BOISE, Idaho — State lawmakers are only a couple of days away from the start of the 2020 legislative session.
Gov. Brad Little and legislative leadership answered questions Friday morning ahead of the State of the State address on Monday to talk about what will be coming in the next few months. They spoke to the press as part of this year's AP legislative preview, hosted by the Associated Press. The Q&A session was streamed live on KTVB.COM. You can watch the full video below.
One of the first issues discussed was education.
The governor hasn't shied away from letting Idahoans know this is one of his top priorities.
His task force made a few recommendations on how to continue improving education.
Those are increasing teacher pay, helping with emotional challenges, offering an optional state-funded all-day kindergarten, improving funding for K-12 and improving literacy.
The governor told us to stay tuned to his State of the State for more specific policy ideas when it comes to education.
RELATED: From property taxes to education: Idaho House speaker identifies top legislative priorities for 2020
Another big issue affecting the state are property taxes. When it comes to solutions, lawmakers and the governor said it’s not going to be easy.
A couple of ideas floating around are increasing the homeowner’s exemption for property taxes or fixing the circuit breaker for senior citizens, so they're not priced out of their homes.
Another big issue is voter initiatives. This became a very divided and controversial issue last session.
The bill that passed the Legislature was Gov. Little’s first veto.
He doesn't want to restrict Idahoans' constitutional rights, but he also doesn't want Idaho's ballots looking like California's with a laundry list of initiatives for the voters to decide.
So there is going to be a lot on the table this year for lawmakers and the governor.
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