The Associated Press reviewed more than 600 pages of documents obtained from Gov. Butch Otter's office through a public records request and interviewed stakeholders about Idaho’s proposed new for-profit osteopathic medical school. The Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine is a private, for-profit company, but it…
The budget bill for the Idaho Attorney General’s office, HB 577, was unexpectedly held up in the Senate late this afternoon, when Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, asked to have it held until next Wednesday – which is supposed to be the day…
Idaho lawmakers are once again reviving efforts to convince the federal government to relinquish control over public lands throughout the Gem State and much of the West, the AP reports, with an array of bills in this year’s Idaho Legislature. AP reporter Kimberlee Kruesi has…
The urban renewal reform bill that emerged from a legislative interim committee continued its tortured journey today, the Lewiston Tribune’s Bill Spence reports, earning just enough votes to make it out of committee to the House floor for possible amendments. The legislation, HB 606, has…
With a unanimous vote, legislation to change Idaho’s worker’s compensation law to presume that certain cancers, within certain time periods, are job-related for firefighters has cleared the Idaho Senate and headed to the governor’s desk. It was the third time such legislation has passed the...
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle’s tax-cut bill died in the Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee this afternoon, in a meeting that lasted no more than “five or six minutes,” according to committee Chairman Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton. Moyle’s bill, HB 380, was the only item...
Sen. Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow, announced today that he’s giving up his state-paid health insurance. “I have state taxpayer-funded health insurance, because I am a state legislator,” he said. “I get that benefit, and this Legislature can’t give that benefit to 78,000 Idahoans who can’t afford…
With Idaho’s March 22 Democratic Party presidential caucuses coming up fast, Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders has announced that he’ll hold a campaign rally in Boise on Monday. Sanders already was scheduled to appear in Idaho Falls on Friday; the Boise event, set for Taco Bell...
After much debate, the Idaho Senate has voted 28-7 in favor of HB 516, the bill to require women seeking abortions to be provided with a state-compiled list of providers who will give them free ultrasounds, and told they have a right to a free...
The House State Affairs Committee has voted to send HB 568, Rep. Eric Redman’s anti-Sharia bill, to the House’s amending order, where any member may offer amendments. Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, said the bill needs a series of technical fixes. “I think that people come…
Having used up nearly all its hearing time today on the concealed-carry gun bill, the House State Affairs Committee is now taking up HB 568, Rep. Eric Redman’s proposal to ban Idaho courts from considering foreign or Sharia laws in making any decisions. Redman presented…
The House Health & Welfare Committee has voted to pull two proposed bills from its agenda this morning, both from House Majority Caucus Chairman Rep. John VanderWoude, R-Meridian, regarding health coverage for the “gap” population, and instead consider the issue again Monday morning with a...
The House State Affairs Committee has voted along party lines, 13-4, in favor of SB 1389, the permitless concealed-carry bill. The four minority Democrats voted no; all Republican committee members voted yes. Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, said, “My constituents have been loud and clear…
The House Education Committee has voted to send SB 1342, Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll’s Bible-in-schools bill, to the full House with a recommendation that it “do pass.” The panel’s three minority Democrats plus Rep. Lance Clow, R-Twin Falls, voted against the motion, and supported an unsuccessful…
The House State Affairs Committee has been hearing testimony on SB 1398, the permitless concealed-carry gun bill, for nearly an hour now; it had been scheduled to take up Rep. Eric Redman’s anti-Sharia bill first, but Redman wasn’t in the room when the hearing began,...
Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll’s Bible-in-schools bill, which already has passed the Senate and is up for a vote in House committee this morning, violates the Idaho Constitution and likely would be overturned in court, as it’s “specifically prohibited” by Article IX, Section 6 of the Idaho…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
