The Blog at MSPC

House Bill 516 does not ban unions. It does not prevent teachers from joining them. It does not end collective bargaining. Even critics admit as much. What it does is far simpler — it stops government from acting as the middleman for union operations.

Over the past decade, Idaho lawmakers steadily reduced the state’s top income tax rate—from 7.4% in 2014 to a flat 5.3% today. Critics warned of budget shortfalls, underfunded services, and fiscal instability. Instead, Idaho is collecting more revenue than ever.

Idaho’s Parental Choice Tax Credit launched with strong momentum, supported by careful and deliberate planning by the legislature. From the outset, policymakers were intentional about designing a program that would be both accessible to families and administratively workable.

Local governments across the country are engaging in a slow-motion seizure of private property rights—but in Idaho, lawmakers just put a stop to it.

This week brought welcome news for many Idaho parents who applied for the inaugural Parental Choice Tax Credit program, which began accepting applications on January 15. The Tax Commission has started notifying applicants by email and Taxpayer Access Point (TAP) portal messaging regarding credit awards.

Lawmakers across our region were very busy during the 2026 Legislative Sessions. More than 2,300 combined bills were introduced in Washington (1,157), Idaho (817), and Wyoming (335). There wasn’t a legislative session this year in Montana. Several of Mountain States Policy Center’s (MSPC) recommendations were among those to make it across the finish line.

This year, Idaho lawmakers introduced more than 800 pieces of legislation—again. That’s not a one-off spike. It’s part of a clear trend: more bills, more activity, and more output from a citizen legislature that was never designed to operate at this scale.

Despite a massive hydroelectric advantage, Washington will continue to become more expensive due to its energy tax and regulatory policies, while Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are likely to see the cost curve bend with their support for bringing more nuclear power online.

Let’s start with the basic reality: Idaho is increasing public education spending even as student enrollment levels off or declines.

The two-stairway requirement acts as a binding constraint on supply, especially for small and mid-size apartment buildings. It doesn’t just make construction more expensive—it makes many projects impossible to build at all. Entire categories of housing that would otherwise be viable simply never get proposed.

Across Idaho, citizens and journalists have faced inconsistent rules about whether they could film or record public meetings. In some cases, they were told to stop. In others, policies varied from one city or school district to the next. The result wasn’t transparency—it was confusion.

The growth of Idaho and Montana’s largest counties is not happening in isolation. It is part of a broader rebalancing across the West—one driven by policy, affordability, and opportunity.

Idaho homebuyers have few attainable choices in the existing marketplace. These proposed policies deregulate the housing restrictions that are barring new entrants, creating more attainable choices in the marketplace.  

Let’s avoid the awkward situation of explaining to Idaho families why a program designed to help them ended up putting them on hold.

The Elevation Award is MSPC’s highest honor, awarded to individuals whose work has elevated public policy, strengthened communities, and inspired principled leadership across the region and nation.

The data suggests that the consequences are measurable—in dollars, in jobs, and in opportunity.

As Idaho’s application window for the Parental Choice Tax Credit has come to a close, the final numbers tell a powerful story. We now know the final numbers submitted to the state tax commission by the the March 15 deadline: 6,069 families applied, covering 13,568 students across the state.

The dinner is part of an MSPC flagship fundraising series which also includes the organization’s Fall Dinner and Montana Liberty Dinner. Collectively, these events are among the largest free-market policy gatherings in the nation, regularly drawing more than 1,400 citizens, business leaders, and policymakers each year.

By working together, educators and industry leaders can ensure that students gain the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in the future AI economy. Through thoughtful collaboration and forward-thinking policies, Idaho is working to prepare students not only to navigate the AI age but to lead it.

Policymakers must now decide whether the overwhelming demand is worth additional investment. No bills this session have offered to expand the program, but there have been plenty of pieces of legislation by opponents wishing to cut it.