Latest news with #IdahoPublicPolicySurvey
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Have thoughts on affordable housing in Idaho? Here's how to weigh in on U.S. Sen. Crapo's survey.
U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) (R) and Ranking Member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) preside over a meeting as the committee votes to advance the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services on Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. The full committee voted along party lines to advance the nomination to the entire Senate for confirmation. (Photo by) U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is collecting Idahoans' opinions on affordable housing through a survey. The survey is meant to inform Crapo about common issues to possibly consider legislation, the senator's office announced in a news release in March. In 2014 and 2015, the senator's veterans' surveys led Crapo to introduce legislation that became law, his office said. 'A lack of affordable housing is the number one issue Idahoans raise with my staff and me in meetings across the State,' Crapo said in a prepared statement. 'Idaho is far from alone in this nationwide challenge, but Idahoans can be a key part in piecing together the housing puzzle as I continue to work to find collaborative solutions to this issue. I invite any Idahoan to complete the survey and share as much detail as they are willing and able to provide.' For two years in a row, Idahoans have listed workforce and affordable housing as their overall top budget priority for the Idaho Legislature, according to the annual Idaho Public Policy Survey by Boise State University. Almost a third of Idahoans, 32%, listed the issue as their top state legislative budget priority. Nearly half of Idahoans, 49%, reported feeling financially strained by housing costs, the survey found. Crapo's affordable housing survey, available online, is open through May 31. The survey is intended to hear feedback from homeowners, renters, insurance brokers, bankers, realtors, government officials and general contractors, Crapo's office said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Idaho bill to allow dismissing unfounded abortion lawsuits against doctors heads for amendments
The door to the meeting room for the Senate's State Affairs, Resources and Environment, and Education committees as seen on March 10, 2025, at the Idaho Capitol Building in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) A bill that would outline a process for courts to dismiss unfounded abortion lawsuits brought against Idaho doctors is headed for amendments in the Idaho Senate. Bill cosponsor Sen. Todd Lakey, R-Nampa, said the dismissal process in Senate Bill 1171 is modeled after a recently approved Idaho law that outlines how Idaho judges can quickly dismiss frivolous lawsuits — dubbed strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP lawsuits. The Senate State Affairs Committee on a unanimous vote Wednesday sent the abortion lawsuit dismissal bill for amendments on the Senate floor, where any state senator can propose amendments to the bill. For two years since Idaho's abortion bans have been in place, Idaho's Republican supermajority-controlled Legislature has waited for lawsuits challenging the bans to resolve before making changes to the state's abortion laws, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. Idaho has several abortion ban laws that, if violated, could allow doctors to be prosecuted and lose their medical licenses and even allow them to be sued for at least $20,000 by family members of a person who obtained an abortion. In a survey for Boise State University's annual Idaho Public Policy Survey last year, 64% of Idahoans said the state should at least have exceptions for documented rape cases, incest, non-viable pregnancies and both the life and health of the mother. Idaho's ban contains an exception to save the pregnant patient's life, but not to prevent detrimental health outcomes, including the loss of future fertility, which is a risk with severe infection or bleeding. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Lakey's abortion lawsuit dismissal bill would only tweak Idaho's civil abortion ban — not the state's criminal ban. He said mostly technical amendments are expected to the bill. 'This doesn't change the state of the law. There are those who would like to do that, but that's not what we're about this morning,' Lakey told the committee. Anti-abortion activist David Ripley, executive director of Idaho Chooses Life, called the bill a good first step. 'This legislation is a result of conversations that I've had with medical providers over the last two years as the Defense of Life Act has taken effect, trying to persuade them that what they've been told and what they've heard in the newspaper and so forth is not an accurate representation of the law,' Ripley testified. David Lehman, a lobbyist representing Bingham Memorial Hospital in Blackfoot, read a statement by doctors who practice obstetrics and gynecology, or OB-GYN, at the rural eastern Idaho hospital. In the statement, the doctors said they entered the OB-GYN field because of their passion for caring for women and their babies. 'None of us at Bingham or in the area choose to perform elective abortions, and haven't throughout our careers. Despite this fact, the actions of the Legislature, with regard to our abortion laws in the last few years, have indeed created unsustainable environments for us to continue caring well for the women and babies of Idaho. It has made hiring new providers nearly impossible. It has increased the pressure, work, anxiety and stress of an already very demanding role. It has eroded the trust we have in the state and our Legislature to work for the good of all Idahoans,' Lehman told the committee. The bill is 'a step in the right direction,' but is not 'a fix to these problems,' he added. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
