Idaho lawmakers hold ‘Legislative Lunch’ in Boise

BOISE, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — With a little over two weeks to go before their estimated end date, legislative leaders had lunch with capitol reporters.

It was a chance to see how they feel about the session and where it’s going.

This session started with new members in both the House and the Senate and a list of committee changes.

Learning how the process works has slowed the pace of almost every facet of the legislature.

The thing that concerns some legislatures is the speed at which important budgets are being finalized.

A point of contention has been Governor Brad Little’s Idaho Launch expansion.

It narrowly passed the House with many thinking it needs to be more specific.

The legislation calls for giving high school students money to continue their education - especially for in demand careers.

“The vote passed in excess of 80-percent. There was no ambiguity there that the people of Idaho want 80-million dollars to be going into higher education and training workforce. Certainly, our business community is very united around that concept, so I think we better find something. I’m a supporter of Launch, I would like to see that move forward and we’re getting at a point in session where it’s going to be really hard to cobble together something coherent other than Launch,” said (D) Ilana Rubel – House Minority Leader.

Other issues in this session include the school choice bills themselves - and that they were presented before a higher ed and K-12 budget.

While we’ve seen a lot of draft legislation, nearly 20 bills have been signed by the governor so far.

Most of the priority funding has yet to get to the House and Senate floors.

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