Molly Messick was StateImpact Idaho's broadcast reporter until May 2013. Prior to joining StateImpact and Boise State Public Radio, she was a reporter and host for Wyoming Public Radio. She is a graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
The panel included Attorney/CPA Rick Smith, Association of Counties executive director Dan Chadwick, and Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy director Mike Ferguson.
It’s on everyone’s list of key issues of the upcoming legislative session: the personal property tax.
Pressure is mounting for the state to repeal it, but even Republican lawmakers who say they are firmly against the tax also say the state doesn’t have the money to get rid of it at this time. Personal property tax revenue totaled $141 million in 2012, according to a recent report from the Idaho State Tax Commission.
Today’s legislative preview hosted by the Associated Press yielded several things to note. The governor said he is open to phasing out the personal property tax, and that there will be more specifics in Monday’s State of the State and Budget Address. Continue Reading →
Representative Maxine Bell (R-Jerome) has served on the Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee since the early 1990s.
Rep. Maxine Bell, a retired school librarian from Jerome, was first elected to the Idaho Legislature in 1988. She’s the longtime co-chair of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, which crafts the annual state budget. We spoke December 10.
Q: It seems clear that the personal property tax is going to be one of the defining issues this year. Do you think that’s right?
A: I can’t think that it cannot be. This is a perfect storm, as far as I’m concerned. There was a little tax relief last year. But this is a bigger issue than that.
I’ve not seen anything come out of Rev and Tax that was affordable at this point, but it’s the right thing to do. And frankly I don’t know how to do it, with the other issues that are facing us. I’m hoping that people who can figure this out come forth with something that we can all work with. Continue Reading →
Rep. Gary Collins has served on the Revenue and Taxation Committee for 12 years.
Rep. Gary Collins, a Republican from Nampa, heads the Revenue and Taxation Committee. It’s a powerful position, because all tax bills originate in the House. What’s more, there’s bound to be particular attention focused on the committee this session as the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, the state’s most powerful business lobby, pushes for a repeal of the personal property tax.
In Idaho, the personal property tax only applies to personal property used for business purposes. According to a recent estimate from the Idaho State Tax Commission, revenue from the personal property tax totaled $141 million in 2012. Nearly all of Idaho’s property tax revenue is collected and spent by local governments.
Collins began by talking about the possible courses of action with respect to the personal property tax when we met in mid-December. This interview is one of several conducted by StateImpact to preview the 2013 legislative session, which begins Monday. Continue Reading →
Rep. Bedke (R-Oakley) is the newly elected Speaker of the House.
The Idaho Legislature convenes January 7. Over the last month, StateImpact sat down with lawmakers to discuss the most anticipated issues of the coming session.
Rep. Scott Bedke is a rancher from Oakley, Idaho. He was elected Speaker of the House in December, defeating Rep. Lawerence Denney, who had served in that post for three terms.
The new Speaker has said he seeks to be a consensus builder, and doesn’t want to lead the House in a top-down manner. That approach was on display last month, when we began by talking about the likelihood of a state-based health insurance exchange. Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter had issued his cautious endorsement of a state-based exchange a day earlier.
Q: The governor says he favors a state-based health insurance exchange. How do you view that recommendation?
Boise continues to rank near the top in a survey of 100 U.S. cities’ economic recoveries. That’s thanks mainly to itshome price improvement since the depths of the downturn.
The report, published by The Brookings Institution, evaluates cities’ economies as of the third quarter, from July to September of this year. It ranks Boise number five.
Boise’s home prices have improved by 7.5 percent since their post-recession low point, the second best rate of home price improvement posted by any city included in the report. The city’s gross metropolitan product — better understood as its total output of goods and services — has grown by more than 9 percent. The city ranks 21st on that measure. Continue Reading →
In four years, 30 wind farms were approved in Idaho. Before that boom, the state had just one.
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission today handed a key victory to wind developers currently operating in the state, but it did so while imposing an indirect limit on the amount of wind development Idaho is likely to see in the near future.
“There are very different implications for existing versus new wind developers,” the Idaho Conservation League’s Ben Otto said after reviewing the PUC’s decision. Continue Reading →
Click on the image above to see the Kaiser Family Foundation's map of states' health insurance exchange decisions.
When Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter opted in favor of a state-based heath insurance exchange, he came to a conclusion that many of his fellow governors did not. Only 18 states and the District of Columbia have declared they will build their own exchanges, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Seven states plan to create partnership exchanges, while 25 have defaulted to a federal exchange.
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle re-stated his opposition to establishing a state-based exchange in an op-ed published this weekend. “Uncertainty has been a hallmark of Obamacare from the beginning,” he writes. Continue Reading →
A National Association of State Budget Officers report shows states are spending a greater share of their general fund dollars on Medicaid, and a smaller share on education. The Washington Post‘s Wonkblog has summarized and graphed the findings.
In Idaho, total general fund spending on education has fallen by 11.6 percent since fiscal year 2009, while spending in the health and human services category has grown by 5.8 percent.
House Speaker Scott Bedke says he'll try to find consensus on the health insurance exchange.
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter recommends Idaho build a state-based health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act. In his Tuesday announcement, Otter said there will be a health insurance exchange in Idaho; the only question is who will build it. It’s important, the governor said, for Idaho to have a seat at the table.
StateImpact Idaho‘s Molly Messick talked through what this decision means with Boise State Public Radio’s Samantha Wright. To listen, click on the audio player below.
Gov. Otter and President Pro Tempore of the Idaho Senate Brent Hill spoke ahead of the 2012 session.
After years of resisting the Affordable Care Act and months of deliberating over whether Idaho should create a state-based health insurance exchange, Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter on Tuesday set Idaho on that course. In a release that lambasted “Obamacare,” the governor said Idaho should build its own exchange.
Health insurance exchanges are the online marketplaces that allow consumers to assess health insurance plans based on costs and benefits. They’re a main component of the Affordable Care Act, and they’re supposed to be up and running by 2014. States have the option to build their own exchanges, partner with the federal government, or default to a federally-run model.
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