Tagged: Butch Otter

Idaho will resume paying a $4,500 monthly governor's housing stipend to C.L. "Butch" Otter in June as it clears furniture from the governor's mansion in Boise in preparation for returning the home to the Simplot family.

The state decided this year to give back the hilltop mansion.

That's after Otter declined to live in it and $180,000 annual charges for watering the lawn and maintaining the home threatened to drain a $1.5 million fund to cover housing expenses for the state's chief executive.

That's been cut in half.

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter is using Idaho’s low wages as a selling point. In a letter sent to out-of-state gun manufacturers last month to encourage them to relocate to Idaho, Otter touts the comparatively low cost of labor here.

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has designated May as Second Amendment Protection Month.

His signed declaration cites Idaho's gun-friendly ranking with the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Otter's declaration also seeks to "encourage business leaders who are looking for a new operation for their locations to become new corporate citizens in a state that will encourage their continued success."

The 2013 Idaho Legislature adjourned on April 4. Legislators debated everything from health care to public education funding.  We brought you the major stories from the 62nd regular session, including the creation of a state-based health insurance exchange.  Now it’s time to do the numbers, with a little help from the recently released end of session report:

A Republican lawmaker says he will bring forward a bill to expand Idaho's Medicaid program this week. That's after Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter said lawmakers should wait on the issue.

Rep. Tom Loertscher (R-Bone) plans to introduce two bills on Thursday.

One would dissolve Idaho's Catastrophic Health Care Program. That's the program that helps medically indigent Idahoans who don't qualify for state or federal health care aid.

Idaho aims to return the hilltop mansion to the Simplot family by June 30 in a tentative agreement over the would-be governor's residence-turned-money pit that remained vacant even as maintenance costs skyrocketed.

That's according to a resolution approved unanimously by Idaho Governor's Housing Committee Friday at a meeting in Boise.

J.R. Simplot, the deceased billionaire who built his agricultural empire, in part, on french fry sales to McDonald's, donated the home in 2004.

The White House says automatic spending reductions will be put off until late this evening.  President Obama must issue the order for $85 billion in cuts sometime today.  And White House press secretary Jay Carney says that means midnight, because Obama remains "ever hopeful." 

Idaho Governor Butch Otter weighed in on the cuts known as the sequester yesterday.  He was on the east coast, speaking to a meeting of Farmers Insurance officials.

Idaho lawmakers have been in session for nearly three months and there's still a lot to get done before legislators can go home. The Governor’s health insurance exchange survived a vote in the Senate. Now the House will consider the state-based exchange this week. There are also several education and gun bills that are working their way through the legislative process.  

Idaho Governor Butch Otter says the history of disagreement he has with Congressman Raul Labrador represents differences of opinion not conflict. 

Idaho Governor Butch Otter pledged to make wildfires on public land a priority in 2013.  Now, he's asking for $400,000 for four volunteer fire groups in Idaho. They would make ranchers the first responders to fires that threaten homes and livestock.

Idaho Democrats are open to a $141 million personal property tax cut proposed by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, provided there's something in it for local governments.

The minority party today offered its annual response to Otter's State of the State speech, when the Republican governor announced he favored local option taxes to help replace money cities, counties and schools stand to lose from elimination of the tax on business equipment.