BOISE — A legislative ethics committee is investigating a rape complaint made against an Idaho state lawmaker.
Unlike other legislators, freshman Rep. Marco Erickson’s philosophy the past several months has not been to make grand, sweeping changes. For his first session, he’s instead focused on making relatively minor tweaks to existing laws. But he believes those small adjustments will have a big im…
BOISE — A proposed constitutional amendment that would have prevented the legalization of marijuana and other drugs without the approval of two-thirds of the Idaho Legislature died in the House on Thursday.
Veteran, activist hopeful for Afghanistan troop withdrawal despite delay
BOISE (AP) — The House on Wednesday approved legislation prohibiting mask mandates by government entities in Idaho, voting 47-22 with no Democratic support to send the bill to the Senate.
BOISE — Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, presented the Protecting Critical Thinking in Higher Education Act to the House Education Committee on Wednesday morning. The bill is intended to protect the right of college students to express their views on campus. The committee voted 12-3 along…
BOISE — The Idaho House of Representatives on Tuesday defeated the public school budget for teachers on a tied vote, after debate that focused alternately on whether Idaho wants to pay its teachers, and whether “critical race theory” is somehow being promoted in Idaho public schools because …
Lawmakers approve funding
For Idahoans, keeping up with the case of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell has often felt they are like watching a bizarre television drama play out. Now, in a nod to the idea that truth is stranger than fiction, a made-for-TV movie inspired by the tragic story will hit the small screen this summer.
BOISE — A House panel on Tuesday approved Senate changes to a bill trimming a governor’s powers during declared emergencies while increasing the Legislature’s power.
BOISE — On Monday, the Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho organization spoke to a joint House and Senate committee about its desire to have part of Oregon join Idaho. It would make Idaho the third largest state in the country. This invitation to present to Idaho legislators in an offic…
People in four of Idaho’s seven health regions got infected
BOISE (AP) — The Idaho Senate on Monday passed legislation accepting a $6 million federal grant to improve early childhood education from birth through age 5.
BOISE — When Rep. Marco Erickson, R-Idaho Falls, wakes up in the morning, he leaves his 30-foot travel trailer and heads to the end of the RV park to use the communal showers. The life of an Idaho legislator during the legislative session can be anything but glamorous.
BOISE — The Senate advanced two major bills to limit the governor’s emergency powers on Friday, and budget writers held hearings on proposals for spending hundreds of millions in federal coronavirus aid.
BOISE — Republican leaders in the Idaho Legislature have accused the state of unlawfully using a vaccine record-keeping system. They are pushing for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to destroy its records on adult immunizations.
BOISE — On what proved to be a long day for the Senate but a short one for the House, Idaho lawmakers on Thursday advanced major legislation on transportation funding and tax cuts, passed an array of bills on everything from dam-breaching to “strong beer,” and failed to override the governor…
BOISE — HB 222, sponsored by Sen. Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls, and Rep. Ryan Kerby, R-New Plymouth, passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday. While the bill has moved through the Legislature with little fanfare, it promises to be one of the most comprehensive education reform bills to come out o…
BOISE — With bipartisan support, the Idaho Senate passed a resolution to create an interim committee to study driving authorization for undocumented Idahoans. The resolution was sent to the House of Representatives.
Lawmakers address array of legislation, mull new federal aid
BOISE — The Senate voted 20-15 against reconsidering HB 294 that would have created the Strong Students Grant Program. The decision came after the Senate voted 18-16 on Tuesday to kill the bill. In a surprise twist, Sen. Christy Zito, R-Hammett, who had initially voted against the bill, chan…
BOISE — On March 5, Gov. Brad Little signed the Wrongful Conviction Act into law. But on Wednesday, an updated version of the law was introduced in the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee that would add clarifications to the previous one.
BOISE — The Senate voted 30-5 in favor of the industrial hemp legalization bill. HB 126 has already passed the House. It will now go to the governor’s office.
BOISE — The Senate Education Committee voted 5-4 in favor of holding Rep. Barbara Ehardt’s sex education bill in committee. HB 249 will not advance. The bill would have required students to obtain parental approval before receiving lessons on “human sexuality.” Lessons would be opt-in rather…
BOISE — The House on Wednesday voted to override Republican Gov. Brad Little’s veto of a bill involving the responsibilities of the chairman of the Idaho State Tax Commission and the three other commissioners.
BOISE — Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued an executive order Wednesday banning state government from requiring or issuing COVID-19 “vaccine passports.”
BOISE — The bill to create the Strong Students Grant Program, sponsored by Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, and Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, once again sparked disagreement after it returned from the two-week break with significant amendments. The Senate narrowly voted against it 18-16…
BOISE — An Idaho House panel on Tuesday approved legislation intended to give lawmakers veto power over federal government actions and federal court decisions.
Concerning coronavirus variants are likely spreading across Idaho, according to the state’s top testing official, Dr. Christopher Ball.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct reporting on Sen. Melissa Wintrow's comments during Senate debate. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Wintrow said she has seen examples in which police did not file a report.
BOISE — At the beginning of each year, legislators gather for approximately three months at the Capitol with the intention of creating or modifying laws. All these laws start as bills. Each of them starts as a routing slip, also known as an RS. These routing slips are presented before a comm…
BOISE — From a kindergarten-readiness push in Kuna to a business-led effort to regain lost child-care capacity in Valley County to an immensely popular “Read-Talk-Play Every Day” initiative in American Falls, members of community collaboratives across Idaho came together Monday to talk about…
Idaho Falls City Council has a new temporary member.
Current system leaves a patchwork around the state
BOISE — A huge income tax cut and rebate, legislation to limit the governor's authority during emergencies, and a proposed constitutional amendment allowing lawmakers to call themselves back into session all remain on the Legislature's to-do list when it reconvenes Tuesday.
Senate
BLACKFOOT — Gov. Brad Little is promoting the need for major statewide transportation funding which would address infrastructure needs including Interstate 15 from Pocatello to Idaho Falls and the I-15 and Highway 20 connector in Idaho Falls.
BOISE — A federal judge should require an 87-year-old Idaho man to reveal whether he’s received the COVID-19 vaccine following his January lawsuit seeking to put those 65 and older at the front of the line, state officials say.
Senate
CALDWELL — Gov. Brad Little has hit the road to stump for his big transportation funding plan — and to send a message that the road-funding bill the House passed on March 17 needs more gas.
Eastern Idaho health officials plan to meet 7 a.m. Thursday in what will be their first meeting in a month.
Idahoans will have another month to enroll in subsidized health insurance on the state marketplace.
BOISE — On March 17, Gov. Brad Little signed HB 225 after it passed both the House and Senate. The bill was one of the “Building Idaho’s Future” bills that Little recommended. The bill will put more than $89 million toward either repairs or capital projects for various public buildings acros…
BOISE — Rep. Rod Furniss, R-Rigby, presented a bill during the current legislative session that would make teacher health insurance more affordable. And for a brief moment, it seemed it was going to pass and the entire education insurance system would be getting a significant overhaul. The b…
BOISE — There’s been much talk from a certain group of House Republicans this year that studying things like institutional racism or white privilege “offends Idaho values.”
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Gov. Brad Little has issued his first veto of the 2021 legislative session, refusing to sign a bill involving the responsibilities of the chairman of the Idaho State Tax Commission.
The Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce conducted a survey of its members last week to understand how local business owners felt about different bills that have come out of the legislative session. Approximately 400 people from the Idaho Falls business community participated.
BOISE — Legislation extending the tax filing deadline from April 15 to May 17 for Idaho residents will be among lawmakers’ top priorities for when they return to work on April 6, a high-ranking state senator said.
BOISE — Gov. Brad Little has signed into law four major pieces of his “Building Idaho’s Future” initiative, which calls for investing hundreds of millions of dollars of Idaho’s state surplus into one-time water projects, state parks improvements, transportation projects and more.
BOISE — Gov. Brad Little has signed into law two bills sought by Idaho’s dairy industry to ease regulations on the copious amounts of manure the state’s hundreds of thousands of cows produce each day, but expressed concerns in a signing letter that the combination of the two bills may push t…
BOISE — COVID-19 vaccine eligibility will be open to all Idaho residents 16 and up starting April 5, Gov. Brad Little said Wednesday.
BOISE — Sen. Kevin Cook, R-Idaho Falls, is learning to swim in the deep end. Two months ago, he, along with every other Idaho freshman legislator, was thrown headfirst into a pool of bills and strange traditions and political cliques formed years ago. But, after the initial shock of the cold…
BOISE — Last week, the tenth week of the 2021 legislative session, state officials and lawmakers:
{child_flags:featured}Suspicion mounts over scant local tests for virus variants
SALEM — Walkouts by Republicans in Oregon's Legislature have become so frequent, with GOP lawmakers torpedoing progressive legislation, that Democrats want to sanction boycotters with $500 daily fines and even disqualify them from holding office.
