After three years and multiple bill drafts, small-scale suction dredge miners in Idaho are no closer to finding the regulatory relief they're seeking, reports Bill Spence of the Lewiston Tribune. Legislation exempting the miners and prospectors from state water quality regulations was killed on a…
Two bills that would ease the sting of an underage alcohol possession or consumption conviction are moving forward in the Legislature this year. HB 495, which sponsor Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, called “an incentive to stay out of trouble, instead of hammering them with a misdemeanor for life for...
Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little cast the tie-breaking vote this evening after the Senate deadlocked 17-17 on SB 1264, legislation that sought to add new licensing requirements for durable medical equipment dealers, under the state Board of Pharmacy. It was stretching toward 6 p.m. when…
Legislation that would allow pharmacists to prescribe immunizations for children as young as 6 years old – the current limit is 12 years old – drew extensive debate in the Senate this afternoon, before finally passing on a 29-5 vote. Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood, said...
Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, says he wouldn’t encourage an introductory hearing on legislation unveiled by a horsemen’s group today to set up a state gaming commission that could authorize slot machine-like “instant racing” machines at Idaho racetracks to benefit the horse industry. “These…
Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney proposed a scaled-back public records exemption bill today to replace HB 388, the bill he got introduced earlier, which didn’t advance, to make secret all email addresses and cell phone numbers submitted to the Secretary of State’s office as…
Rep. Melissa Wintrow’s “Right to Try” bill, which would let terminally ill patients use investigational drugs at their own risk, cleared the House Health & Welfare Committee today on an 8-2 vote, and now heads to the full House. The only “no” votes came from...
Legislation creating a $5 million startup funding account to be tapped if eastern Idaho voters agree to create a new community college in Idaho Falls has passed the House on a 62-6 vote. “There has been a feasibility study already which produced positive results,” Rep.…
Backers of Idaho’s horse industry gathered for a press conference in the Capitol today to release their proposed legislation setting up a new gaming commission that could authorize “instant racing” machines to benefit the industry, and also oversee gaming machines used in tribal reservation casinos…
After a glowing endorsement from state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra, the House Education Committee has unanimously passed HB 526, the new version of the governor’s $10.7 million early-reading intervention and literacy initiative. Ybarra, a former third-grade teacher, said the reworked bill focuses on the right…
There have been some close votes in JFAC this morning, as the joint budget committee continues setting agency budgets. But the differences being debated in competing budget proposals were small. For example, Rep. Phylis King’s budget motion for Medical Boards differed from Sens. Dan Schmidt…
Rep. Dan Rudolph, D-Lewiston, has announced that he won’t seek re-election to a second term. Lewiston Tribune reporter Bill Spence reports that Rudolph, who defeated incumbent GOP Rep. Thyra Stevenson by 26 votes in 2014, said he loves serving in the Legislature, but recently accepted…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
