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Policy

Setting the record straight on Medicaid: A rebuttal to Rep. Britt Raybould

By Fred Birnbaum
May 3, 2023
It is interesting to see Rep. Britt Raybould attempt to rewrite history pertaining to her support for Idaho’s Medicaid budget. Although she didn’t mention the size of the budget — passed as House Bill (HB) 369 — it was $4.54 billion, which is literally one-third of the entire all-funds budget of $13.87 billion. In a […]
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The Legislature’s Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee Does Make Policy

By Fred Birnbaum
May 2, 2023
Which legislative committee effectuates a constitutionally required function but allows no direct public input? You guessed right if you answered with the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC). The Legislature is required, each session, to pass a balanced budget, and the committee assigned this responsibility allows no public testimony on the budget.  One of the […]
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West Ada levy would fund daycare center exclusively for school employees

By Wayne Hoffman, IFF’s former President
May 2, 2023
For those of you who think that the West Ada School District — the largest school district in the state — is concerned only with educating kids as part of its $500 million property tax increase, take a closer look: Rolled into the levy’s $100 million career technical education (CTE) center is a proposal to […]
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Public funds used for LGBT Pride events were cut, but government waste remains

By Niklas Kleinworth
May 1, 2023
Idaho lawmakers cut nearly $707,000 of funds that had been intended for smoking cessation ads but were used, in part, to sponsor LGBT Pride events. These public funds support the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Project Filter campaign, a social program meant to provide free smoking cessation supplies for those who want to quit. […]
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The legislature began to defund radical gender ideology, but the fight is not over

By Niklas Kleinworth
April 26, 2023
Lawmakers cut or redirected almost $720,000 in funds being used to sexualize youth throughout Idaho. This money consisted of federal grants that were used to support sex education endorsed by Planned Parenthood.  Eliminating this misuse of taxpayer funds is a victory for efforts to preserve childhood innocence and the stability of the nuclear family. Over […]
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Idaho State Board follows IFF Center for American Education’s recommendation to prohibit diversity statements in higher ed

By Anna Miller
April 26, 2023
The Idaho State Board of Education has followed our recommendation to ban coercive “diversity statements” in higher education.  The board passed a resolution “prohibiting either requesting or requiring written diversity statements from candidates applying for employment at Idaho’s public four-year universities.” Idaho Freedom Foundation’s Center for American Education has been exposing the use of diversity […]
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The Power of the Idaho Freedom Index

By Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
April 24, 2023
In just over 10 years of existence, the Idaho Freedom Index (IFI) has proven to be the Tesseract of Idaho politics. Score well, and your political profile is good; score low, and you have some explaining to do. Haters want to destroy it, but its power goes on. So, why is there so much love […]
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Library Sophistry

By Brent Regan
April 21, 2023
Children are born with an amazing capacity for learning. Through observation, exploration and mimicry infants are able to decode human behavior. By age two, most have begun to understand that certain noises relate to certain concepts and that by uttering those sounds in a specific sequence they can begin to control their environment. Mastering the […]
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Lawmakers waste $161 million in taxpayer funds on Medicaid ineligibles cut from the program

By Niklas Kleinworth
April 19, 2023
This post was updated on April 25, 2023 at 9:18 am to correct a calculation error. The legislature budgeted for the removal of 13,000 ineligibles from the rolls meaning that of the 27,582 already cut from the rolls, 14,582 were unaccounted for in the FY2024 budget. This cost taxpayers $161 million more than necessary, not […]
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Idaho’s bathroom law protects students, but harms from transgender policies remain

By Anna Miller
April 18, 2023
At least 26 school districts in Idaho have adopted transgender student policies. These policies all enforce some variation of the same corrupt gender ideology. Some allow boys in girls’ bathrooms and require teachers to use the pronouns and name corresponding to a student’s gender identity, regardless of their deeply held religious or personal beliefs. Other […]
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Possible ethics violation in text message from Coeur d'Alene principal

By Branden Durst
April 15, 2023
Following the failure of the Coeur d'Alene school levy election in March, a local school principal sent a text message to staff saying she knew exactly which employees, spouses, and adult children did not vote in the election and warned that they needed to vote in the upcoming May redo election.  The text message from […]
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St. Luke's plots end-run around new law protecting children from gender mutilation

By Idaho Freedom Foundation staff
April 14, 2023
While we celebrate the passage of a bill preventing children from being mutilated at the hands of pseudoscience leftists, it appears the battle is far from over.  We learned this afternoon that officials at the St. Luke's medical system are already trying to find ways around the newly-signed House Bill 71 which protects minors from […]
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