Bill to require consent for abortions advances
The Idaho Senate voted 23-12 on Monday in favor of Senate Bill 1082, a proposal from Sen. Russ Fulcher, of Meridian, to require parental consent for a minor to have an abortion.
Fulcher, a Republican, said he thought the bill would decrease the number of abortions in Idaho.
Idaho has passed several similar laws in past years only to have them overturned in court, costing the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
The measure now moves to the House.
Panhandle senators split in the vote, with Sens. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene; Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls; and Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, voting in favor; and Sens. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle; Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint; and Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, voting against.
– Betsy Z. Russell
Committee OKs bill on impact fees
The Idaho House is expected to consider a bill this week that would allow counties to work with other taxing districts such as fire, water and irrigation to collect impact fees to help pay for the cost of growth.
The House Local Government Committee unanimously passed the bill Monday. Kootenai County is pushing the measure, sponsored by Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake.
“It’s just making the existing law usable for us,” said Commissioner Todd Tondee, who testified Monday in support of House Bill 204.
State law now allows counties to collaborate only with highway districts to share the collection of impact fees, which are charges assessed on residential and commercial building permits.
Nobody opposed the bill.
Clark said the House will likely debate the bill Thursday or Friday.
– Erica Curless
Coeur d’Alene
Climate seminar is Friday at resort
Coeur d’Alene climatologist Cliff Harris and meteorologist Randy Mann, who writes a weekly weather column for The Spokesman-Review, will present a seminar Friday on global warming and future cooler weather patterns and how they may affect people’s lives.
Other topics will include how to profit and protect businesses and real estate holdings during these extreme weather patterns.
The two will be joined by author Robert Felix, whose book “Not By Fire, But By Ice” warns “the next ice age could begin any day.”
The “International Weather, Commodity and Real Estate Seminar” will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. The cost is $19.95.
To reserve a seat, go to www.longrangeweather.com or call (208) 664-1109 between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
– From staff reports