answers questions from reporters after the state Land Board voted 3-2 to give schools an extra $22 million next year from state endowment reserves, well short of the $52.8 million Luna sought.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, seated, talks to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010 as the state Land Board considers Luna's request to draw on a reserve fund to benefit public schools in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/The Idaho Statesman, Joe Jaszewski)

Joe Jaczewski, Idaho Statesman Ap Photo
New ITD Director Brian Ness makes his first budget presentation to lawmakers. Ness pledge that ITD will be "good stewards" of funds and that he'll review all expenses to make sure they're appropriate.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Idaho Transportation Director Brian Ness got lots of questions from lawmakers on Thursday at his first budget presentation. Many focused on the use of outside contractors.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Idaho Historical Society Director Janet Gallimore concludes her budget presentation to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Thursday by displaying the original Idaho Constitution, in a glass case, to lawmakers. It was signed by 62 members of Idaho's Constitutional Convention on Aug. 6, 1889.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Senate Republicans finish up an hour-long, closed-door caucus on Thursday on the state budget.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, proposes legislation Thursday to charge $10 for in-state residents, $20 for out-of-staters who enter certain Fish & Game lands but don't have fishing or hunting licenses. They'd be cited if they didn't purchase the new "conservation license."

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, talks about the "conscience" legislation he introduced on Friday, which protects any licensed health care provider who refuses to provide a medication or treatment related to abortion, emergency contraception, stem cell research or end-of-life care, based on the provider's conscience. The Senate State Affairs Committee agreed, with one objection, to introduce the new bill.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
JFAC members prepare to set a revenue figure on which to base the state budget on Friday morning.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee debates revenue figures on which to base the state budget, both for this year and next year. The panel, along party lines, chose a figure far below the numbers Gov. Butch Otter used to set the budget he earlier submitted to lawmakers, which will mean further cuts.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
Wayne Hammon, Gov. Butch Otter's budget chief, reacts to lawmakers' decision Friday morning to base state budgets, both for the rest of this year and for next year, on figures millions lower than what Otter proposed. The governor supports the move, he said, but "serious decisions" on budget cuts lie ahead.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review
This proposed special license plate would benefit mountain biking trails in Idaho. A House committee approved creation of the plate Friday and sent the bill, HB 486, to the full House.

Betsy Russell The Spokesman-Review