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Legislative Notebook: Idaho House OKs firing squad bill, committee approves state employee pay bump • Idaho Capital Sun [1]
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Date: 2025-02-08
In an effort to help Idahoans follow major bills, resolutions and memorials through the legislative process, the Idaho Capital Sun will produce a “legislative notebook” at the end of each week to gather information in one place that concerns major happenings in the Legislature and other news relating to state government. To receive the full extent of our reporting in your inbox each day, sign up for our free email newsletter The Sunrise on our website at idahocapitalsun.com/subscribe/.
Here is our quick rundown of the major happenings during the fifth week of the Idaho Legislature’s 2025 session.
Idaho House passes firing squad bill, sends legislation to the Senate for consideration
Only five states – Idaho, Utah, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Mississippi – have laws that allow a state to execute a death row inmate via firing squad, but Idaho is one step closer to becoming the first state in the nation making the firing squad its main method of execution.
After years of the Idaho Department of Correction struggling to acquire lethal injection drugs from pharmacies, Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, is sponsoring House Bill 37 to make lethal injection an alternative method of Idaho executions and elevate the firing squad to its main method.
On the Idaho House floor on Thursday, Skaug said he believes death by firing squad is a more humane execution method because it is “quick” and “certain.” He also argued that the firing squad would reduce legal appeal issues in the court system and reduce failed execution attempts – like the state’s failed attempt to execute death row inmate Thomas Creech in February 2024 when it could not establish an IV line to administer the drugs.
After 10 minutes of deliberation, the House passed the bill 58-11 on a nearly party-line vote. All nine House Democrats opposed the bill, along with two Republican House lawmakers: Rep. Lori McCann, from Lewiston, and a substitute legislator for Rep. Josh Wheeler, from Ammon.
Redesigning the state’s execution chamber for a firing squad cost $313,915, Idaho Department of Correction spokesperson Kuzeta-Cerimagic told the Idaho Capital Sun. But the chamber’s full renovations are initially estimated to cost $952,589, she said.
She also confirmed the agency is considering using “a remote-operated weapons system alongside traditional firing squad methods” to carry out executions. But the agency had not finalized its policies and procedures for a firing squad, she said in a Tuesday email to the Sun.
The bill now heads to the Idaho Senate for consideration. It would have to pass the Senate and avoid Gov. Brad Little’s veto to become law.
Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee approves pay increases for all state employees
After failing to find consensus on proposals to increase pay for Idaho’s 25,000 state employees on Jan. 16 and Jan. 31, the Legislature’s powerful budget committee on Thursday approved new raises.
Under the plan, all state agencies would receive funding to cover raises of $1.55 per hour for all full-time permanent positions. Agency directors and institution presidents would then have flexibility to use that money to distribute raises of no less than $1.05 per hour and no more than $1.55 per hour – based on merit. If agencies do not award the full $1.55 pay increases, the additional funding left over must be returned to the Idaho Legislature.
But some employees will earn even more under that plan. The state’s IT and engineering employees would receive salary increases of 4.5%. Idaho State Police troopers would receive increases not to exceed 8%. Health care and nursing state employees would receive raises of $1.55 per hour or 3%, whichever amount is greater.
The pay increases for state employees will be built into the maintenance of operations budgets for all state agencies and departments that JFAC set Jan. 17. The maintenance budgets will then be sent to the Idaho House of Representatives and Idaho Senate for consideration.
Legislation of interest during the fifth week of the 2025 session
What to expect next week
Monday will be a busy day at the Statehouse because Feb. 10 is the deadline for state lawmakers to introduce new legislation – with some exceptions for certain privileged committees. Those committees are:
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, the Legislature’s budget committee
Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee
Senate State Affairs Committee
House Education Committee
House Health and Welfare Committee
House Revenue and Taxation Committee
House State Affairs Committee
House Ways and Means Committee
As of 3 p.m. Friday, at least 22 pieces of legislation are scheduled to be introduced and at least 11 other pieces of legislation are scheduled for full public hearings on Monday. To see the full schedule, click on the “all available Senate committee agendas” link and the “all available House committee agendas” link on the right side of the Legislature’s website.
According to the Legislative Services Office, legislators have prepared more pieces of legislation by the fourth week of the session ending Jan. 31 compared to the same time frame in the last five years. There are 422 pieces of legislation that have been prepared by Jan. 31 in 2025 compared to just 320 in 2023, for example.
Quote of the week
“ … Idaho is now considered one of the least affordable housing markets in the United States, and I think it’s incumbent on us as state government to try to provide solutions to those problems. It’s what people want us to focus on, and it’s one of those kitchen table issues that is affecting everyday Idahoans in really big ways. Rising housing costs are causing more people to lose housing. It’s causing workforce challenges. It’s causing challenges for young people who want to stay in our state and older people who want to age in place. It’s affecting everyone in different ways.”
– Idaho Sen. Ali Rabe, D-Boise, on Senate Concurrent Resolution 103, which will establish a bipartisan housing working group in Idaho
Social media post of the week
Photo of the week
How to follow the Idaho Legislature and Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s work during the session Here are a few tools we use to track the Legislature’s business and how to let your voice be heard in the issues that matter most to you. How to find your legislators: To determine which legislative district you live in, and to find contact information for your legislators within that district, go to the Legislative Services Office’s website and put in your home address and ZIP code. Once you’ve entered that information, the three legislators – two House members and one senator – who represent your district will appear, and you can click on their headshots to find their email address and phone number. How to find committee agendas: Go to the Idaho Legislature’s website, legislature.idaho.gov, and click on the “all available Senate committee agendas” link and the “all available House committee agendas” link on the right side of the website. How to watch the legislative action in committees and on the House and Senate floors: Idaho Public Television works in conjunction with the Legislative Services Office and the Idaho Department of Administration through a program called “Idaho in Session” to provide live streaming for all legislative committees and for the House and Senate floors. To watch the action, go to
https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/Legislature/ and select the stream you’d like to watch. How to testify remotely at public hearings before a committee: To sign up to testify remotely for a specific committee, navigate to that committee’s webpage, and click on the “testimony registration (remote and in person)” tab at the top. How to find state budget documents: Go to Legislative Services Office Budget and Policy Analysis Division’s website
https://legislature.idaho.gov/lso/bpa/budgetinformation/. How to track which bills have made it to Gov. Little’s desk and any action he took on them (including vetoes): Go to the governor’s website
https://gov.idaho.gov/legislative-sessions/2025-session/. You can scroll down to the bottom of the site and enter your email address to get alerts sent straight to your inbox when the page has been updated.
Reporting from Idaho Capital Sun journalists Clark Corbin, Mia Maldonado and Kyle Pfannenstiel and Idaho Reports journalist Ruth Brown contributed to this legislative notebook.
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