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Rates for Idaho Power Company customers will increase by about 3.77 percent June 1. Rates go up or down every June 1 as part of the company’s annual Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) and Fixed Cost Adjustment (FCA).

Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho, is cosponsoring a bipartisan measure reforming the federal civil asset forfeiture process. H.R. 5283 would boost transparency, accountability and oversight of seizures and forfeitures by law enforcement agencies.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has suspended for a third time a request by Eagle Water Company to implement a surcharge on customers’ water use. On Nov. 10, 2015, Eagle Water, which serves about 3,500 customers in and around the City of Eagle, asked the commission to approve a surcharge that would add about $3.64 to the average residential user’s monthly bill.

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today joined Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) to introduce the Timber Innovation Act – bipartisan legislation that would help accelerate research and development – and ultimately construction – of wood buildings in the United States. Specifically, this legislation would focus on finding innovative ways to use wood in the construction of buildings above 85 feet in height or roughly seven or more stories.

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson today announced that the Fiscal Year 2017 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill reverses proposed cuts to Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, and cleanup activities in Idaho. Simpson is Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, which passed the bill through the full House Appropriations Committee today, and had the lead role in deciding funding for all Department of Energy programs.

April 18 is the last day this year to submit applications to your county assessor for a reduction in your 2016 property taxes. Those who qualify for Idaho’s Property Tax Reduction (Circuit Breaker) Program can get property taxes on their primary Idaho residence and up to one acre of land reduced by as much as $1,320. The state pays a portion of the homeowner’s property taxes

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is approving two rate adjustments – on an increase and the other a decrease – for Rocky Mountain Power customers that become effective today. Rocky Mountain Power’s annual Energy Cost Adjustment Mechanism (ECAM) will be a slight decrease to customers of 0.7 percent, or about 58 cents less on an average residential monthly bill.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is approving a Rocky Mountain Power application to sell a section of its service territory to Idaho Falls Power, the city of Idaho Falls municipal utility.

PacifiCorp, which does business in eastern Idaho as Rocky Mountain Power, is asking state regulators to modify its net metering tariff to increase the “participation cap” in its Idaho territory from 714 kilowatts to 2,000 kW.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has granted a motion by commission staff to suspend for another 90 days an application by Eagle Water Company to implement a surcharge on customers’ water use

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is approving an application by Idaho Power Company to extend the utility’s energy sales agreement with J.R. Simplot Company’s Pocatello plant for three years.

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson’s H.R. 812, the Indian Trust Asset Reform Act, passed by voice vote in the House of Representatives. The bill would modernize the federal government’s role in managing Indian trust property by allowing tribes to manage their own assets through negotiated demonstration projects with the Department of Interior

Just under half of the more than 55,000 Idahoans eligible for a reduction in their property taxes actually apply for the Idaho Property Tax Reduction Program. The Idaho State Tax Commission wants to make more people aware of this property tax credit that’s available to low-income seniors and others who qualify, especially with expanded status qualifications that allow more potential claimants to apply this year.

Idaho Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch today joined 34 of their Senate colleagues in filing an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) in support of a challenge being brought by against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “Clean Power Plant” Rule

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson signed an amicus curiae, or “friend of the court” brief in support of 27 states that challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule on existing power plants. The Clean Power Plant rule was recently stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court and is awaiting further consideration by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia.