Thursday at 8:00 am lawmakers gathered in the statehouse in Boise and gaveled in a special session of the Idaho legislature.
The session was called by Gov. Brad Little, who is the only one who can call a special session, and Little said his goal is to cut taxes and boost education funding. Little pulled together a lot of bipartisan support on a bill that will use some of the state’s $2 billion surplus to give everyone a one-time tax rebate and cut income taxes by more than $150 million.
The other half of Little’s proposal would put $410 million into Idaho education. Most of that $330 million will go to K-12 education, which is the same amount of money that Reclaim Idaho's voter initiative would put into education if it passes in November.
If Little’s bill passes today it would effectively nullify the reclaim Idaho initiative even if it passes in November.
Luke Mayville is the Co-founder of Reclaim Idaho and has been working for months to get the Quality Education Act on the ballot. He joined Idaho Matters to talk more about the special session.
