Fines for speeding in school zones in Idaho would rise to more than $100, under legislation that won final passage in the Idaho House today. SB 1361a, sponsored by Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, now goes to the governor’s desk. It would set the minimum…
Something was missing from the Capitol Annex grounds today – the festive white tent in the back parking lot, with its scalloped-edge trim, that housed the deluxe flushing Port-a-Potties brought in for the legislative session. Though not heavily used, the potties were there to supplement…
Gov. Butch Otter has signed into law the long-sought break for Idahoans who have been paying full 6 percent sales taxes on their grocery purchases, ever since the Legislature raised the sales tax from 5 percent to 6 in August of 2006. “After a year…
Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, opened this morning’s Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee hearing with this comment: “Welcome everyone – we wish we weren’t here.” Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, responded, “The House concurs, Mr. Chairman – we wish we weren’t here either. But since…
SB 1514, the measure to require a parenthetical (a person formerly known as…) on the ballot following the names of candidates who have changed their names to political slogans, has passed the House 64-2 and now goes to the governor. Rep. John Vander Woulde, R-Nampa,…
The House has voted 66-0 in favor of HB 688, enabling legislation to accompany HJR 4, the local-option tax amendment. There was no debate. “This is necessary legislation and I would certainly urge your green light,” House Tax Chairman Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, told the House.…
The Senate Education Committee this morning approved letters to the state Board of Education and to Gov. Butch Otter summing up their findings from months of complaints and a dramatic hearing in which the senators grilled state board members about their handling of the ISAT…
HB 599, the bill to phase in a repeal of the personal property tax on business equipment, has been amended unanimously in the Senate. Senators changed the bill to exempt just the first $75,000 in value from the tax on business equipment, and to exclude…
Jon Hanian, press secretary for Gov. Butch Otter, had this to say about the $68.5 million transportation funding bill that’s pending in the House: “$68 million does not fill up a $200 million hole. We’ve been saying all session long that this needs to be…
Gov. Butch Otter has issued another line-item veto, this time scratching out the funding for the Legislative Services Office for technology upgrades and to purchase 108 laptop computers next year for use by legislators. Though he doesn’t mention it in his veto message, the swipe…
The Senate has voted 34-1 for legislation to provide a “safety net” to Idaho school districts that will lose out if Congress doesn’t reauthorize so-called “Craig-Wyden” timber replacement funds. Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, said any congressional action, if it takes place, likely wouldn’t get school…
The Senate has voted 31-2 in favor of HCR 50, to launch a $550,000 performance audit of the Idaho Transportation Department. “We want to dig into what is happening out at the Department of Transportation so that we all feel more confident when the time…
A Senate committee chairwoman has blocked legislation that would have ended Idaho's distinction as the only state in the nation with no system for reviewing child deaths. Senate Health and Welfare Chairwoman Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, said Idaho doesn't need to review child deaths if…
The Senate has voted 25-10 for HB 661, a measure to repeal a never-used tax incentive bill enacted in 2005 to try to entice Albertson’s grocery store chain to keep its headquarters in Idaho. It didn’t. “Idaho’s a great place to do business,” said Sen.…
The House Ways & Means Committee has voted unanimously to both introduce and send to the full House a $68.5 million transportation funding bill. The measure increases car registration fees by $23.5 million, fees for light trucks and trailers by $6.7 million, heavy truck fees…
The Idaho Senate has voted 30-5 to override Gov. Butch Otter’s line-item veto of substance-abuse treatment funds in SB 1458, a supplemental appropriation in which Otter axed $2.4 million for treatment in the current budget year. “We believe that we can show that the money…
Under HB 599, the proposed repeal of the personal property tax on business equipment, 18 percent of the 53,718 Idaho businesses that now pay the tax would get 95 percent of the benefit, which translates to slightly over $110 million in tax relief for 9,887…
The Statehouse press corps was outside the Capitol Annex just now, puffing on cigars. It wasn’t that the session had ended (though that’d be cause for celebration too). It was the arrival of little Rachel Ann Miller, 6 pounds, 15 ounces, daughter of AP reporter…
The Senate State Affairs Committee this morning began its consideration of HJR 4, the constitutional amendment to limit local-option taxes, but ran out of time after the first presenter, House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley. Meanwhile, the House Revenue & Taxation Committee this morning…
Invoking rules of the Senate, Senate Democrats have called for SB 1302, the “revolving door” bill to require a cooling-off period before government officials could immediately turn to private-sector lobbying, to be pulled from the Senate State Affairs Committee, where it’s sat all session without…
After four hours of testimony, almost all of it against the bill, Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, explained why he was supporting HB 599 anyway, to phase in a repeal of the personal property tax on business equipment: “To me, this is a start – I…
The legislation to do the next round of GARVEE bonding for the “Connecting Idaho” highway construction program has passed the Senate, 29-6. The bill, HB 657, already had passed the House and now goes to Gov. Butch Otter, who made it a top priority as…
The Senate just announced that it won’t go into its 10th order today – and that’s where the resolution for an audit of the Idaho Transportation Department is sitting, waiting for a Senate vote. That’s the measure the House wants approved before it agrees to…
Hal Styles Jr. has never been to Idaho, but he’d like to be the state’s next U.S. senator. Styles noted that current Idaho Sen. Larry Craig is leaving office, “as well he should,” and said, “Idaho being one of the 10 best places to live…
Gov. Butch Otter has vetoed another bill, this time a rather minor one from the state Department of Education that sought to give employees there the option to take Christmas Eve and the day after Thanksgiving as state holidays instead of the established holidays of…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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