Idaho Reports airs Friday at 8 pm on Idaho Public Television.

Fentanyl bill passes committee despite concerns

The House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee deliberated for two hours over a bill that would add mandatory minimum prison sentences for fentanyl trafficking, ultimately voting 16-2 to send it to the floor without a recommendation. The same panel held a similar bill in committee last year.

READ MORE HERE

Committee holds bill changing ‘fetus’ and 'embryo' to ‘preborn child’

In vitro fertilization involves placing a lab-fertilized egg, or embryo, in a woman’s uterus via a medical procedure to help facilitate pregnancy. Not all of the embryos are always used in IVF, so some testimony expressed concern about whether that could become criminal if embryos were to be defined in law as a “preborn child.”

READ MORE HERE

Bill to limit or repeal Medicaid Expansion introduced

The House Health and Welfare Committee introduced legislation on Monday that would effectively repeal expanded Medicaid coverage in mid-2025 if certain cost-saving requirements are not met.

READ MORE HERE

Follow online for updates throughout the week:

Sex and gender ‘a biological truth’ in new bill

A bill sponsored by Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, states in its legislative intent that “there is increasing confusion about the definition of sex as a biological truth and its relationship to concepts and terms, including but not limited to gender, gender identity, gender role, gender expression and experienced gender.”

READ MORE HERE

Bill would up electioneering boundary to 250 feet

Existing state law prohibits electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place or its building. A bill would specify it is prohibited “within two hundred fifty (250) feet of the primary entrance and exit used by voters,” and would stiffen related penalties.

READ MORE HERE

In case you missed it:

Emotional commutation hearing for longest-serving man on Idaho's death row

Thomas Creech, now 73, has been on death row in Idaho since 1983 for the beating death of fellow inmate David Jensen in 1981. At the time of Jensen’s death, Creech was already incarcerated for two murders in Valley County and had prior convictions related to earlier murders in Oregon and California.

READ MORE HERE

Help support our journalism:

The generous support of viewers like you makes it possible for us at Idaho Public Television to tell Idaho’s stories.

SUPPORT IDAHOPTV

Idaho Reports

1455 N Orchard St

Boise ID 83706-2239

(208) 373-7220

Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, the Friends of Idaho Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.