The Blog at MSPC

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.

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.

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.

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.

The impulse behind House Bill 542—the Stop Harms from Addictive Social Media Act (what lawmakers are calling the Shazam act) —comes from a legitimate concern: protecting kids online.

The agency has cost taxpayers more than $2.3 trillion. Yet despite this enormous investment, student performance has shown little meaningful improvement.

HB 583 establishes a clear statewide standard for short-term rentals (STRs), ensuring that local governments cannot impose arbitrary restrictions that effectively prohibit homeowners from renting their property.

If Idaho had the same population as Texas, the current participation rate would translate to roughly 184,000 students.

A new policy analysis released today by the Mountain States Policy Center raises questions about Idaho’s licensing requirements for journeyman electricians, finding that the state requires additional classroom hours that are not required in several other states with which Idaho maintains license reciprocity.

The proposal would raise Idaho’s income tax rate from 5.3% to 5.325% and repeal the Parental Choice Tax Credit — just months after families began applying for it.

Government belongs to the people. The people don’t need permission to watch it work.

At its core, H542 does not merely regulate social media. It mandates the creation of a vast, permanent tracking system that would monitor how long every user spends online, trigger escalating identity checks, and store increasingly sensitive personal data. That should give every Idahoan pause.

Since applications opened on January 15, a total of 6,030 families have applied, covering 10,105 students. That’s not a one-day surge. That’s nearly a month of steady participation.

In a comprehensive opinion, the Court denied the petition for a writ of prohibition, dismissed the case in full, rejected every major constitutional theory advanced by the petitioners, and awarded attorney fees to the State. The result is about as close to a clean sweep as constitutional litigation gets.

The study evaluates four potential models—county-based, regional, proportional statewide, and legislative-district-based approaches—and assesses their legal viability, administrative complexity, and potential impact on campaign incentives.

Since applications opened on January 15, 5,056 families have applied for the credit, covering 9,341 students. That’s nearly three weeks of data, which gives us something much more useful than opening-day excitement alone: an actual pace.