Idaho Democratic Party News and Articles

With a looming deadline to introduce legislation, we’ve seen a flurry of activity in the fifth week of the legislative session. Let Idahoans Vote For decades, there has been a coordinated effort to put barriers in front of the ballot box across the United States. Now, Republican politicians are bringing these voter suppression schemes to Idaho.    Voter ID Restrictions  HB 54 eliminates student IDs and personal identification affidavits at the [...]

This week, I was gaveled down on the floor of the Idaho House of Representatives. My offense? Referencing pregnancy while debating a bill designed to mandate abortion investigations by local police.  House Bill 22 seeks to strip local control and prohibit the explicit prioritization of criminal investigations. It is a direct response to the City of Boise deprioritizing abortion investigations, but extends to any felony and threatens to cut off [...]

As temperatures dip below zero in parts of Idaho, things are heating up during the fourth week of the legislative session. Protect Our Public Schools 👎   Senate Bill 1038 – School Voucher ESAs Yesterday, a group of Republican politicians introduced legislation to divert public dollars away from public education and students to subsidize private and religious schools with ZERO oversight or accountability. Years of chronic underfunding have forced our public [...]

In Idaho, we value our quality of life. One way we maintain it is through local services including public safety, emergency response, and parks. These services and more are funded by property taxes. Our challenge is that homeowners are shouldering an increasing, unsustainable share of the property tax load while other types of real estate – even some quite profitable corporations – are paying less with each passing year. Reindexing [...]

Idaho Democratic Party Chair Lauren Necochea released the following statement in response to the Idaho Supreme Court upholding all abortion laws challenged in Planned Parenthood lawsuit:  “Every pregnancy is unique and people seek abortion care for a range of deeply personal reasons that the government should not question. Patients, not judges or politicians, should make their own personal decisions when it comes to medical care. This decision has made it [...]

Senate Republicans yesterday voted against a bill that would enshrine protections for gay marriage after a Supreme Court opinion signaled marriage equality rights could be at risk Yesterday, Idaho’s Republican Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which would enshrine marriage equality in federal law, repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and provide additional protections for marriage equality. “Idaho couples should be able [...]

I am proud to be an Idaho Democrat today.I am also proud of the historic effort we put forth. In a year when political pundits across the country predicted a red wave  — and as our state faces significant migration from activists seeking to build their far-right movement here — we held strong. It was initially reported that we held our margins in the Idaho House and Senate. An unfortunate vote [...]