Exchanges, or online health insurance marketplaces, are a cornerstone of the federal health care law. According to The Kaiser Family Foundation, Idaho is one of 18 states with plans to create a state-based exchange. Twenty-six states plan to default to a federally-operated marketplace.
The debate in Idaho has been going on for the last couple of years. Many Republican lawmakers said they wanted to wait for an outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the health care law, and the 2012 presidential election, before committing to a state-based exchange in hopes the law would get reversed. Continue Reading →
The Idaho Senate is heading into its fifth hour of debate on a bill written by the governor’s office to create a state-based health insurance exchange. Afternoon committee meetings have been canceled.
Debate stopped and started after a motion to send the proposal back to committee to be amended, and a motion to begin amending the bill on the Senate floor. Both failed.
The arguments for and against a state-based exchange are familiar. The senators in favor of a state-based exchange say Idaho will be better off if the online insurance marketplace is run locally, rather than by the federal government. Those against a state-based exchange are largely against the federal Affordable Care Act, altogether, and don’t want to engage with the law in any way.
As debate continues, you can follow along with Idaho Public Television’s live webstream. We’ll have a full report once the vote is tallied.
The Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy's Mike Ferguson spoke about the push to repeal Idaho's business personal property tax at a January panel discussion.
Local government and school officials from around the state have been weighing in on the Legislature’s draft bill for phasing out Idaho’s business personal property tax since news of it broke last week — even though the draft has not yet been introduced in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee.
The bill would phase out the tax over six years and provide limited replacement dollars to local units of government, which will collectively lose $141 million if the tax goes away.
The Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy’s Mike Ferguson dissects the draft bill with an eye toward education funding in a piece published today. Public schools will be the “big loser” under the proposal, he says, for three reasons. Continue Reading →
The U.S. Census Bureau has compiled data that looks at the top 5 percent in America, that's defined as households with an annual income of at least $191,469. Through Census' American Community Survey, they compiled data from 2007-2011 to understand which pockets of the country were the wealthiest. We mapped this data in Idaho, county-by-county. Continue reading →
These young Girl Scouts brush-up on their phone-banking skills.
Makayla Williams and Brenda Bennett handed out cookies and talked with lawmakers at the Capitol on President’s Day.
A Girl Scout rally wouldn’t be complete without the Girl Scout pledge. “On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.”
Katryna Kelly, 13, and Hailey Murray, 12, are in the same troop. Both girls sold hundreds of boxes of cookies last year.
These Scouts learn how to count change for their future customers.
Cosette is 8-years-old and recently became a Girl Scout. Here’s why she joined, “You get to learn new friends, and you get to sell some cookies, and maybe eat some.”
A song-circle formed before the rally kicked off.
These are Naomi Winkler’s badges. She’s in 6th grade and has been a Girl Scout for four years.
Famous for its potatoes, trout fishing, and blue AstroTurf, Idaho might not have much in common with Hawaii. But here’s one thing: Idaho and Hawaii are the only two states in the country to tax Girl Scout Cookies. Now, some local Scouts are beefing up their sales pitches and learning to lobby.
A worker tended a machine that stacks boards not long after the Emerald Forest Products mill began operating again late last spring.
An Emmett, Idaho sawmill funded by $4 million in federal stimulus money and additional capital from private backers stopped operations last week, closing its doors for the second time since 2010.
The mill’s primary owner, Montana entrepreneur Dick Vinson, blamed the recession and inadequate equipment for the first closure. When the Emerald Forest Products mill reopened last June, Vinson predicted it could be profitable within weeks. Today, he declined to explain why the mill last week let its remaining workers go, but he did confirm operations have ceased. Continue Reading →
Thirty-nine days into Idaho’s legislative session, there has yet to be a bill or any public debate over eliminating the business personal property tax. That could soon change.
Chairman of the House Revenue and Tax Committee Gary Collins (R-Nampa) says a bill draft relating to the personal property tax exists, but he won’t divulge details of the proposal.
“There are those that think that’s the path we need to go,” says Collins. “I would say right at this time, there are probably more that say that isn’t the path to go.”
The path he’s referring to is the content of the draft proposal. Collins says the life of the bill depends heavily on the budgeting number that’s expected to be set by the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee tomorrow or early next week. Continue Reading →
A "For Rent" sign stood in front of a home in Charter Pointe last week.
It’s clear that residential real estate investors played a role in the boom and bust in Idaho’s housing market. Realtors tell stories of receiving call after call from out-of-state speculators attracted by Idaho’s high growth rate and low cost of housing.
Yesterday, we reported on a southwest Boise subdivision called Charter Pointe that’s still reeling from the bust, three years after foreclosures peaked in the Boise area.
We mentioned in that piece that in 2005, the development’s first full year of existence, more than a third of the homes in Charter Pointe were owned by people who didn’t live there. Continue Reading →
At 31, Rep. Malek is the second-youngest member of the Idaho Legislature.
Sixteen Republican House members, all of them freshmen, this morning announced their support for a bill to create a state-based health insurance exchange. That bill, promoted by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and currently in the Senate, is one of the most controversial of the 2013 session.
The first-year lawmakers constitute a key block of support, says the Idaho Statesman‘s Dan Popkey. The Spokesman-Review’s Betsy Russel reports they may give the exchange plan the votes it needs to pass in the Idaho House. However, the lawmakers’ support of Otter’s exchange bill is contingent on the passage of a companion measure that was introduced in the House Health and Welfare Committee this morning.
Sponsored by freshman Rep. Luke Malek (R-Coeur d’Alene), that bill would increase the Legislature’s oversight of a state-based exchange. Continue Reading →
Ryan, Scott and Tara Arellano, at home in their kitchen
Homeowners, credit intact, still making their monthly mortgage payments. They’re not who we think of first when we think of the damage brought on by the housing crisis. But in a sprawling, master-planned southwest Boise subdivision called Charter Pointe, they’re a group that has struggled.
More than most cities, Boise felt the brunt of the housing crisis. Home prices dropped by 46 percent. Foreclosures peaked in the Boise area three years ago, in March of 2010. County records show that a year after that, 90 percent of the houses that sold in Charter Pointe were foreclosures or short sales. We wondered: What is the story now in a place that bore the weight of collapsing home prices?
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