WEEK SIX | 2024 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
February 12 – February 16, 2024
In the sixth week of the Sixty-Seventh Idaho Legislature’s Second Regular Session, the House of Representatives Republican Caucus elected a new Majority Leader on Monday, February 12, 2024. Rep. Jason Monks (R-22), Chair of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, was elected and will serve the remainder of the term as the new Majority Leader. Since Rep. Monks is now in leadership, he will no longer be able to fulfill his role as a chairman; thus, Rep. Cannon (R-30), Vice Chair of the Committee, was appointed by Speaker Moyle to serve as the new House Revenue and Taxation Committee Chair. Rep. Ehlers (R-21) will now step into the role of Vice Chair. A statement was sent out immediately following the House Floor adjournment.
JFAC has begun to work quickly and diligently through setting budget line items and hearing from agencies on their proposed requests. The Committee set budgets three out of the five working days to catch up from past weeks as discussions and negotiations were being made on the budget method. JFAC will continue to work to catch up to their budget-setting schedule. Over the next week, JFAC will take up large agencies and line items, including natural resources, Idaho Launch, and transportation. This also indicates how eager the Legislature is to finish the session.
Nonprivileged committees lost the ability to introduce bills on Monday without permission from the Speaker. This is tradition per the joint rules of the House and Senate. Dozens of bills were introduced at the start of the week but slowly dwindled as the week went on. We will still see plenty of bills Introduced but far fewer than the last few weeks. The exorbitant number of bills introduced recently have started to work through the process as many receive hearings both this week and next in cramped agendas in the overburdened committees.
Committee meetings began to run long this week as numerous contentious and heavy issues arose. One bill that has drawn attention from multiple parties is a resolution to add Idaho to the list calling for an Article V Convention of States. Three iterations of Article V resolutions were all introduced, and one version was heard this week. SCR 112 calls for balanced budget amendments, term limits, and reigning in the federal government. It was heard in Senate Judiciary and Rules on Wednesday, marking a drastic departure from previous efforts being taken up through the State Affairs committees. This was sent to the Senate floor with a do-pass recommendation on a 6-3 vote.
The Senate has started building up quite the laundry list of bills on the third reading calendar. As more contentious bills are debated on the floor, this list will only grow as the session progresses. The House has many bills to debate, but this chamber has worked hard to keep their reading calendars short. The transmittal deadline will be here before we know it; the formal date is March 4, 2024, when the two chambers do their best to have all bills from their chamber across the floor and move onto the other side of the rotunda. This is no easy task and often requires both sides to start having two floor sessions daily. Towards the end of next, we will most likely see this occur.
As many of the larger policies have begun passing, we are now entering week seven of the session and believe we have passed the halfway point, but only time will tell. As days grow longer and more contentious, we remain positive and professional and believe we are making great progress. Much of the political theater has quieted down this week and legislators continue the diligent work of representing their constituents and voting on the massive influx of bills. As these bills are appearing on reports, we encourage you to review them and let us know the bills you’d like to take a position on or have questions about.
As always, stay up-to-date with what we are monitoring in the statehouse through our Bill Tracker.
