Idaho Legislature fails to adjourn due to budget bill deadlock

The Idaho House killed a must-have budget bill Friday night, extending this year’s legislative session.

The House voted 36 to 29 to kill the Library Commission’s $7.7 million budget.

It is the latest budget bill to require the approval of the Legislative Assembly, but it has been criticized by right-wing lawmakers who have said libraries contain pornographic material.

The budget was defeated once before this session, with all 12 Democrats and some Republicans voting to support it. It was later revised with the latest budget bill cutting nearly $4 million from the commission’s budget. That failed to appease enough Republican opponents and caused Democrats opposed to the cuts to withdraw their support.

The cuts involved $3.5 million in federal virus relief funds as well as $307,000 in state funding for e-books.

“I found this budget so punitive and excessive against libraries that there was no way I could be a part of it,” said Democratic Minority Leader Ilana Rubel.

The 12 Democrats are often enough to pass budget bills when a majority of the 58 Republicans opposes them.

“It wasn’t something we were ready to do on this one,” Rubel said.

After the vote, Republican House Speaker Scott Bedke paused House business so majority Republicans could decide their next move, with Bedke saying he preferred to meet on Saturday. But the Legislative Budget Committee began meeting just before 8:30 p.m. to begin crafting a new budget for the Library Board to resubmit to the full House.

It costs at least $20,000 a day to keep lawmakers in session.