School grants, student pronouns and library books among the big bills of Idaho legislative session

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho lawmakers spent much of an unexpectedly long and sometimes contentious legislative session focusing on bills targeting LGBTQ+ residents by limiting health care and reading materials and installing protections for teachers who don’t use the pronouns transgender students use.

They also passed a bill that allows the state to spend $2 billion to address dilapidated public school buildings and other school facility needs across the state. And lawmakers approved Gov. Brad Little’s Idaho LAUNCH program, which provides grants for state high school graduates to help cover the cost of training for an in-demand career at an Idaho college, technical program or workforce training provider. Another bill that would have used public taxpayer funds to subsidize private education tuition was narrowly defeated.

Legislative leaders originally aimed to wrap the session up in March, but a dispute over the Idaho Transportation Department budget made the work stretch into April. The 2024 session came to a close Wednesday afternoon.

Here’s a look at some of the bills that made it to the governor’s desk this session:

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