READ: Time to Take Out the Regulatory Trash
 Idaho is proud of our title as the LEAST REGULATED STATE in America!
What Idaho is doing is working!
"If the United States government excels at anything, it is at adding regulatory strings. The pace at which federal regulations are being adopted has consistently increased every decade.
On top of federal regulations, states add additional regulations that tie up businesses, consumers, and the economy each year as well. Just how many cords are we talking about? Well, the average state has some 135,000 regulatory restrictions on the books.
All in all, the pace of regulation in the last 50 years is unprecedented in history. Regulators are motivated to write new regulations, and unmotivated to eliminate old ones; lawmakers and courts are too deferential to bureaucrats; the largest industrial giants (not to mention hospitals and universities) tacitly support costly regulations because they are even more costly to startup competitors. And those same companies can pass the regulatory burden onto consumers — shown in the famous AEI “Chart of the Century” of sector-based inflation. The more regulation, the more inflation.
So, what can be done?
At the state level, Idaho and Virginia offer examples of deregulatory governors. Brad Little now celebrates Idaho’s status as America’s “least regulated state.” The results are clear: since Little took office in 2019, Idaho has led the nation with a business growth rate of 5%.
But deregulators are the exception, not the rule, and the quantity and magnitude of both federal and state regulations has substantially increased in the last fifty years.
Over the next several years, bold action will be a major test for what can be accomplished nationally, and states are key: legislators can write laws today to sunset regulations without regulatory review and require use of technology to make it transparent and accountable!"
Idaho pushes for settlement with feds on grizzly delisting
The State of Idaho is seeking court approval of a proposed settlement that requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue a final rule by Jan. 1, 2026, to revise or remove the current listing of “lower 48” grizzly bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Idaho and neighboring states have worked for more than 40 years in a broad-based effort to support and sustain healthy and reasonable grizzly populations in our states, but legal and bureaucratic gridlock has kept robust populations of grizzly bears unnecessarily under ESA protection. The settlement provides a path to escape regulations that are not necessary in Idaho.
“This settlement provides both a deadline and legal pathway for Idaho to escape burdensome ESA regulations that are simply unnecessary for grizzly bear population success in our state,” said Attorney General Labrador. “Idaho has shown that it’s quite capable of managing natural resources and wildlife populations without overreaching federal involvement.”
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BUILDING IDAHO'S FUTURE: New UI research lab opens in Parma
On Tuesday, I joined representatives of the University of Idaho and our agricultural leaders in celebrating the grand opening of the new Idaho Center for Plant & Soil Health Research Laboratory.
I'm proud that the funding for this project was part of my Building Idaho's Future plan.
This world-class diagnostic/research laboratory matches this region's world-class production for specialty crops.
Without innovation, agriculture cannot survive. And the U OF I provides the research and development that drives that innovation! Go Vandals!
"In addition to nematology, the 9,600-square-foot Center for Plant and Soil Health includes pomology, plant pathology, microbiology and hops quality laboratory space as well as space for shared uses, according to UI.
The building will benefit agriculture far beyond Canyon County, a seed-production hub that is home to 118 different crops, Michael Parrella, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences dean, said at the grand opening.
The center, a “cutting-edge research laboratory that will pay dividends for generations to come,” he said, will enable UI to attract and retain top faculty and to conduct research of far-reaching importance.
Gov. Brad Little commended community and business leaders, the legislature and UI for their commitment to the Parma center over the years. The new facility represents adaptation to inevitable change while providing farm families and ag businesses “the tools they need to be survivors, and actually thrive,” he said."
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Celebrating 85 years of the Idaho State Police
 For 85 years, the Idaho State Police has protected and strengthened our communities. This week, we celebrated the anniversary of this noble agency and its contributions to Idahoans across the state.
THANK YOU to our troopers – past and present – for your dedication to the Great State of Idaho!
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