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Idaho Senate combines two dog-racing exception bills

In this image taken Tuesday, March 7, 2017, and provided by the Iditarod Trail Committee, the sun sets as veteran musher Nicolas Petit makes his way into Tanana, Alaska, the third checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Petit was the first musher to arrive at Rainy Pass on Monday, March 4, 2019. (MIKE Kenney / Associated Press)
By Betsy Z. Russell betsyr@spokesman.com(208) 336-2854

BOISE – An amended version of two different House-passed bills on dog racing – one allowing an exception from Idaho’s strict ban on dog racing for non-betting exhibition races at county fair side shows, and another allowing an exception for sled-dog racing and training – passed the Senate Wednesday on a unanimous vote.

Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, told the Senate, “The communities and the dogs will thank you.”

The Senate amended a bill that dealt with the county fair side-shows, and combined it with another, the sled-dog bill from Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, in part to fix some wording, and in part because the dog sled-dog bill hadn’t specified that no betting is permitted.

The combo bill now must go back to the House.