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Your Guide To The 2013 Idaho Legislature

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Background

Emilie Ritter Saunders / StateImpact

Idaho's Senate Chamber sits empty nine months out of the year. Lawmakers typically in session from Jan. until late March or early April.

This page will no longer be updated. For future coverage of Idaho’s legislature go to Boise State Public Radio’s website.

Idaho’s 2013 Legislature convened in Boise on January 7. We’ve put together a guide to the session, including ways to contact your lawmaker, how to get involved, and comprehensive information about the people elected to office.

The Basics

Exploring the Demographics of Idaho’s 2013 Legislature

What Lawmakers Are Saying

Before the start of the 2013 legislative session, we sat down with a few key lawmakers to discuss a handful of issues. We focused on three areas sure to be hot topics; education funding, economic development and taxes, and healthcare.

State of the State Address

Latest Posts

January 24, 2013

Explaining Idaho’s Personal Property Tax, With A Little Help From A Boise Candy Store

Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter and many of the Idaho Legislature’s Republican leaders are in agreement: something has to happen on the personal property tax this session.  And by “something,” they mean a plan to get rid of it.  But there’s a problem.  The tax generates $140 million dollars each year for local government.  In this […]

January 15, 2013

Idaho’s Health And Welfare Director Sets Different Tone For Budget Process

After the recession years of cutting staff and budgets at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, the department’s director says the agency is now “hanging on” and is asking lawmakers to fund 24.9 new full time positions. Health and Welfare director Dick Armstrong approached the Legislature’s main budget panel yesterday with a different tone […]

January 11, 2013

Gov. Otter Acknowledges Idaho’s Doctor Shortage, Proposes One Step Toward A Fix

As we reported earlier this week, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter showed his support to Idaho’s medical educators and doctors by including money for additional access to med school. Otter’s budget proposal includes funding for five additional seats at the University of Washington Medical School, the WWAMI program. That would expand the opportunity for Idaho med […]

January 10, 2013

Idaho Legislators Give Initial Stamp Of Approval To Gov. Otter’s Revenue Forecast

Lawmakers on the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee (EORAC) have agreed to move the state budget process forward with a vote of confidence in Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s revenue estimate. Gov. Otter unveiled his annual budget plan Monday.  It assumes state revenue will increase 5.3 percent in fiscal year 2014 over fiscal year 2013. […]

January 9, 2013

What Gov. Otter Meant When He Said “No” To Expanding Medicaid Eligibility

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said in Monday’s State of the State address that he doesn’t believe Idaho should expand Medicaid eligibility.  “There is broad agreement that the existing Medicaid program is broken,” he said. That wasn’t all the governor had to say on the issue.  He mentioned a new responsibility for Idaho Department of Health […]

January 8, 2013

Idaho Budget Office Lowers Revenue Estimate, December Slightly Below Forecast

The governor’s budget office has revised down its revenue projections for fiscal year 2013 by $12.7 million. The current budget year reduction will go from $2.67 million to $2.658 million, as revenue collections have been slightly below forecasts. The Division of Financial Management reports the largest declines are from corporate income taxes and sales tax. […]

Visualizing Gov. Otter’s State Of The State Speech

Here’s a different take on Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter’s State of the State speech. It’s his 8-page speech boiled down into 50 frequently used words. The larger the word, the more often it was used. Now, compare this year’s State of the State word cloud to Gov. Otter’s 2012 speech. Do you see much of […]

Mike Ferguson: The Math Doesn’t Work On Gov. Otter’s Plan To Repeal Business Property Tax

Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter’s State of the State speech yesterday shed light on his agenda for the 2013 legislative session. Otter doesn’t want to commit to expanding Medicaid eligibility for low-income Idahoans, he didn’t set a clear path on education reform.  And he strongly advocated for getting rid of Idaho’s business personal property tax. Idaho […]

January 7, 2013

Gov. Otter Rejects Medicaid Expansion, Supports Personal Property Tax Repeal

Today, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter told lawmakers and the public that he wants to repeal the state’s tax on business personal property, which generates roughly $140 million for local government each year.  He also said he does not support an expansion of Medicaid eligibility in Idaho, at least not at this time.  StateImpact talked through […]

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