Gov. Butch Otter has signed his first batch of bills – and they include HB 29, the $1.7 million supplemental appropriation to finish renovating the old Ada County Courthouse to house the next two – or three – legislative sessions while the capitol is renovated.…
Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, successfully introduced a bill today to require party registration in Idaho – a bill the House State Affairs Committee had refused to introduce last week, without noticing that the co-sponsors included the entire House GOP leadership team. A trip to the…
Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, proposed legislation this morning in the House State Affairs Committee to exempt churches from workers compensation laws, but the committee voted unanimously to return the bill to Harwood for more work. Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, an attorney who handles workers…
Legislative budget writers are struggling with how they’re going to budget for a newly split-apart Commerce and Labor department – when the Otter Administration hasn’t even yet presented legislation to split the department into two agencies. House Appropriations Chair Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, told Otter’s budget…
State Commerce & Labor Director Roger Madsen told legislative budget writers this morning that rural broadband grants from the state of $4.9 million, matched dollar for dollar by industry, expanded service to 79 Idaho communities in the past year, with nearly 50,000 potential new customers.…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
