Idaho has signed on to a brief with 14 other states urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold bans on gay marriage and leave the matter to voters and lawmakers, the AP reports. The brief, filed today, argues that the court will do "incalculable damage…
Idaho lawmakers have agreed to set up a “STEM Action Center,” a new state office under Gov. Butch Otter that would coordinate efforts from schools to industry to promote science, technology, engineering and math in the state. The legislation, sponsored by Coeur d’Alene Sen....
Ilah Hickman and her friends got to take “selfies” with the governor today, after he signed into law HB 1, the 14-year-old’s long-sought bill to designate the Idaho giant salamander as the state amphibian. “There ya are, kiddo, it’s all done,” Gov. Butch Otter told…
The Senate Transportation Committee has voted 7-2 to send HB 312, the vehicle registration fee increase bill, to the Senate’s 14th order for amendments; the only two “no” votes came from Sens. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, and Lori DenHartog, R-Meridian. The votes followed a presentation...
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted this morning to pull back the budget bill for the state Department of Labor, and replace it with an identical one that has different wording in a section of legislative intent that bars the department from closing any of its...
The House today refused to concur in Senate amendments to HB 155a, Rep. Linden Bateman’s bill to increase fines for violations of the open meeting law – but that was just because of a drafting error in the amendments, and a new version of the…
The House has adjourned until 1:30 p.m. on Monday; the House Ways & Means Committee has announced a meeting immediately, in the 4th floor majority caucus room.
Gov. Butch Otter said today that he’s met so far with at least seven groups either supporting or opposing SB 1011, the bill to repeal “instant racing” in Idaho. “I’ve made a commitment to meet with every interest group,” Otter told reporters this morning. “I’ve…
The Senate has adjourned until 1:30 p.m. on Monday, after doing little business this morning; that means it'll take Friday off. The House had already announced plans to do that. The Senate also announced a committee meeting that's now scheduled for Tuesday, in the State…
Gov. Butch Otter, speaking with reporters in his office this morning after the teacher pay bill-signing, laid out his “parameters” on transportation funding for this year’s legislative session. “We’ve got a couple of issues hanging fire, and the big one of course is transportation,” Otter...
Gov. Butch Otter signed HB 296, the career ladder teacher pay bill, into law today, surrounded by supporters ranging from legislative leaders to the head of the Idaho Education Association to state Board of Education members. Otter said in the long negotiations that led to...
The House State Affairs Committee has reversed itself and voted 12-4 in favor of SB 1146a, the bill to allow Idaho parents whose children suffer from an intractable form of epilepsy that causes frequent, prolonged, life-threatening seizures, to treat their kids with cannabidiol oil, a…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
