Close to 300 school trustees from around the state crowded into the Capitol’s Lincoln Auditorium late Monday afternoon for an update on the status of the Idaho Education Network. “As you know, we’ve had a mess,” Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, told them. “The…
A new report from the Legislature’s Office of Performance Evaluations concludes that the state Department of Education made the same mistakes implementing its longitudinal data system for public schools, known as the Idaho System for Education Excellence, or ISEE, that the department made on the…
Legislation from House Transportation Chairman Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, was introduced unanimously in the House Transportation Committee this afternoon, to hike gas taxes, car and truck registration fees, and impose other fees and taxes including new charges on electric and hybrid cars that use little gas,...
The Senate Resources Committee has voted unanimously to introduce legislation sought by state Parks Director David Langhorst to allow state parks to solicit corporate sponsorships as an additional revenue source, but not without questions. Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, questioned whether it would lead to naming…
Rep. Paul Shepherd, R-Riggins, got a resolution introduced on a party-line vote in a House committee this morning calling on Congress to impeach “activist” federal judges, reports Lewiston Tribune reporter Bill Spence. “The time is right to get back to our Constitution, not just on…
The Senate has suspended its rules this morning to immediately take up and pass a bill, HB 77, the annual conformity bill that conforms Idaho’s state tax code to the current version of the federal internal revenue code. Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said, “Here we…
Today is the day that both the Idaho House and Senate memorialize past members who have died in the past year. In the Senate, former Sens. Ed Osborne, John V. Evans, Ralph “Moon” Wheeler and Mel Richardson are being eulogized; in the House, those being…
The Legislature’s immediate solution for the Idaho Education Network mess will be debated by the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee tomorrow morning, JFAC Co-Chair Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, announced this morning at the end of today’s joint committee meeting. “In order to protect schools, I think we’re going…
Idaho is increasingly reliant on federal funds to build and maintain its transportation system, Idaho Transportation Director Brian Ness told legislative budget writers this morning. The state has gone from 54 percent state funding in 1996 to 54 percent federal funding this year; the national…
The House Revenue & Taxation Committee has voted unanimously in favor of HB 95, Sen. Jim Rice’s bill to exempt materials used in public roads from sales tax, sending the bill to the full House. The idea behind the measure is that the tax break…
Two big fund shifts – one for $3 million from the state general fund to refuel the state Commerce Department’s “opportunity fund” to close deals with companies by funding infrastructure in Idaho; and another for $5 million for “industry sector grants” of workforce development funds...
Idaho Commerce Director Jeff Sayer started his budget pitch to lawmakers this morning by touting the achievement of Gov. Butch Otter’s “Project 60” goal, to raise Idaho’s GDP above $60 billion a year. He showed a chart showing it rising from $54 billion in 2009...
Idaho Rep. Shannon McMillan was one of 17 lawmakers who voted to kill the National Guard Youth Challenge Academy Friday, even though it's in her own legislative district, reports Bill Spence of the Lewiston Tribune. The academy in Clearwater County, in the old Pierce school,...
Stung state lawmakers are parting with the Otter Administration on the IEN mess, after a judge last week reaffirmed that the state’s $60 million contract for a broadband network that links every Idaho high school was issued illegally. The state immediately filed a notice of…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
