WEEK FIVE | 2024 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
February 5 - 9, 2024
In the fifth week of the Sixty-Seventh Idaho Legislature’s Second Regular Session, contentious caucus meetings in the House of Representatives Majority Caucus resulted in a unanimous “Vote of Confidence” in Speaker Mike Moyle (R-10) on the House Floor Thursday. Then, in a private caucus vote, the Majority voted to retain Assistant Majority Leader Sage Dixon(R-1) and Caucus Chair Dustin Manwaring (R-29). There was also a vote by the Majority Caucus that resulted in the removal of Majority Leader Megan Blanksma (R-8). Rep. Blanksma is still in the House of Representatives, but no longer in House Leadership after Thursday.
This bombshell news came as the budget fights culminated and the conflicts between Rep. Blanksma and other House and Senate leadership members boiled over. Typically, leadership works together, often behind closed doors, to plan and manage the work of the floor, establish priorities, and move the process forward. The dynamics between members of leadership haven’t been a secret over the last fourteen months. Yet, this still marks an extremely rare instance in Idaho’s otherwise unique and generally successful legislative process. While no official reason was made public, the members of the Legislature are feeling the weight of the decisions made this week. They are uniquely heavy in addition to the already challenging and often emotional work of the Idaho Legislative Session.
The ripple effect from lengthy and contentious caucus battles also resulted in the newly established “maintenance budgets” moving across the House and Senate floors on Friday. This new process was met with opposition, trepidation, and eventually capitulation by the House and Senate. The passage of the maintenance budgets signals a new budgeting process by JFAC. With many more questions about additional funding looming, the budget log jam has started to clear. Tensions remain high as the new process moves forward after five weeks of battles.
In addition to the political theater and drama that consumed the Idaho Capitol this week, over 100 policy bills were introduced. The House and Senate are pushing to introduce legislation before the non-privileged committees face the deadline for introductions on Monday, February 12th. The Speaker may grant the privilege to a House committee to introduce a bill, but it becomes more challenging to get that privilege. This process doesn’t prevent the introduction of new legislation, but it does slow it down. It also means we will see the House Ways and Means Committee used more and more as the session progresses.
Many of the policy bills remained on the floor this week amidst these changes, and with many more bills being introduced, we are now entering the middle phase of the session, where committees and floor sessions begin to consume more time and energy.
The School Facilities Fund and Income Tax Cut Bill was introduced this Thursday. This legislation has been in the works for many weeks, with the Governor’s staff and members of leadership negotiating the terms of the final bill. The bill cuts both corporate and individual income tax from 5.8% to 5.695%. The current School District Facility fund will be increased by raising the sales tax allocation from 2.25% to 3.25% and raising the lottery dividends fund to 5/8 allocated towards the fund. Lastly, the legislation adds additional accountability and oversight provisions for the State Board of Education. It will provide $125 million of ongoing funding from sales tax to a new School Modernization Facilities Fund. With both tax chairmen sponsoring the bill and over half of the House co-sponsoring the legislation, we anticipate this bill to move quickly through the House. Stay up to date with current legislation and visit our Bill Tracker.
