On Friday, Gov. Brad Little signed legislation to help educators in high-need and rural areas with various educational costs. Senate Bill 1290, sponsored by Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking (D-Boise) and Rep. Sally Toone (D-Gooding), establishes a rural educator incentive program for educators who work in high-need or rural school districts and charter schools. It would provide the maximum amount of eligible …
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On Wednesday, House Republicans killed a concurrent resolution honoring the 50th anniversary of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in a 22-45 vote. House Concurrent Resolution 51 celebrated the federal act that officially preserved the 760,000-acre land in 1972. An earlier resolution, Senate Concurrent Resolution 117, was killed in the House on an 18-51 vote March 10 after unanimously passing the …
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On Friday, the Senate passed a bill to help educators in high-need and rural areas with various educational costs. Senate Bill 1290, sponsored by Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking (D-Boise) and Rep. Sally Toone (D-Gooding), establishes a rural educator incentive program for educators who work in high-need or rural school districts and charter schools. It would provide the maximum amount of eligible …
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Idaho House Democrats supported a motion to send House Bill 509 to general orders, where legislation can be amended. The motion failed on a 26-41vote. The bill, which later passed the House, increases the grocery tax credit by $20 per person starting in the 2023 tax year. The motion sought to amend the legislation to instead repeal the grocery tax …
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On Wednesday, the House Commerce and Human Resources Committee refused to introduce legislation to allow employees suffering with work-related post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) to seek workers’ compensation. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Sally Toone (D-Gooding), died on a 5-7 vote. It would have added a new section to the state Workers’ Compensation system to cover treatment for PTSI for employees …
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The Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee met Thursday to adopt a revenue assessment. The committee’s recommendation was then accepted Friday by the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) for budgeting purposes. The Republican legislators on EORAC voted to adopt the governor’s forecast, which was lower than almost every committee member’s, as well as the various modeled projections from experts. House Democratic …
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We could not believe our eyes when we read a recent op-ed from Idaho House GOP leadership scapegoating local government for the property tax crisis created by GOP legislators themselves. We must set the record straight. While it may be county officials mailing you the bill, don’t blame the messengers. The jaw-dropping number on that bill is not due to …
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A hundred years ago, in 1920, the United States came out of the First World War and celebrated a new decade and a changing world. The world was recovering from the Spanish flu pandemic, the automobile industry was beginning to take off, and Americans wrestled with Prohibition. The country was undergoing drastic changes in industry, culture, politics, and so much …
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2020 is an unprecedented year. Although residents of South-Central Idaho continue to face hardships that defy imagination, our communities have proven their resolve through a heroic commitment to stand together in this time of need. 2020 will surely be seen as a major historical juncture for years to come. Lost amidst all of this year’s turmoil, however, has been another …
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Republican politicians have had supermajority control of the legislature and every statewide office for decades. Under their governance, Idaho has sunk to 51st place in education investment (and, remarkably, now they want to cut another $99 million from our education budget). For seven years they refused to even allow a vote on Medicaid expansion, leaving many thousands of Idahoans to …
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