In brief: NIC board allows alcohol on campus

Officials at North Idaho College will allow alcohol on campus for community functions and other special occasions.

The board of trustees at NIC voted 3-2 Wednesday night to allow the change in rules, which will permit alcohol to be served at functions where food is also being served.

Under the rules, organizations would have to ask for permission to serve alcohol two weeks in advance, and approval would have to be given from the college president.

The rules will affect nonprofit, civic and charitable organizations that are holding events on campus.

– Christopher Rodkey

Boise

House OKs bill raising boat fee

The base fee to register a boat in Idaho would rise from $13 to $20 a year, under legislation that passed the Idaho House on a 62-8 vote Wednesday.

Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, lead sponsor of House Bill 200, said the fee hasn’t risen since 1994.

“It’s a user fee – I think it’s important we keep that in mind,” Anderson told the House.

“What has happened, unfortunately, is that the burden no longer has been placed on the user – it’s been placed on the property taxpayer.”

The fee is split between the state Parks Department and the counties where boats are registered.

Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, was a co-sponsor, and all North Idaho representatives voted in favor of it.

The bill now moves to the Senate.

The base fee applies to vessels 12 feet long or shorter.

As before, owners would pay $2 extra for each additional foot in boat length.

– Betsy Z. Russell

Taxes could pay for Cabela’s interchange

Legislation to allow Cabela’s to pay for a new interchange west of Post Falls then be paid back from the sales taxes it collects at its new store there was introduced in a House committee Wednesday on a unanimous vote.

“I think it’s an ingenious plan, myself,” said Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, House Transportation Committee chairwoman.

Wood also serves on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, which voted to introduce legislation authorizing “State Tax Anticipation Revenue” financing, or STAR financing.

House Bill 250 would permit the financing scheme anywhere in the state where a large, $4 million-plus retail complex is going in that could benefit from major highway improvements that it wants to finance upfront.

“This legislation is key,” said Roger Sieber, lobbyist for Foursquare Properties Inc., the development firm handling the Post Falls project for Cabela’s, a major sporting goods retailer.

– Betsy Russell