Bob Neugebauer and Dylan Stocker take a hard look at Idaho’s 2025 legislative session on The Idaho Pulse, examining how the governor’s post-adjournment veto power undermines bills that passed with strong legislative support. They break down the procedural mechanics — from the constitutional 10-day veto window to Senate committee structures — that give a small […]
Can you believe the 2026 legislative session is already over? It feels like it just got started. Time flies, but a lot happened in those three months. By my count, lawmakers considered more than 800 bills, resolutions, and memorials dealing with a wide range of issues, including water, property rights, education, protecting children, occupational licensing, […]
Bob Neugebauer and Ron Nate, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, deliver a final-week breakdown of the 2026 legislative session as it scrambles to adjourn. Nate reports that the $800 million in spending cuts the legislature set out to achieve have been fully consumed — and then some — by agency enhancement requests, pushing the […]
Bob Neugebauer and Ron Nate, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, deliver a comprehensive end-of-session breakdown of what’s happening — and not happening — at the Idaho Capitol. Nate opens with a sobering budget update: after the legislature attempted $813 million in spending cuts to bring the 2026 budget into balance, agency enhancement requests have […]
Our legislative process is meant to play out in plain view—in public committee hearings, open floor sessions, and recorded votes. But one of the most consequential parts often happens quietly, behind closed doors: when committee chairmen choose not to schedule bills for a hearing, effectively killing them without fanfare, public input, or a vote. “Drawering” […]
Bob Neugebauer welcomes Ron Nate, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, to the Idaho Pulse for a St. Patrick’s Day legislative update covering Idaho’s deepening budget crisis, stalled reform bills, and the fight over Medicaid expansion. Nate reports that while the governor signed the rescission bill enacting 4% cuts for 2026 and 5% for 2027, […]
Imagine there was an organization that donated almost exclusively to left-wing candidates, promoted radical racial and gender ideologies, and constantly attacked America’s Christian heritage. Now imagine that your tax dollars subsidized this organization. Well, you don’t have to imagine, because it’s sadly true. Idaho tax dollars are currently being used to support the teachers’ union—and […]
Over the past few days, I’ve found myself bewildered—though not surprised—by the hypocrisy, naïveté, and lack of self-awareness exhibited by many of our legislators and those inside the Governor’s Office. As the state’s budget shortfall dominates attention and agency funding requests come under scrutiny, the same old games are being played while the public remains […]
For years I have been writing about why the Grocery Tax must be repealed because it hurts those Idahoans who are on the lowest rungs of the economic scale. Our staff has taken the time and effort to do the research on how this regressive tax came about and have turned it into a book […]
Bob Neugebauer welcomes Ron Nate, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, for a wide-ranging breakdown of the 2026 Idaho legislative session. Nate reveals that 884 bills have been prepared—the highest in five years—yet only nine have passed both the House and Senate, raising sharp questions about what lawmakers are actually accomplishing during a primary election […]
Bob Neugebauer welcomes Ron Nate, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, to the Idaho Pulse for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of Idaho’s legislative session. Nate opens with a detailed breakdown of the state’s budget crisis, explaining how six years of spending growth—fueled significantly by federal COVID-era funding—has now pushed Idaho into a budget […]
Bob Neugebauer welcomes Ron Nate, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, back to the Idaho Pulse for a weekly legislative update that paints a troubling picture of Idaho’s current session. Nate details a growing list of serious bills being killed by committee chairs: CPS reform legislation that would inform parents of their rights, cloud seeding […]