A worker manned a machine as lumber headed to the stacker at the Emerald Forest Products mill this month.
It’s a rare thing for a small sawmill to try to get up and running while a crucial market driver for lumber — housing construction — remains in a national slump. So when the Emerald Forest Products mill reopened in Emmett, Idaho, this month, something unusual was happening. “That’s a news story,” timber industry expert Todd Morgan said of the new mill. “That’s like, ‘man bites dog’ instead of ‘dog bites man.’ It’s very counter to the trend to have a new mill opening during these market conditions.”
New home starts peaked in 2005, when construction began on more than 2 million homes. By 2009, the number had fallen to 554,000, a low not seen in 40 years of record keeping. Housing starts haven’t improved much since. Moreover, the housing crash came on the heels of decades of timber industry consolidation. Since 1990, Pacific Northwest mill closures have put thousands of people out of work.
Given all of that, how is the Emerald Forest Product mill making a go of it? Part of the answer is federal economic stimulus funding. Continue Reading →
Transform Solar received $1.68 million in state training grants shortly before announcing it's closing and laying off about 250 people.
Every state, including Idaho, offers tax breaks, grants or subsidies to businesses in hopes of spurring economic development.
But the states vary widely in terms of what they do when a company doesn’t create as many jobs as it agreed to, or otherwise follow through with its end of the incentive bargain.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, nearly half of all states attach some kind of provision requiring businesses to pay the state back in such circumstances.  This tool is often referred to as a “clawback.” Continue Reading →
Idaho legislators' current annual base salary is $16,116.
The committee that oversees compensation for state legislators today attempted to clarify when lawmakers may claim the $122 per diem payment intended for those who maintain a second residence during the legislative session. That payment became a source of controversy last fall, after the AP reported that one state senator claimed it while staying with his parents, and another claimed it while staying on his law firm’s couch. Continue Reading →
Employees leave the XL Four Star Beef plant in Nampa in 2011 after the company announced plans to shut the plant down and layoff 522 people. XL Four Star received $564,231 in training fund grants.
Last month, Transform Solar announced that it was closing and laying off about 250 people at its facility in Nampa. As StateImpact reported, the manufacturer of high-tech solar cells, had received $1.68 million in workforce training grants from the state of Idaho — money that the company will not have to pay back.
It’s not the first time that’s happened. Eleven companies that have received more than $5.3 million in training grants from the Idaho Department of Labor since 1996 no longer exist in the state. That’s according to data from the department and StateImpact‘s analysis. Continue Reading →
Each week we look back at the five stories that got the most clicks, comments and shares at StateImpact Idaho. Take a look and let us know what you think.
Alex LaBeau has been president of IACI since 2006.
Anticipation of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the federal health care law is mounting with talk of a decision early next week. Â Here in Idaho, business leaders say the lack of a state-run health insurance exchange is a main point of concern.
Legislators didn’t establish a state-run exchange last session, despite pressure from the Idaho Department of Insurance and the state’s most influential business lobby. Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry President Alex LaBeau says that heightens worries for businesses concerned about the future shape of health care provision in the state.
“The path that the Legislature unfortunately chose was to not do anything, which was I think a glaring failure,” he says. “As a result, it put the State of Idaho behind the eight ball, and, I think, was gambling with our citizens’ future. I think that’s just wrong.” Continue Reading →
Idaho's public schools spent $7,106 per-student in 2010.
Idaho spent less on each public school child in 2010 than 48 other states. That’s according to a new report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
On average, public school systems across the U.S. spent $10,615 per student, while Idaho spent $7,106 from 2009–2010.
Idaho’s public school superintendent Tom Luna says the amount of money a state spends per child isn’t a silver bullet to high academic achievement. “It is a factor, but not the most important factor,” says Luna. Continue Reading →
The Idaho Department of Labor has awarded 260 workforce development training grants since the program’s inception in 1996. Some of those contracts went to the same companies.
Grants for training workers range from a few thousand dollars to a few million dollars.
Quick Facts:
205 businesses have received workforce training grants since 1996
Idaho spent $3,500 less than average on each public school student in fiscal year 2010 according to new Census data released today.
On average, public school systems across the U.S. spent $10,615 per student, while Idaho spent $7,106 from 2009-2010. That puts Idaho among states spending the least on elementary and secondary public school kids.
Public schools in the District of Columbia spent the most per students, at $18,667 in 2010. D.C. was followed by New York ($18,618), New Jersey ($16,841), Alaska ($15,783), Vermont ($15,274) and Wyoming ($15,169). Continue Reading →
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