Idaho
Lawsuit goes after Idaho Falls' impact fees – East Idaho News
IDAHO FALLS – A lawsuit filed against the city of Idaho Falls alleges the ordinance implementing impact fees for contractors is unlawful, excessive and detrimental to local businesses.
The Eastern Idaho Home Builders Association, which consists of about 100 business owners and home builders throughout eastern Idaho, filed the suit in October. A spokesperson for the group, who didn’t want to be named over concerns of backlash during a pending lawsuit, tells EastIdahoNews.com the way the ordinance is worded and carried out is illegal and they’re seeking changes to the law.
The purpose of impact fees is to manage growth effectively. In 2022, the city had seen a steady increase in the population and adopted the fees to help fund infrastructure improvement projects.
RELATED | Impact fees could become a way to fund growth and development projects in Idaho Falls
Developers are responsible for paying those fees when a building project gets underway, as outlined in Idaho law.
The home builders association says impact fees are being collected during the permit process, which is illegal.
“If you develop and sell lots to anyone who wants to build — whether it’s homeowners or builders — the buyer is paying those fees when they go in to get a permit,” a spokesperson for the group says.
Before adopting impact fees, the city launched an impact study to provide a long-term growth outlook and how impact fees could be applied.
EIHBA members say the city’s 75-page document supporting the fees are flawed, and the fees themselves are not directly tied to the impact of new developments.
Different groups are responsible for paying their fair share to infrastructure costs, which are outlined in a document on the city’s website.
The EIHBA alleges the ordinance imposes disproportionate fees on developers. The spokesperson cites one instance in particular when a group of developers investing in a project were required to pay $1 million in impact fees on top of other expenses. In this case, developers were “caught in the middle.”
That was one of several instances that led the association to take legal action.
“These impact fees are not just a burden on developers; they have a ripple effect throughout our community,” the EIHBA Legal Action Committee says in a news release. “Higher development costs lead to increased rent prices for businesses, which then have to raise prices on goods and services. This affects everyone — from the cost of groceries and dining out to housing affordability.”
The goal of the lawsuit, according to the spokesperson for the group, is not to do away with impact fees entirely. They’re hoping to address the errors with city officials and to work with them “to find a legally sound, equitable approach to managing growth.”
EastIdahoNews.com reached out to the city for a response, and city spokesman Eric Grossarth sent us a written statement on the city’s behalf.
“With the City of Idaho Falls facing explosive growth, there were, and continue to be, significant challenges maintaining the public’s expected level of service for public safety, roads and parks for our residents. In 2022, impact fees were adopted as one of the only tools established by the Idaho Legislature to allow growth to pay for growth, rather than new growth being subsidized by existing taxpayers.”
“The City has great confidence in the judicial system. We intend to respond to the lawsuit from the Eastern Idaho Homebuilders Association through the proper legal channels and trust that the courts can provide a fair outcome for everyone.”
An EIHBA spokesperson says the city has responded to the lawsuit. The case is now headed to mediation, where both parties will try to settle the matter out of court. If mediation is unsuccessful, the case will go to trial.
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Idaho
Gov. Little signs bill ending license plate registration stickers in Idaho
Gov. Brad Little has signed House Bill 533, which would remove the need for license plate stickers on Idaho vehicles.
The legislation, introduced earlier this session by Rep. Jon Weber (R) of Boise, eliminates the requirement for registration stickers on Idaho license plates. Weber stated during the bills intorduction that officers can verify the status of license plates without the stickers, potentially saving the state around $300,000.
During the bill’s introduction, some lawmakers argued that it could increase the workload for law enforcement.
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The new law is set to take effect in July.
Idaho
Idaho resolution opposing same-sex marriage advances
For the second year in a row, House lawmakers will consider urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nonbinding resolution, which carries no legal weight, says the decision in Obergefel v. Hodges violates the longstanding religious definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
“The current definition of marriage that allows for same-sex marriages is a defilement of the word marriage,” said Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Post Falls), who sponsors the measure.
The resolution further states that the Obergefel decision “arbitrarily and unjustly” rejects the historical definition of marriage.
Idaho voters passed a constitution amendment in 2006 that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, which was invalidated by the Obergefel ruling.
Wisniewski said regulating marriages should be a power left to the states.
Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) agrees.
“If you want to get things … closer to the people with respect to some of these more complex social issues, I think the best place for those things to happen is in the states,” Crane said.
Doing so is a risk, he said.
“You may have states that choose to acknowledge [polyamorous relationships]. You may have states that choose to have relationships between adults and younger children,” Crane said.
Cities in neighboring Oregon and Washington, for example, are considering giving those in polyamorous relationships legal recognition.
But he said that risk is worth it to allow other states that choose to only recognize traditional marriages.
Four lawmakers on the House State Affairs Committee opposed the resolution.
Rep. Erin Bingham (R-Idaho Falls) said she’s tried to balance her own religious beliefs with those of others while considering the measure.
“I do feel like that it is important for us to work together, to find ways to compromise and to live together in peace and mutual respect,” Bingham said.
The resolution now goes to the House floor for consideration.
House lawmakers last year passed a similar measure, but it never received a hearing in a Senate committee.
Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders
A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.
A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”
“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.
“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”
Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.
The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.
Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”
The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.
Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.
During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.
However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.
She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.
It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
With Post wires
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