Betsy Z. Russell

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News >  ID Government

Idaho House panel backs health gap coverage plan after emotional hearing

UPDATED: Wed., Feb. 7, 2018

For the first time, an Idaho House committee has voted in favor of a plan to provide coverage to some of those in Idaho’s health coverage gap.

News >  ID Government

Rep. Paulette Jordan resigns legislative seat to focus on campaign for governor

UPDATED: Wed., Feb. 7, 2018

Rep. Paulette Jordan, D-Plummer, announced today that she is resigning her legislative seat to focus full time on her campaign for governor. “It has been my privilege to be elected by and to serve the people of the fifth district since 2014,” said Jordan. “My priority is my constituents and the people of Idaho. I cannot fairly serve my constituents and run for governor, therefore I am stepping down from my legislative seat. This is necessary to win the Democratic primary and to move toward victory in November. I’m all in for Idaho.”

News >  ID Government

ITD wants to spend $2 million to replace aging state plane

UPDATED: Tue., Feb. 6, 2018

The Idaho Transportation Department wants to spend $2 million next year to replace one of the airplanes in the state’s three-plane fleet, a 45-year-old Cessna 182.

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News >  ID Government

Idaho House panel clears big tax-cut bill on party-line vote

UPDATED: Thu., Feb. 8, 2018

A $200 million income tax-cut bill cleared the Idaho House tax committee on Monday on a straight party-line vote, with all GOP members backing it and just the panel’s two minority Democrats voting “no.”

Opinion >  Column

Eye on Boise: Idaho secretary of state seeks budget boost to upgrade software, transparency

Sun., Feb. 4, 2018

Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney is asking for a budget increase next year of more than 70 percent, with most of the increase coming in a major upgrade to the state’s election software system to allow more transparent reporting of campaign finances, lobbyist records and election management and results.

News >  ID Government

Idaho lawmakers hear strong support for new science standards, but delay decision

UPDATED: Fri., Feb. 2, 2018

Idaho lawmakers heard from more than two dozen people over two days of hearings on proposed school science standards, and all supported adopting the new standards, though some lawmakers continue to resist.

News >  ID Government

Some Idaho lawmakers remain leery of school science standards on climate change

UPDATED: Thu., Feb. 1, 2018

Members of the Idaho House Education Committee on Thursday continued to balk at proposed new school science standards that deal with climate change, even as public testimony came in 100 percent in favor of the newly revised standards. More testimony is scheduled for Friday.

News >  ID Government

North Idaho lawmaker wants limits on school bond retries

UPDATED: Thu., Feb. 1, 2018

School districts shouldn’t be able to keep going back to voters after a bond or levy measure fails at the polls, Rep. Heather Scott told a House committee on Thursday.

News >  ID Government

Otter signs first bill, cutting taxes for Idaho employers

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 31, 2018

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has signed the first bill of the year into law – the unemployment insurance tax cut for Idaho employers.

News >  ID Government

Idaho bill would let motorists shoot injured animals at roadside

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 31, 2018

Idaho House Majority Leader Mike Moyle wants to write the state’s current roadkill salvage rules into state law, and add an additional provision: That motorists can shoot a badly injured animal they’ve struck, to put it out of its misery.

News >  Spokane

Idaho lawmakers introduce $202 million tax cut plan

Tue., Jan. 30, 2018

Idaho legislators introduced Gov. Butch Otter’s $202 million tax cut plan Tuesday.

News >  Idaho

Idaho set to upgrade Priest Lake outlet dam and keep Thorofare navigable

UPDATED: Tue., Jan. 30, 2018

The Idaho Water Resource Board will spend $2.4 million on upgrades to Priest Lake, including work on the outlet dam and improvements to the Thorofare linking the upper and lower lakes.

News >  ID Government

Otter, Little hit road to promote new, cheaper health insurance option

UPDATED: Mon., Jan. 29, 2018

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and Lt. Gov. Brad Little have hit the road to promote their executive order asking Idaho insurers to offer cheaper plans that don’t comply with all requirements of the Affordable Care Act, making stops Monday in Lewiston and Coeur d’Alene.

News >  ID Government

Lawmaker: Time for Idaho to recognize breastfeeding is not indecent

UPDATED: Mon., Jan. 29, 2018

Idaho is the only state with no legal protection for breastfeeding mothers, said Rep. Paul Amador, R-Coeur d’Alene. So he’s proposing legislation to exempt nursing moms from the state’s indecent exposure law.

Opinion >  Column

Eye on Boise: Otter’s higher ed CEO proposal gets rocky reception in Legislature

Sun., Jan. 28, 2018

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal to add a high-paid new CEO of higher education next year to oversee consolidating business functions among the state’s universities drew heavy flak in the state Legislature last week.

News >  ID Government

Idaho wolf control board seeks another $400K next year to kill problem wolves

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 26, 2018

A state board charged with contracting to have problem wolves killed asked state lawmakers for another $400,000 on Friday, though the board has received that amount from the state each of the past four years and currently has $1.4 million in the bank.

News >  ID Government

Ybarra pitches 6.8 percent school budget increase to lawmakers

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 25, 2018

Sherri Ybarra, Idaho’s state superintendent of schools, made a strong pitch to state lawmakers Thursday to raise the public school budget by 6.8 percent next year, with the biggest portion of the increase going to the multiyear effort to raise teachers’ salaries.

News >  ID Government

Rep. Heather Scott helps lead unsuccessful move to derail routine tax bill over same-sex marriage

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 24, 2018

When a routine bill from the state Tax Commission came up for a vote in the Idaho House on Wednesday – to conform 2017 Idaho income tax laws to federal changes, which is expected to have only minimal fiscal impact – Reps. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, and Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, spoke out against passing the bill, saying it would amount to bowing to federal pressure to overlook the invalidated clause that’s still in the Idaho Constitution prohibiting same-sex marriage.

News >  ID Government

Moscow senator endorses end-times author for Congress

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 24, 2018

Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, on Wednesday endorsed conservative activist and end-times author Michael Snyder of Bonners Ferry in Idaho’s 1st District GOP congressional primary, a race already crowded with a slew of other better-known Idaho Republicans.

News >  ID Government

Idaho transportation chairman floats bill to repeal lower speed limits for trucks

UPDATED: Mon., Jan. 22, 2018

Idaho would no longer have lower speed limits for commercial trucks on its highways and interstates, under legislation introduced Monday at the request of House Transportation Chairman Joe Palmer, R-Meridian.

News >  ID Government

NIC seeks budget boost, but Otter recommends a small cut instead

UPDATED: Mon., Jan. 22, 2018

North Idaho College requested an increase in state funding next year of more than $1 million, but Gov. Butch Otter instead is recommending a small cut in NIC’s budget.

Opinion >  Column

Eye on Boise: Hemming, hawing, and truck registration fees

Sun., Jan. 21, 2018

The legislative interim committee charged with re-examining truck registration fees in Idaho met again last week, after learning that its Nov. 9

News >  ID Government

Idaho lawmakers brace for costs of big statewide accounting system upgrade

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 19, 2018

Idaho lawmakers are bracing for a big expense – a $102 million, five-year plan to modernize the state’s accounting, payroll and procurement systems, which now operate on a three-decades-old mainframe computer system.

News >  ID Government

Idaho senator introduces bill to expand Medicaid in the state

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 19, 2018

An Idaho senator filed a personal bill Friday to expand Medicaid in Idaho, saying lawmakers need to keep that idea in mind even as they consider other options.

News >  ID Government

Idaho’s PERSI the ‘envy’ of most other state pension plans

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 19, 2018

Idaho's Public Employee Retirement System is the envy of most other states, with strong investment earnings and and a stable funding position, state lawmakers were told Friday.