Former state Rep. Ken Robison dies at 79

Longtime Idaho state lawmaker and former journalist Ken Robison died Sunday at age 79 after a long illness, the Idaho Statesman reports today. Robison was the editorial page editor of the Idaho Statesman from 1967 to 1977, and served in the Idaho Legislature for 20 years, representing the North End of Boise in both the Senate and House. He wrote the successful ballot initiative to create the “50-50” homeowner’s exemption from property taxes in 1982.

“The people of Idaho owe Ken a big thank you for the property tax protection that he made available,” former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus told Statesman reporter Rocky Barker. “As a legislator, he was always thinking of the little guy.”

Robison is the author of “Defending Idaho’s Natural Heritage: The Idaho Conservation Story,” a 351-page history published in 2014. When he was with the Statesman, he won the national Edward G. Meeman Award for Conservation Writing in 1976; he also helped form the Idaho Conservation League in the 1970s.

Robison, who retired from the House in 2004, remained involved in Idaho political and conservation issues. This year, as lawmakers were debating capping the homeowner’s exemption that he helped create, Robison distributed this history of the political fights over property taxes in Idaho. The Statesman’s full article is online here .