2017 Idaho Legislature

Supreme Court keeps grocery tax on the books

In a divided and nuanced decision, the Supreme Court kept the sales tax on groceries intact. The $80 million repeal could affect available funding for K-12 and higher education.

Grocery tax adversaries get their day in court

Constitutional questions aside, repealing the sales tax on groceries carries a $50 million-a-year impact on K-12 and higher education.

Tax collections beat forecasts — but most of the money is spoken for

Revenues came in $49.6 million ahead of projections, but only a small fraction of the money could wind up going into education budgets.

Weather Channel focuses on Idaho’s science standards debate

A key takeaway from the lengthy report: Idaho is the only state where the Legislature has removed references to climate change from science standards.

Conservative group praises 2017 Legislature

“More legislators than ever before voted in support of legislation to restrain the size and power of government,” Idaho Freedom Foundation president Wayne Hoffman said Friday, as the group issued its 2017 scorecard.

Safe routes to school bill becomes law, without Otter’s blessing

Passed in the final hours of the 2017 session, the new law allows the Idaho Transportation Department to siphon some state dollars into pedestrian projects near school zones.

Analysis: Grocery tax veto tears open a widening rift in GOP

Gov. Butch Otter faces increasingly vocal opposition from fellow Republicans — as his final term heads into its final 20 months.

Otter vetoes grocery tax repeal, allows highway bill to become law

Otter still has not acted on a related transportation bill to allow state funding for “safe routes to school” projects.

Otter’s latest batch of bill signings: still no word on grocery tax

Gov. Butch Otter signed three education-related bills Thursday.

Otter signs $1.7 billion K-12 budgets

Still hanging fire: a bill to repeal the state’s grocery tax, and a $315 million highway and infrastructure bill. Otter has voiced his opposition to the grocery tax repeal.