House Transportation Chairman Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, introduced legislation in his committee this afternoon to allow highway districts to seek local-option registration fee increases for specific road or bridge projects, if voters approve them by a 2/3 supermajority in a countywide vote. “As all of you…
A new report out today from an array of Idaho child-advocacy groups finds that less than 54 percent of Idaho children are ready to learn to read when they enter kindergarten; 57 percent of Idaho kids who are younger than school-age have all their available...
The latest worst-case scenario for the Idaho Education Network carries a startling price tag, reports Idaho EdNews reporter Kevin Richert: About $245 million. That represents the federal funding that could be on the line, Richert writes, if the state doesn’t figure out how to keep…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A House legislative panel is recommending creating a work group to scrutinize governmental data collection on Idaho students and find ways to reduce it. The House Education Committee unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday…
Legislation to clear the way in Idaho for Elio Motors’ new vehicle, which has three wheels, two seats one in front of the other, gets 84 mpg and sells for $6,800, passed the House Transportation Committee this afternoon with just one “no” vote. The bill,…
Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how the bill to create a specialty license plate to benefit “Friends of the NRA” barely squeaked through the Idaho Senate today on an 18-15 vote. Ten Republicans and five Democrats voted against the bill…
The first meeting today of Idaho’s new “STEM Caucus” drew more than two dozen state lawmakers; it featured a speaker on STEM initiatives, along with a visit from the STEM Mobile Discovery Lab, a 60-foot bus sponsored by the Micron Foundation and Discover Technology that’s…
The Senate has barely, on an 18-15 vote, passed HB 16, to create a specialty license plate to benefit the Friends of the NRA. “We have a plethora of them. Half the time they go away because they never get enough support,” Sen. Elliot Werk,...
Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, got four bills introduced yesterday to reduce various misdemeanor charges to infractions, the AP reports; Luker says the move is an effort to ease the burden on public defenders, and also to make penalties better match offenses. Most misdemeanor charges include…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The deadline to purchase health insurance in 2015 on Idaho's exchange is approaching. Officials with Your Health Idaho say customers must complete and submit their application by 11:59 p.m. Saturday. Your Health Idaho…
Attorneys in the office of the State Appellate Public Defender are making an average of nearly $16,000 less than their counterparts in the Idaho Attorney General’s office who represent the other side in the same cases, state Defender Sara Thomas told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee…
An Idaho senator is working on legislation to require students to pass the same U.S. history and civics test to graduate from high school that immigrants must pass when applying for U.S. citizenship, the Idaho Press-Tribune reports today. Sen. Jim Patrick, R-Twin Falls, told the…
Since lawmakers expanded the role of Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s office in prosecuting county-level public corruption cases last year, his office has received 58 complaints, Wasden told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning. Thirty of those were declined as they failed to meet the…
There are lots of military and law enforcement representatives at JFAC this morning for a special hearing on a proposal to prepay lease costs for the mountaintop transmitters and other public safety communications equipment that’s now on state endowment lands. The joint proposal from the…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
