The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee, after a series of votes, has picked five topics for investigations by the Legislature's Office of Performance Evaluations in 2012: Best practices for state contract management, requested by Reps. John Rusche, Fred Wood and Jeff Thompson; analysis and comparison of…
Idaho Teacher of the Year Erin Lenz, a first-grade teacher at Winton Elementary in Coeur d'Alene, told the Senate Education Committee today, "I am not going to talk about the hot topics in education today, not about education reform, not about teacher evaluation or performance…
The House Transportation Committee has voted 8-4 to send HB 586, the three-feet to pass bicycles bill, to the full House for amendments. Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, made the motion; he said he wanted to expand the bill to also change another state law that…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Torturing animals and organizing cockfights would be considered felonies in Idaho under a bill heading to the full House. The House Agricultural Committee voted Monday to toughen animal cruelty penalties for pets and…
HB 623, Rep. Jeff Thompson's bill to lay out in state law provisions regarding school crossing guards has been killed in the House Transportation Committee on a voice vote. The bill would have authorized crossing guards over age 21 to write crosswalk violation reports and…
The House Ways & Means Committee has introduced long-awaited legislation reforming the state's judges' retirement program. Idaho Supreme Court administrative director Patti Tobias told the panel the bill is the product of months of work by all three branches of government, including a group of…
Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, has presented his amendments to HB 466a, the tanning bed bill, to the House. They would exclude tanning beds in private homes from the new ban; would lower the age that minors would be banned from using tanning beds to 15;…
The House has moved HB 486a, the bill to ban minors from using tanning beds due to the cancer risk, to the bottom of its calendar of bills being amended this afternoon, after competing amendments were distributed, some of them lacking the required information, including…
The House is back on the floor, doing amendments to bills in its General Orders. Senate committees are meeting, including the Senate Resources Committee, which is now hearing HB 495 from Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, and Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise. to limit business investments…
Gov. Butch Otter has appointed Julie DeLorenzo, a Boise Realtor and Democrat, to the Idaho Transportation Board to replace Darrell Manning. Click below for Gov. Butch Otter's full announcement. DeLorenzo is the second woman Otter has appointed to the previously all-male board; she joins Jan…
Here's how the Senate voted in the 18-15 vote to put HB 464, the oil/gas bill, back on the Senate's 3rd Reading Calendar without amending it. Two senators, John Andreason, R-Boise, and Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson, were absent and missed the vote: Voting yes: Sens. Bair,…
The Senate successfully amended a slew of bills, including the anti-bullying bill, the massage therapy licensing bill, and the Alcohol Beverage Control funding bill, but moved out of its amending order before taking up amendments to HB 464, the oil and gas state pre-emption bill.…
The House has recessed until 1:15 p.m.; House Majority Leader Mike Moyle said the House will go to its amending order this afternoon. Before adjourning, the House passed HB 603, to restore the "97 percent funding protection" that school districts lost in the "Students Come…
After more than an hour's debate, the Senate has passed SB 1336a, on firefighter cancers and workers compensation, on a 23-10 vote. The bill would change Idaho's worker compensation law to be like most states' in assuming that certain cancers are job-related for firefights, unless…
Rep. Bob Nonini's resolution declaring that if Idaho's health insurance industry wants a health insurance exchange, it should set up one itself with its own money, has passed the House on a 49-13 vote. "Health care is highly accessible in Idaho," Nonini told the House.…
After extensive debate, HB 632, the youth athlete concussion bill, has passed the House on a 59-7 vote. While opponents questioned aspects of the bill, Rep. Mack Shirley, R-Rexburg, said, "There are some elements of this bill that will contribute to the safety of our…
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, has asked to move the moratorium on new wind farm development, HB 561, to the bottom of the calendar due to the absence of the floor sponsor, Rep. Erik Simpson, R-Idaho Falls. Consideration of the measure in the House…
The Senate has passed HCR 48, a resolution congratulating the Idaho Education Association on its 120th anniversary, without the loud chorus of "nay" votes that greeted the measure in the House. Senate Education Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, told the Senate, "I don't think anyone…
U.S. Sen. Jim Risch addressed both the House and Senate today, and brought a familiar message: Federal spending launching the nation toward a crisis. "I keep repeating because every American needs to know this," Risch said. "Every American needs to be familiar with the situation…
House Education Chairman Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, introduced legislation in the committee he chairs this morning as an alternative to a bill that's already passed the Senate unanimously, and that would have eliminated all future-year teacher salary cuts to pay for "Students Come First" reforms…
Here's how House Rev & Tax Committee members voted in the 11-5 vote to reject the cigarette tax increase bill, not introducing the measure or allowing a full hearing: Voting yes: Reps. Collins, Barrett, Moyle, Raybould, Schaefer, Bedke, Harwood, Barbieri, Bayer, Ellsworth and Gibbs Voting…
The House Rev & Tax Committee has voted 11-5 against introducing or allowing a full hearing on the bill to increase Idaho's cigarette tax.
Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, said, "The smokers, I want to thank them for this building we're in," noting that Idaho tapped cigarette tax proceeds to pay for the bonds to renovate the state Capitol. "It's kind of ironic that they can't smoke in it,"…
House Rev & Tax Chairman Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, urged his committee to print the bill on the cigarette tax increase and allow a full hearing. "You can tell by the number of people that are here how much interest there is," he said. Lake said,…
Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewistion, said, "I think this is good public policy. I think it directly will affect the health of Idahoans," so he moved to introduce the cigarette tax increase bill. Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, said he made a commitment last summer to print…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
