Idaho

Amid concerns bill would defund the Idaho National Guard, House committee shelves legislation • Idaho Capital Sun

Published

2 years ago

March 18, 2024

Amid concerns bill would defund the Idaho National Guard, House committee shelves legislation • Idaho Capital Sun

After military officials said proposed Idaho legislation could result in defunding the Idaho National Guard, Idaho lawmakers stopped the “Defend the Guard Act” from advancing in the Idaho Legislature.

Lawmakers on the House Transportation and Defense Committee held Senate Bill 1252 in committee on a 12-4 vote on Monday. The move likely halts the bill from advancing this legislative session.

The proposed legislation would have required Congress declare war, or an invasion or insurrection, to deploy Idaho National Guard troops for active duty combat. The Senate passed the bill two weeks ago on a 27-8 vote.

Idaho’s bill is model legislation by a group called Bring Our Troops Home. No Defend the Guard bills have become law. The Arizona Senate in March 2023 was the first legislative body to pass the bill, the group’s website says.

Supporters see the bill as a way to rein in what some call unconstitutional federal war powers, since Congress hasn’t formally declared war since World War II. But critics worry the legislation could limit the Idaho National Guard, which officials say is mostly federally funded.

“If this bill were to pass, it would restrict the ability of the Department of Defense from being able to utilize its combat reserve. If the Idaho National Guard is not able to be accessed, why would they continue to fund us?” Command Chief Master Sergeant Lehi Hartwell, who has served in the Idaho Air National Guard for 23 years, told lawmakers Monday. “This bill is purported to defend the guard, but it will truly defund the guard.”

Hartwell told lawmakers he was speaking as a private citizen, and not in an official capacity.

The motion to hold the bill in committee came from Rep. Ron Crane, who was substituting for his son, Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa. After approving Ron Crane’s motion, the committee didn’t take up a motion by Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, to send the bill to the House floor, but without a recommendation on whether it pass.

“The primacy of the Constitution is important to me, and to many of us. I understand the fears of what might happen, because I think there’s a reality there as well. But we do need to make a decision on this, I believe,” Dixon said.

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Equipment, funds and pay for 5,000 Idaho National Guard personnel “are endangered by this proposal,” Maj. Gen. Michael Garshak, the adjutant general of Idaho and the commander of the Idaho National Guard, wrote in a March 6 letter to a state lawmaker, previously obtained by the Idaho Capital Sun. The Idaho National Guard’s primary focus, Garshak wrote, is to train for “its federal mission of fighting and winning the nation’s wars.”

“If Idaho were to limit by state law when and if the appropriate federal authority could call on the Guard for federal combat or (Defense Support of Civil Authorities) missions, we believe Idaho would lose federal missions, equipment, and funding. The impact on funding could be as much as hundreds of millions annually,” Garshak wrote, echoing concerns he’s had over years of similar bills proposed in Idaho.

Eight people, including several officials in the Idaho National Guard, testified against the bill in committee on Monday. Many echoed concerns that Garshak has shared. They worried that the bill could risk funds and resources for the Idaho National Guard.

Five people spoke in favor of the bill. Some highlighted the toll of war.

“Patriotism is ensuring that, per the Constitution, American blood is only spilled when absolutely necessary to ensure our national survival,” said Ryan Spoon, who said he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy West Point and served five years as an officer in the U.S. Army. Spoon said 17 of his classmates have since died, including two from suicide.

Idaho Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, works from the Senate floor at the State Capitol building on Jan. 9, 2023. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun)

Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, defended the bill in committee, saying it only limits overseas combat deployment, not overseas training. Adams has previously said he doubted Congress would defund the Idaho National Guard if the bill passed.

Adams told the Idaho Capital Sun after the committee that it’s his understanding that the bill won’t move forward this legislative session. He said work will continue on the issue.

“I heard a lot of misstatements, even from folks from the National Guard, representing the National Guard on the statute. They don’t understand this. It’ll take a bit more time for people to understand. … And so in the House, I think we’ll continue to have that discussion,” Adams told the Sun.

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Idaho

Idaho Lottery results: See winning numbers for Pick 3, Pick 4 on April 19, 2026

Published

10 minutes ago

April 20, 2026

Press Room

The results are in for the Idaho Lottery’s draw games on Sunday, April 19, 2026.

Here’s a look at winning numbers for each game on April 19.

Winning Pick 3 numbers from April 19 drawing

Day: 9-5-1

Night: 8-0-6

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from April 19 drawing

Day: 2-7-0-3

Night: 4-3-3-3

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Idaho Cash numbers from April 19 drawing

15-28-31-38-45

Check Idaho Cash payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from April 19 drawing

32-42-52-53-55, Bonus: 05

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

When are the Idaho Lottery drawings held ?

Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
Pick 3: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
Pick 4: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
Lucky For Life: 8:35 p.m. MT Monday and Thursday.
Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
5 Star Draw: 8 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
Idaho Cash: 8 p.m. MT daily.
Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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Idaho

‘Unrelenting’: Statehouse reporters recap 2026 legislative session in Idaho Falls – East Idaho News

Published

12 hours ago

April 19, 2026

Press Room

‘Unrelenting’: Statehouse reporters recap 2026 legislative session in Idaho Falls – East Idaho News

IDAHO FALLS — Two prominent Idaho Statehouse reporters say this past legislative session was “unrelenting,” chaotic, largely driven by budget cuts, and they see the Legislature getting more powerful.

Kevin Richert and Clark Corbin recapped this past legislative session at a forum on the ISU Idaho Falls Campus on Thursday.

Richert is a senior reporter at Idaho Education News, with more than 30 years of experience covering education policy and politics. Corbin is a senior reporter at the Idaho Capital Sun who has covered every Idaho legislative session, gavel to gavel, since 2011.

The event was hosted by the City Club of Idaho Falls, which “exists to sponsor and promote civil dialogue and discourse on all matters of public interest” and strives to be “nonpartisan and nonsectarian,” according to its website.

Budget cuts

Both Richert and Corbin said this session was driven by budget cuts. Corbin said this was due to a lack of revenue stemming from past income tax and the adoption of new federal tax cuts.

“Cuts for almost every state agency and state department dominated the legislative session,” Corbin said. “We’re talking about 4% budget cuts for most state agencies and departments in the current fiscal year, and we’re talking about an additional 5% budget cuts for almost all state agencies and departments starting next year — fiscal year ’27 — and continuing permanently.”

RELATED | Gov. Little signs so-called ‘crappy bill’ to cut state budget

Richert said he thought higher education was taking the brunt of budget cuts. “It’s not a question of whether tuition fees are going to go up at the universities; it’s a question of how much,” he said.

When asked what the future would hold, Corbin said the budget cuts aren’t likely to go away, and their effects will be felt over time.

“There could always be a change of leadership in the House, but they do expect the budget crunch to continue in the next year’s legislative session,” Corbin said.

‘Radiator capping’

Richert said he has one word to describe this year’s legislative session: “unrelenting.”

One thing that made it feel that way was that some bills were recycled over and over, he said. For example, Richert said the Legislature saw five different versions of a bill that proposed cuts to the Idaho Digital Learning Alliance.

“We had multiple bills that came from the dead,” he said.

The journalists said this is partly due to a tactic called “radiator capping.” The term means to replace the entire car — the bill’s text, in political terms — while only keeping the radiator cap: the bill number. By rewriting a bill on the House or Senate floor while maintaining its number, failed bills can effectively bypass the committee process.

“Those are the changes they tried to make on immigration bills, on union bills this year,” Corbin said. “It made it extremely difficult for the public to have any idea what was going on, to have any opportunity to participate in the legislative process and share their opinions.

A more powerful, more chaotic Legislature

Richert said Idaho’s annual legislative sessions are trending longer, commonly going into the early part of April, and producing a record number of bills.

“There are rumblings that this Legislature, as a body, is wanting to expand its reach over more and have even more power over the other branches of government to the point of — are we trending towards more of a full-time professional legislature?” Richert said. “We’re a long way from there.”

“The legislative branch of government, particularly the Idaho House of Representatives, is the most powerful I’ve seen it in 16 years of covering state government,” Corbin said.

He added that this year’s legislative session was unlike any he’s experienced.

“The overall temperature in the building was bad,” Corbin said. “It was divisive. It was chaotic. People were not hiding their feelings of disgust for each other. These traditional ideas of decorum and respect very much fell by the wayside.”

Richert said Gov. Brad Little vetoed very few bills that came across his desk, and the ones he did weren’t high-profile.

RELATED | Idaho Gov. Brad Little issues 5 vetoes. Here are the bills affected

“I think the governor behaved like he was very concerned about the supermajority-controlled Legislature, and I think that that Legislature, in turn, asserted itself and took control of the agenda this year,” Corbin said.

Are legislators representing Idaho?

Corbin said some bills this year also focused on the LGBTQ+ community, such as a bathroom restriction for transgender individuals, and a bill that banned the City of Boise from waving a Pride flag.

RELATED | Idaho governor signs bill to criminalize trans people using bathrooms that align with their identity

RELATED | Boise removes LGBTQ+ pride flag as Idaho governor signs bill to fine city for its display

When asked if these were what Idahoans wanted, Corbin said it doesn’t necessarily appear so to him, based on his review of Boise State University’s annual public policy survey.

“For years and years, I’ve heard concerns about affordability of housing, access to housing, managing the growth of the state of Idaho, having quality public schools available for our young people — that also generates a workforce pipeline for some of our businesses,” Corbin said. “I’ve heard about paying for wildfires. I’ve heard about having good roads, supporting access to public lands, public recreation, those are the concerns I hear from Idahoans.”

“But the Legislature spent a significant amount of time over the last two, three, four years placing additional restrictions on LGBTQ communities, placing restrictions on what teachers can and cannot teach in their classrooms, what school boards can and cannot do,” Corbin continued. “They talked about requiring a moment of silence every day to begin the public school day, where children could pray or read the Bible.”

RELATED | Gov. Brad Little signs public school ‘moment of silence’ bill into law

Corbin said it may be his own opinion, but perhaps it is easier to “make a bunch of noise about what’s going wrong and (distract) people with social issues” rather than focus on harder issues that Idaho faces.

“I think what you saw on the policy space is a reflection of the fact that you had legislators thinking about reelection, and legislators with time on their hands — and that’s not always a good combination,” Richert said.

Accountability

When asked how people can keep legislators accountable, Corbin said it can be done by following the state Legislature through trusted news sources, going to community events and voting.

“This is a great year to practice accountability, because all 105 state legislators and all statewide elected officials are up for election this year,” he said.