The TTV Podcast

This week we tackle stadiums, agency rules and the Idaho Department of Agriculture.

You had questions about redistricting and we’ve got answers on the history, legality and mechanics of Redistricting. We get really wonky and go way into the weeds on the topic of redrawing the state’s legislative district lines. Some GOP lawmakers want to make a change to the way Idaho does that, switching from a six-member redistricting commission to a seven-member board.

It’s been a very emotional week at the Idaho Legislature as lawmakers argued, debated and walked out of a hearing over the heated topic of redistricting .

Rakesh Mohan, Director of the Office of Performance Evaluations. Credit Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio Edit | Remove Every state legislature spends money and someone has to keep track of how well that money is being spent. In Idaho, that’s the job of the folks at the Office of Performance Evaluations. They spend their time investigating stage agencies and programs to find out how they are doing. The Office released a report in January on the Southwest Idaho Treatment Center that made headlines around the state.

We're back! After two weeks into the session, lawmakers are getting their feet under them at the Idaho Legislature. And for about two dozen of them who are brand new to the office, that means figuring out everything from their new email system to where the bathrooms are. This week we visit a freshman lawmaker in her new job. And Samantha Wright asks Boise State Political Science Professor Gary Moncrief the question why do lawmakers want this job anyway?

After 80 days of wrangling, bargaining and lawmaking, Idaho’s 2018 legislative session wrapped up this week. We take a look at what didn’t get done during the session and why. Lawmakers failed to take up a health care bill, continued to ignore the Add the Words campaign and didn’t reconsider a grocery tax repeal.

Despite a lot of cooking this session, the Idaho Legislature failed to make “soup” out of Governor Butch Otter’s health care bill.

If you’re listening to Legislative Breakdown every week, chances are you probably also check in day-to-day to the Eye on Boise blog from the Spokesman Review. The blog is THE spot to find out what’s happening during every hour of the legislature in real time and the reporter who makes it all happen is Betsy Russell. You can find her running, literally, from committee meeting to protest to press conference, working hard to keep up. “Often, multiple things are happening at the same time. On a day when I’ve covered 10 different things, some of those were happening at the same time and it’s hard. It’s a real challenge,” says Betsy. In this episode of Legislative Breakdown, she pulls back the curtain on her job, talks about how things have changed over time and waxes poetic on what she would change, if she could, about the legislature. Join us for “Legislative Breakdown” every Friday.

Who doesn’t like sausage? Tastes great at breakfast, but it can get kind of ugly when there’s just two weeks left in the Idaho Legislature.

The Idaho Health Care Plan and redistricting: two of the big topics the Idaho Legislature dealt with this week. The health care bill ground to an abrupt halt, with several Republicans calling it an expansion of Medicaid in Idaho. That move from lawmakers dealt a blow to Governor Butch Otter, who had been touting the plan around the country. And legislators are also considering a new plan for how redistricting gets done in Idaho. “One of the questions when you talk about redistricting is who gets to draw the lines? Now in a lot of states, it’s the legislature that does that,” says Moncrief. Is it a good idea for lawmakers to draw the lines around their districts? And will Idaho’s system change? We’ll take a closer look. Join us for “Legislative Breakdown” every Friday.

Why should you care about tax cut bills in the Idaho Legislature? That’s the question we ask this week on Legislative Breakdown. The quick answer is your bank account and paying for things like roads and education in Idaho. Idaho’s budget is like a Rubik’s cube, says Boise State professor Gary Moncrief. It’s got a lot of moving parts that all have to fit together over time. “Legislatures have a really hard time thinking long-term, it’s just not in their nature, they’re not built that way,” says Moncrief, and that can have big ramifications when passing bills that cut taxes. We'll take a closer look at why cutting taxes now could cause problems down the road. Join us for “Legislative Breakdown” every Friday.

How do Idaho lawmakers learn to be better negotiators? They go to school, of course.

Health care, tax cuts, climate change and a live studio audience. That’s the nexus of this week’s look at the Idaho Legislature.

Financial disclosure laws, uncontested legislative races and 100 or so budget bills. These are just some of the ways that the Idaho Capitol is weird, compared to other state legislatures. Boise State University political science professor Gary Moncrief has a running list of just what makes our legislature so weird. “Weird is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. You say weird, I’ll say unique and we’ll let the listeners figure out if it’s good or bad,” says Moncrief. We’ll find out just how unique we really are, and we’ll take a look at a much-loved tradition in the Statehouse: Legislative Pie Day, when lawmakers and guests eat to their hearts’ content. Join us for “Legislative Breakdown” every Friday.

This week on Legislative Breakdown, we go behind the scenes to find out who's behind all the work at the Statehouse that you never hear about. The 105 lawmakers are well-known but there exists another group of people who write most of the bills, audit state agencies and help the budget committee set the appropriation bills. They work without fanfare throughout the year, keeping the legislature running. We chat with Eric Milstead, the Director of the Legislative Services Office, about his staff. “Those folks crank out upwards of 1,000 bills during the three-month period and every word is read by those proof-readers and editors,” says Milstead. Join us for “Legislative Breakdown” every Friday.

How to be a lobbyist–that's the latest episode of “Legislative Breakdown.” In this week's podcast, Samantha Wright and Boise State Political Science Professor Gary Moncrief are joined by special guest, Lyn D. Elliott.

Fridays starting January 5, Join Samantha Wright and Boise State Political Science Professor Gary Moncrief for their new weekly podcast called Legislative Breakdown.