The Senate has voted unanimously in favor of HB 95a, the amended urban renewal bill. "What this bill is intended to do is put some further restrictions on urban renewal ... to be sure that they focus on the basic intended purposes of urban renewal law," Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d'Alene, told the Senate. Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, said, "A lot of hours went into this." Four bills came over from the House, he said, and "parts of three of them are in this. ... It is what I think is a consensus piece of legislation, (for) not just the Senate but the entire Legislature." Backers said the bill will add "sideboards" and more "transparency" to the urban renewal process in Idaho. The bill now returns to the House for concurrence in the Senate amendments.