Another long beer tax hearing

It was another full house this morning for the hearing on the proposed increase in Idaho’s beer and wine taxes to fund substance abuse treatment. Today, another 25 people testified, 13 of them for the bill and 12 against. That’s after yesterday’s hearing, in which 14 testified for, nine against and one neutral. House Rev & Tax Chairman Dennis Lake said there are six lobbyists or legislators still signed up to testify; they’ll testify tomorrow, when the committee will meet back in its regular meeting room, and then take a vote on whether or not to pass the bill on to the full House. Said Lake, “We’ll see what the committee does.”