Latest news with #IdahoCode
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Yahoo
Prosecutor pushes back against Kohberger's arguments
Mar. 26—The Latah County Prosecutor's Office is again pushing back against Bryan Kohberger's alibi and "alternative perpetrators" defense, and says the suspect's family members may be called to testify at his upcoming trial. More court filings were released Tuesday in the Kohberger case. Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the Nov. 13, 2022, stabbing deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. He could face the death penalty if convicted. The prosecution argues that Kohberger does not have the same rights as the victims' families to choose which of his relatives can sit in the courthouse during the trial. "The defendant has a constitutional and statutory right to a 'public trial,' but that does not extend to Defendant's choosing whom sits in the courtroom," Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ashley Jennings wrote in her court filing. She said the Idaho Constitution and Idaho Code supports this argument. She added that Kohberger's relatives may be called to testify as witnesses. She asked Ada County District Judge Steven Hippler to exclude them from the courtroom until it is their time to testify so they cannot hear the other witnesses' testimony. Kohberger's attorneys argued that his immediate family consisting of his mother, father and two sisters should be present in the courtroom. The prosecution's witness list is due to be completed by April 21. The prosecution reasserts that Kohberger does not have any witnesses to back up his alibi. Kohberger has acknowledged that he was driving around the time of the murders, but not near the crime scene. Kohberger's attorneys planned to call Sy Ray to testify to his opinion about where Kohberger was during those early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Ray is an expert in cell towers and cell phone data. The defense claims Ray can show Kohberger's device was south of Pullman and west of Moscow during the time of the murders. Prosecutor Bill Thompson wrote that this is not enough to support Kohberger's alibi.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Idaho Senate passes Texas-style immigration bill; ACLU says it will sue if it becomes law
State senators listen to legislative proceedings from the Idaho Senate floor on Jan. 7, 2025. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) The Republican-controlled Idaho Senate voted along party lines Tuesday to pass a Texas-style immigration bill that for the first time would allow local law enforcement officials to check and enforce the documentation status of people who are being detained or investigated for a crime. Less than two hours after the Idaho Senate voted to pass the bill, the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho issued a written statement promising to sue the state if the bill becomes law. If passed into law, House Bill 83aa would do several things. First, it would create a new state law called 'illegal entry into this state.' The bill states, in part: 'A person who is an alien commits an offense if the person enters or attempts to enter this state directly from a foreign nation at any location other than a lawful port of entry or through another manner of lawful entry.' The bill also states, 'A violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor upon a first conviction. A second or subsequent conviction shall be a felony.' Under the bill local law enforcement officers would only be able to enforce the crime of illegal entry into Idaho if the person was being detained or investigated for another crime. The bill also creates another state crime called 'illegal reentry by certain aliens.' If House Bill 83aa becomes law, it would be illegal to attempt to enter Idaho or be found in Idaho if a person 'Has been denied admission to or excluded, deported, or removed from the United States; or… Has departed from the United States while an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding.' Finally, the bill would allow a magistrate judge in Idaho to issue a written order for a person to return to the foreign country they attempted to enter Idaho from, even if a person wasn't convicted. Beginning on line 25 of page three, the bill states: 'The judge in a person's case at any time after the person's appearance before a magistrate pursuant to section 19-514 or 19-615, Idaho Code, may, in lieu of continuing the prosecution of or entering an adjudication regarding an offense pursuant to section 18-9002 or 18-9003, Idaho Code, dismiss the charge pending against the person and issue a written order.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX In order for the judge to issue an order for a defendant to return to their foreign country before a conviction, the defendant must agree to the order, must not have been convicted of a previous crime and must not be facing another offense that is punishable by a felony. In cases where there is a conviction, an Idaho judge shall issue an order requiring the defendant to return to the foreign country from which they attempted to enter Idaho after they complete their prison sentence, according to the bill. Republican Sen. Todd Lakey, R-Nampa, co-sponsored and presented House Bill 83aa. Lakey and Republicans who supported the bill said it was a way to take a tough stand on undocumented immigration. CONTACT US 'Now we as states, we are faced with the consequences and the fallout of failed federal policy in our towns and in our communities,' Lakey said. 'Those consequences and impacts necessitate a response at the state level. We have the responsibility to protect our people and our communities and our state. I think that is a sovereign obligation that we have as a state.' Lakey admitted passing the bill was not without risk, saying that portions of the bill were modeled after Texas Senate Bill 4, which has been blocked from taking effect as part of a challenge in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Idaho House voted 61-9 to pass the original version of the Idaho bill on Feb. 10. Since then, the Idaho Senate voted to amend the bill to combine House Bill 83 and Senate Bill 1039, which is also related to immigration. House Bill 83aa next heads back to the Idaho House for consideration of the Senate amendments. All 29 Senate Republicans voted in favor of House Bill 83 while all six Democrats voted against. Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, said the bill wrongly inserts the state into immigration enforcement, which is the responsibility of the federal government. 'We are asking our magistrate judges to act in these areas, to issue orders to send individuals back over the border; that's not something our magistrates have been trained to do, or have any experience in doing,' Ruchti said. ACLU of Idaho threatens to sue if Texas-style immigration bill becomes law [/subjed] Officials with the ACLU of Idaho said House Bill 83aa is similar to immigration bills passed in Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma. 'We don't want to sue on this bill,' ACLU of Idaho Executive Director Leo Morales said in a written statement. 'But if the bill passes, we must sue to protect immigrant families in Idaho and to stop legislation like H.B. 83, that so flagrantly disregards the U.S. Constitution.' Officials with the ACLU warned the bill would lead to racial profiling. 'This bill does not make anyone safer,' Ruby Mendez-Mota, campaign strategist with ACLU of Idaho, said in a written statement. 'In fact, it will do the opposite. Rather than target criminals, it would impact anyone who may be stopped by the police. This bill will fuel racial profiling, weaponize accusations against Latinos in Idaho, and make anyone who doesn't appear to be white feel less safe.' An attorney with the ACLU of Idaho flagged language in the bill that allows a magistrate judge to issue an order even without a conviction. 'The bill language is clear that no conviction of a crime needs to be present before the state involves itself in immigration, so claims that this only targets criminals is incorrect,' ACLU staff attorney Emily Croston said in a written statement. 'This bill would be devastating to Idahoans.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Bryan Kohberger's defense may cite autism disorder in attempt to strike death penalty
Attorneys for quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberger have filed documents that may allow them to nod to an autism spectrum disorder in an effort to get the death penalty off the table if convicted. Kohberger is accused in the stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin at an off-campus home on Nov. 13, 2022. Chapin was a Mount Vernon native attending school in Idaho. Kohberger was a grad student at Washington State University at the time of the murders. The school is about a 10-mile drive across state lines to the crime scene in Moscow, Idaho. Even if Kohberger was convicted on just one of the four counts of murder, in the state of Idaho, he could still face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. In November 2024, a judge ruled that the death penalty could still be an option for Kohberger. His defense recently filed a motion 'to Strike Death Penalty RE: Autism Spectrum Disorder,' summaries of court documents show. A 'Motion to Redact or Seal Newly Filed Records' was also entered 'in support of their motion to strike death penalty.' It's unclear if Kohberger has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. It's also unclear if his defense is seeking a diagnosis. Defense has filed the motions in court, but those documents do not outline the nature of their defense. Prosecutors, meanwhile, last week cited a state law providing 'mental condition shall not be a defense to any charge of criminal conduct' except 'expert evidence on the issues of any state of mind which is an element of the offense,' a court filing shows. According to CNN, there has been very limited research about autism and crime. While research about people with autism or autism-like characteristics and crime is limited, studies have suggested they're no more likely than people without autism to offend or encounter the criminal justice system, CNN said. This filing is the defense's latest attempt to exonerate their client or to strike the death penalty. The defense previously argued that Kohberger's rights were violated when DNA was taken from the crime scene and then analyzed using investigative genetic genealogy (IGG). Another motion focuses on what Kohberger's defense team calls an 'ideological shift' and 'evolving standards' in the way Americans view the death penalty, according to CNN. The defense has also focused on the case's infamy, citing potentials for a biased jury. Idaho is just one of 27 states that still have the death penalty. Three of those states currently have a moratorium on executions. Per the Idaho Code, every person guilty of first-degree murder will be 'punished by death or by imprisonment for life.' The Idaho Department of Corrections says only three people have been executed in Idaho since 1976, three years after the death penalty was reinstated after its abolition. The last person executed by the state of Idaho was in 2012. There are currently nine people on death row in Idaho, including one woman and Chad Daybell, who was convicted for murdering his first wife and his second wife's two young children, 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. Daybell's wife, Lori Vallow (his second wife), was also convicted for her roles in the deaths of her two children and her husband's first wife. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kohberger's trial is expected to start in August. A not-guilty plea has been entered on his behalf.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Group organizing Idaho abortion-rights initiative files lawsuit over ballot language
The Idaho Supreme Court building in downtown Boise. (Courtesy of the Idaho Supreme Court) The group organizing a 2026 ballot initiative to restore abortion rights in Idaho is asking the state Supreme Court to order the attorney general and other state agencies to fix language it says is biased and misleading about what the initiative will do and how much it will cost taxpayers. Idahoans United for Women and Families filed the lawsuit Thursday night. Idaho has a citizen ballot initiative process, but only its Legislature can propose constitutional amendments, unlike many other states. So instead of a constitutional amendment, the voters are asked to approve a citizen-crafted piece of legislation to be adopted. The measure requires a simple majority of voters to pass. As part of the initiative process, the Idaho Attorney General's Office is responsible for drafting short and long ballot titles that summarize what the legislation would do if passed. Idaho law states that the language must describe the proposal accurately and use common language without phrasing that is likely to prejudice voters. Idahoans United announced it would pursue the initiative in April 2024, and filed four proposed policies for approval in August. After that, the group moved forward with one proposed policy that would establish a fundamental right to contraception and fertility treatments under Idaho law, including in vitro fertilization, to make decisions about pregnancy and childbirth, and legalizing abortion before fetal viability, as well as preserving the right to abortion after viability in medical emergencies. Fetal viability would be determined by a physician and what treatment is available, but the commonly accepted gestational age of viability in the medical community is 23 to 24 weeks. In the lawsuit, the group contends that the short ballot title includes the term 'fetus viability,' which is not the medical phrase, and conflicts with the term fetal viability being used in the long title. Melanie Folwell, Idahoans United's spokesperson, said the short title also left out that the law would provide for abortions in medical emergencies after viability. The bigger issue, Folwell said, is with the fiscal impact statement, which is required to be drafted by the Idaho Division of Financial Management, to determine if the new law would cost taxpayer dollars. As written, the statement says the laws affected by the initiative would not impact income, sales or product taxes and have no effect on the general fund. But it goes on to say it could change state expenditures in minor ways. 'Costs associated with the Medicaid and prisoner populations may occur,' it says, citing Idaho Code. 'Passage of this initiative is likely to cost less than $20,000 per year. The Medicaid budget for providing services was about $850 million in FY2024. If passed, nominal costs in the context of the affected total budget are insignificant to the state.' Dan Estes, spokesperson for Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador's office, said they had no comment, citing pending litigation. Reclaim Idaho, a group that pursued an initiative to change Idaho's primary and general election system in 2023, sued over similar issues with their ballot language and ultimately prevailed. The complaint filed in Idaho Supreme Court calls the statement biased and says it includes contradictory language, 'wrongly implies' that Medicaid and corrections spending would increase, and 'prejudicially includes an irrelevant reference to the state's $850 Medicaid budget.' The statement in compliance with Idaho Code, the complaint says, should read that there is no financial impact to state or local governments. The lawsuit includes public records that Folwell requested and received showing email exchanges between Juliet Charron, deputy director of Medicaid and Behavioral Health at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, and Greg Piepmeyer, chief economist at the Idaho Division of Financial Management, as well as Lori Wolff, chief administrator at DFM. Wolff is named as a defendant in her capacity as administrator. States Newsroom has reached out to Charron, Piepmeyer and Wolff's office for comment. The emails indicate there would be no impact to the general fund, but one email from Piepmeyer details the possible effects for the female prison population, including the 'rate of pregnancy occurring due to events within prison, and the rate at which each of these is already ascribed to rape or incest.' 'None of these are ones into which DFM ought to wade,' Piepmeyer's email said. 'Similar considerations apply to the Medicaid population, but with (probably reasonably) different rates.' The lawsuit includes a motion to expedite, with a request that a final ruling be issued by the Idaho Supreme Court by April 15. The group has to gather at least 70,725 signatures by April 30, 2026, to qualify for the ballot. The Idaho Supreme Court will determine whether to hear the case in the coming days. If so, and if the motion to expedite is granted, an initial hearing would likely take place within the next month, Folwell said. 1-30-25 Declaration of Melanie Folwell 1-30-25 Verified Petition for Writs of Certiorari & Mandamus SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ex-Idaho AG division chief was paid $26K for unused vacation. Then the office re-hired him.
The door to Attorney General Raúl Labrador's office at the Idaho State Capitol building in Boise on Jan. 6, 2023. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) Soon after Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador took office in January 2023, much of the office's senior leadership team changed. The office's former civil litigation division chief — Steven Olsen — left his job Friday, March 3, 2023, according to public employment records on Transparent Idaho, but then returned to the office Tuesday, March 7, 2023, for a lower-paying position as an attorney representing the Idaho Transportation Department. Even though he came back to work for the attorney general's office only one business day after leaving, the office paid him more than $26,000 for vacation hours he earned but hadn't used before leaving his former position, according to payment records the Idaho Capital Sun obtained through a public records request. Olsen's payment — the sixth largest vacation payout of all state government employees recently — didn't align with Idaho's standard practice for vacation payouts, which requires employees separate from employment with the state or a department for at least one day, Idaho Division of Human Resources Administrator Janelle White told the Idaho Capital Sun. Idaho law doesn't define 'separation,' she told the Sun in emails. But state law doesn't 'give the state the authority to' pay out vacation leave for employees who remain employed at the same department, White said. 'In my view, the reason this is not allowed is to avoid the appearance of favoritism and to promote fairness in how bonuses are applied across the state workforce,' she added. CONTACT US Asked whether she believed Olsen's payment was illegal, White told the Sun 'the courts would have to determine' whether the payment violated Idaho law. In a statement in December, Idaho Office of the Attorney General spokesperson Dan Estes told the Sun the payout aligned with state law. 'Mr. Olsen was compensated for time accrued during his 18 years of service consistent with Idaho law and practice,' Estes said in a follow-up statement on Jan. 16. 'His situation is legally indistinguishable to those previously proved by the Division of Human Resources … and other state entities.' Labrador and Olsen did not agree to an interview and did not directly respond to a list of questions or a summary of reporting provided by the Sun. When employee's separate from state employment, Idaho Code says they can receive a 'lump sum payment' for vacation time they've earned but haven't used. Unless employees separate from the agency they earned the vacation time under, White told the Sun, Idaho law 'does not provide a mechanism to generate a vacation payout.' 'We do not have authority to compensate an employee for unused vacation, unless they separate from the state,' she said in emails. 'If we were intended to have such authority, it would be provided for in the law, as it is with other forms of compensation.' Employees who remain employed by the state can only receive vacation payouts, she said, if they 'transfer to a different agency and have a break in service to the state.' 'Absent that explicit authority, we do not have it,' she told the Sun in emails. 'Therefore, artificially separating an employee for the sole purpose of compensating them for unused vacation time is not aligned with State of Idaho employment practices.' It's rare for employees who transfer to another agency or office, and have a break in service from state employment, to receive vacation payouts, White said, 'because breaks in service are disruptive to one's health benefits and (retirement), and most employees want to keep their vacation when transferring to a different agency.' In some rare instances, an employee with a lot of unused vacation who transfers to another state agency 'may choose a break in service' to 'avoid a large financial liability for the agency where they are transferring,' she said. 'This typically happens when the employee is transferring from an agency with a large budget to a smaller agency with fewer personnel funds.' But that's a different situation than Olsen's vacation payout, she said. 'We never see a state employee choose a break in service of just one day and stay with the same agency or office in a different role, in order to receive a vacation payout,' White told the Sun. 'This would not be approved under any circumstances within the agencies (the Division of Human Resources) serves.' Estes, spokesperson for the attorney general's office, told the Sun in a January statement that the Division of Human Resource's policies, practices and employment manual 'are not law and only apply to state agencies under the Governor's control.' 'They do not govern the offices of other constitutional offices any more than the employment handbook and policies of the Idaho Statesman dictate the employment practices of the Idaho Capital Sun,' Estes statement continued. 'Any claims to the contrary are made out of ignorance or in bad faith.' While White said constitutional offices are not required to follow policies of the Division of Human Resources, they 'must follow the same laws' the policies are based on. Olsen's service for more than a decade with the Idaho Attorney General's Office as civil litigation division chief ended Friday, March 3, 2023, public employment records on Transparent Idaho show. The next Tuesday, on March 7, the attorney general's office rehired him, the Idaho State Controller's Office confirmed to the Sun. Olsen's new job at the attorney general's office has a lower pay rate of $61.23, compared to his previous rate of $78.62, state records show. In a statement in December, Idaho Office of the Attorney General spokesperson Estes told the Sun that Olsen's shift in the office came as the attorney general's office selected new chiefs for most divisions in early 2023, soon after Labrador officially took over as attorney general. When Olsen was being replaced as division chief, Estes said 'he was given the opportunity to be rehired in a new position as legal counsel to the Idaho Transportation Department.' 'He took some time to decide whether he wanted to return to his employment with the state or pursue other offers he had received,' Estes said in the January statement, adding that Olsen 'is one of the most honorable employees working in our office.' But a month before Olsen left the attorney general's office, the office had already announced in a February news release that Olsen 'agreed to stay with the Office, focusing on representing the Idaho Department of Transportation' as senior deputy attorney general. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The payment to Olsen stood out as the only instance of vacation payouts to employees who temporarily left an agency, and then returned to the same agency, White told the Sun, saying she'd reviewed data from December 2022 to August 2024. Olsen's payment was in March 2023. White has worked in state government human resources for more than a decade, according to her LinkedIn profile. Gov. Brad Little appointed her to lead the Idaho Division of Human Resources in January 2024. She refused an interview, but answered the Sun's questions via email. Idaho law caps bonuses for state employees, White said, only allowing up to $5,000 for recruitment and retention bonuses and up to $2,000 for performance bonuses. 'If a state agency or office separated an employee briefly to generate a large payout of a vacation as some kind of bonus, the law clearly does not intend that,' White wrote. 'Vacation payouts are not allowed under law as a bonus or reward for existing employees.' White told the Sun she couldn't disclose why Olsen's employment with the attorney general's office temporarily lapsed. That information is confidential by Idaho law, she said. The Division of Human Resources hadn't been in contact with the Attorney General's Office about Olsen's vacation payment, White told the Sun in December. Idaho State Controller's Office Payroll & Workforce Manager Trish Grimes told the Sun in December the agency didn't have audit information about the payment. But White said Idaho's Legislative Services Office 'would have the authority to determine if there are any legal, regulatory, or technical reviews related to this payment.' Legislative Services Office Audit Division Manager April Renfro told the Sun on Jan. 13 the office hasn't worked on vacation payouts — generally or within the attorney general's office. In limited research into Olsen's payment, Renfro told the Sun in an email, that 'while I agree it is unusual to have someone terminate from a high-level position and return to service so quickly, I don't see any statute that prohibits this with regard to the vacation payment.' Olsen is the brother of Maria Nate, the Idaho state director for the State Freedom Caucus Network. That network is inspired by the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative federal lawmakers that sometimes clashes with the broader Republican caucus. Before Labrador was elected Idaho attorney general, he served eight years in Congress and was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus. Nate is also married to Ron Nate, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a right-wing think tank that is influential in Idaho politics. Labrador did not respond to the Sun's question about whether Olsen's relationship to Maria Nate played a role in the Office of the Attorney General's vacation payment to Olsen. Maria and Ron Nate did not respond to the Sun's requests for comment. In the 2022 primary election for Idaho attorney general, Olsen donated $1,750 to Labrador's opponent, Lawrence Wasden, state campaign finance records show. Wasden, a Republican, was Idaho's attorney general for 20 years before Labrador won; Olsen served in the Idaho Attorney General's Office under Wasden. According to the Idaho Division of Human Resource's policy on vacation leave payouts for executive branch agencies, employees who leave state service will, in their final paycheck, be paid for all vacation leave they accrued but didn't use. That payout is calculated, the policy says, 'based on the employee's permanent hourly rate of pay on the effective date of separation.' The maximum amount of vacation employees classified as 'executive exempt' can accrue is 336 hours, the policy says. Idaho law says bonuses for 'meritorious service' or 'taxpayer savings' for nonclassified employees — including all Idaho Office of the Attorney General employees — are capped at $2,000, unless the Board of Examiners approves an exception. Idaho Division of Human Resources Administrator Janelle White told the Idaho Capital Sun the division does not oversee day-to-day employment transactions in constitutional offices, such as the Attorney General's Office. Out of 6,107 vacation payouts Idaho state government agencies made to former employees between July 2023 and October 2024, the average payout was $2,066.38, the Idaho Capital Sun found in a review of data obtained from the Idaho Division of Human Resources. On average, former Idaho government employees received payments for about 63.4 hours of earned, but unused, vacation time. This is not the first time the Idaho Attorney General's Office's payments to employees, under Labrador, have been questioned. In 2023, an investigation by the Idaho State Controller's Office found the Idaho Attorney General Office's nearly $16,000 payment for overtime work — to deputy attorney general Mitch Toryanski, also a former state lawmaker — 'appear(ed) to have been a mistake,' the Idaho Statesman reported. Idaho law barred attorneys from receiving overtime pay unless approved by the Idaho Board of Examiners, the Statesman reported. But it wasn't clear whether Idaho would recoup those funds, as requested by then Idaho Sen. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home. The Attorney General's Office did not reply to a question by the Sun about whether Idaho recouped funds from that payment. State Controller's Office spokesperson spokesperson Mackenzie Reathaford told the Sun as far as the agency was aware, the funds weren't recouped. 'At the conclusion of the investigation, the (State Controller's Office) recommendation was to work with the (Attorney General's Office) and decide a path forward,' she told the Sun in a Jan. 17 email. The State Controller's Office 'placed the decision as to whether a remedy was necessary,' such as recouping all or some of the funds, 'in the hands' of the Attorney General's Office, Reathaford said. The State Controller's Office report said Toryanksi received pay for comp time hours for hours he'd actually worked, 'even though he accrued comp time at a higher rate due to (a Fair Labor Standards Act) misclassification,' she said. But she said the Attorney General's Office has said 'they felt the payout Toryanski received was roughly equivalent to the value of the compensatory time he would have received if compensated for all hours he worked and therefore decided not to recoup the funds from him.' While the State Controller's Office 'may not share the same opinion on recoupment, where the investigation concluded the overtime accrual and payout was a mistake due to a misclassification, and not the result of any fraud, waste, or abuse, the (State Controller's Office) chose not to pursue any additional action,' Reathaford said. Olsen's payment for unused vacation was the sixth highest vacation payout to Idaho government employees in about the past year, according to data from the Idaho Division of Human Resources. Olsen's $26,416.32 vacation payout was for 336 hours, or 42 eight-hour work days, the maximum vacation time he was allowed to have at one time. The dataset includes vacation payments to former Idaho government employees from July 2023, when Idaho's new business system called Luma launched, until October 2024, White told the Sun. The three highest vacation payouts in that time — ranging from about $30,000 to nearly $51,000 — were to former agency leaders. Former Idaho State University President Kevin Satterlee, who retired in December 2023, received the highest vacation payout, of $50,994.62 for 240 vacation hours. Another longtime division chief in the Idaho Office of the Attorney General, Brett DeLange, received $23,672.48 for 301.1 vacation hours. That was the ninth highest payout of state employees recently, the data show. In January 2023, DeLange retired from the office. He had worked there for over 32 years. The attorney general's office's former chief of staff, Nicole McKay, received $23,518.08 for 288 vacation hours. That was the 11th highest payout, the data show. McKay also separated from the office in January 2023, after working there for 17 years. She now directs the city of Boise's Office of Police Accountability. A new dataset from the Division of Human Resources shows 20 state agency employees who received vacation payouts later returned to working for the state — out of more than 900 vacation payouts. Asked about those instances of employees returning to state after receiving vacation payouts, White said they were not inconsistent with state of Idaho employment practices. Some state employees leave state service, which triggers the required vacation payout, but later return to state service — even the same agency — after 'an extended period of time,' she said. But, she stressed that 'separating an employee for one day for the purpose of receiving a vacation payout and immediately hiring them back to the same office or agency is not consistent with State of Idaho employment practices. This never happens in the agencies under (the Division of Human Resource's) purview and would not have been approved under any circumstances.' Only two employees who received vacation payouts and later returned to working for the state — both of whom left one agency and started working for another — were in the top 30 highest vacation payouts, the newer data show. The vacation payouts to employees who returned to state jobs ranged from as low as almost $26 to as high as over $13,000. That dataset, which includes data from Sept. 1, 2024 until Jan. 14, 2025, shows that 10 of those employees were rehired by the same agencies they'd left; six of them returned to the same agency for temporary positions. In a review of the 30 highest vacation payouts in an earlier dataset, the Sun found two former state employees who received large vacation payouts were later rehired — by the same agencies they'd left — under temporary employee titles, according to employment records on Transparent Idaho. Asked about those temporary rehires after vacation payouts, White told the Sun those instances are rare 'but not inconsistent with State of Idaho employment practices.' 'This can happen for a variety of reasons, such as needing the person to return to train a new hire or work on a limited duration special project,' she said. Many temporary employees don't even accrue vacation time or receive benefits, she added, since employees must work at least 20 hours a week and be expected to work for at least five months to be eligible for benefits. According to records obtained from the State Controller's Office, two employees rehired temporarily after vacation payouts are David Fulkerson, who rejoined the Idaho Division of Financial Management on March 17, 2024, after he retired Sept. 1, 2023, as deputy administrator and state financial officer after working in the division for over 19 years; and Denise Rosen-Stevens, an attorney who rejoined the Office of the Attorney General Aug. 16, 2024, after she left the office June 30, 2024, after working there for over 15 years. Fulkerson received the 12th highest payout, of $23,284.80 for 336 unused vacation hours, according to the earlier dataset. Rosen-Stevens received the 25th largest payout, of $19,074.50 for 326.7 unused vacation hours. Fulkerson's temporary position ended Nov. 19, 2024, records obtained from the State Controller's Office show. The Division of Financial Management rehired him temporarily to help with an audit, Idaho State Controller's Office spokesperson Reathaford told the Sun in an email. Attorney General Labrador under ethics investigation by Idaho State Bar after complaint Rosen-Stevens is a temporary deputy attorney general, records provided by the State Controller's Office show. In February 2023, the Idaho Attorney General's Office announced Olsen's successor — naming Lincoln Davis Wilson as the new civil litigation and constitutional defense division chief. About eight months later, Wilson resigned. He is now senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian law firm. A month later, in November 2023, Labrador signed an agreement to allow that law firm to represent Idaho, for free, in litigation. Jim Craig, former general counsel for University of Idaho, now heads the attorney general's office's civil litigation and constitutional defense division. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
