Kent Marmon

State Representative from Idaho's District 11...
I'm proud to join in the ranks of our Founders who were the Extremists of their day!

[Kent Marmon @KentMarmon]

Idaho territorial law prohibited abortion. The first territorial legislature passed an abortion ban in 1864. Idaho first criminalized abortion during its First Territorial Session in the winter of 1863–1864, roughly 25 years before becoming a state. The 1864 Idaho Territorial Code (Section 42) made ending a pregnancy a crime. It punished any person who used instruments or medicines to cause an abortion with 2 to 5 years in prison. The only exception was for a doctor who acted to save the mother's life.

While the Idaho Constitution itself was silent, an 1864 territorial criminal statute carried over into statehood, making abortion an illegal felony except to save the life of the mother.

Prior to Roe v. Wade in 1973, Idaho statute banned abortion except when necessary to save the pregnant woman's life. Unlike some states that expanded access in the late 1960s, Idaho’s pre-Roe statutes did not contain exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, or the broader health of the mother.

Current Idaho law (the Defense of Life Act) makes performing an abortion a felony punishable by two to five years in prison and the loss of a medical license. Exceptions are only granted for rape or incest that are reported to law enforcement, or to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.

Today's prohibition on abortion in Idaho is not something new that came along after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade. It is a longstanding standard for our State from prior to statehood, and should be preserved for all future generations of Idahoans.

Vote NO on Proposition 1.

[Kent Marmon @KentMarmon]

https://t.co/QL6v3d1FAA

[Kent Marmon @KentMarmon]

@bradleyforco I'm so sorry, Chip! We will keep you and your family in our prayers!

[Idaho Gang of Eight @IdahoGangOf8]

If you’ve been following the headlines, you’ve probably heard that Idaho “cut education” in 2026. That’s not what actually happened. Nearly 49% of Idaho’s General Fund goes to K-12 public schools, and the only K-12 reductions were due to declining enrollment, which affected the funding formula.

The criticism is really about IDLA.

After a rapid COVID-era expansion, IDLA was scaled back and refocused on its core services: graduation requirement courses, advanced classes, rural access, and credit recovery.

Rural schools were not harmed.

Find the full article in the comments.

[Stop Idaho RINOs @stopidahorinos]

Here are our District 11 endorsements:

Kent Marmon for House 11A: Solid conservative with a proven record.

Lucas Cayler for House 11B: Solid conservative with a proven record.

Chris Trakel for Senate 11: Battling against Tom Luna's RINO daughter, who has a proven record of RINOism. She scored a D on the freedom index this past session and an F for her spending. She also has a D+ on the Republican platform scorecard.

Make sure you send our questionnaire to your favorite candidate. We will not endorse anyone who hasn't filled it out this time around:

https://t.co/AyRRw0uyyC

[Idaho Freedom Foundation @idahofreedom]

If you’re an Idahoan taxpayer, have you wondered where your money goes — your income tax, sales tax and property tax dollars?

Look no further, IFF's own Fred Birnbaum breaks it down for you... including how to get rid of the property tax altogether
https://t.co/GLmsYMst8Q

[Idaho Gang of Eight @IdahoGangOf8]

Who’s Behind the Attack Ads?

Ads so deceptive even @Raul_Labrador publicly called them out.

Link in comments.

[Idaho Gang of Eight @IdahoGangOf8]

The “Rural Health Care Transformation Act” comes from a $50B rural health fund added at the last minute to a massive federal bill to secure a key Senate vote.

To get the money, states must agree to federal requirements, program structures, and ongoing compliance.

We’ve seen this before. In 2021, ARPA funds were called what they are—borrowed from our grandchildren.

This isn’t free money. It’s borrowed money, with interest, handed to our kids.

We won’t put our children in shackles to sustain it.

Rep. David Leavitt brings the 🔥

[Honor Idaho @HonorIdaho]

Thank you also to Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld for standing up for the people of Idaho and trying to bring HB 745, the union-busting bill, to the Senate floor for a debate and vote.

It's too bad more of Idaho's senators didn't stand with the people today. The motion failed 25-9.

[TS Roosevelt, MD, fka Gordon Pasha @TSRooseveltRE]

@Citizens_Idaho @SpoonForIdaho This is the rule when dealing with public sector employees unions.

[Maria Olsen Nate @MariaOlsenNate]

@Citizens_Idaho Awesome work by the @IdahoGangOf8 for calling this bill out of committee.

Here are the 9 who voted against the chair keeping bills in drawers.

Zito
Zuiderveld
Kohl
Nichols
Coho (Lenney)
Hart
Carlson
Keyser
Shippy

[Citizens Alliance of Idaho @Citizens_Idaho]

Senate Rule 14(e) was used today as Senator Zito called for H745 "No More Taxpayer Dollars for Teacher's Unions" to be brought from Senator Foreman's committee drawer to the floor for a vote.

Senator Foreman explanation to hold this crucial? "Promising negotiations and work with the teacher's union."

How do you think those negotiations will end up for Idaho taxpayers and families?

[Idaho Gang of Eight @IdahoGangOf8]

SB1326 protects a basic principle: your land is your land.

Government agents should not enter private property without a warrant, consent, or exigent circumstances.

Those protections should apply regardless of which party controls Washington.

That is how states maintain sovereignty.

The bill passed the Senate 30–5.

Sen. @kohl4idaho nails it in his 60 seconds explaining his vote.

[Idaho Gang of Eight @IdahoGangOf8]

Idaho shouldn’t be on this map.

The House passed mandatory E-Verify.

Now leadership has it stalled in Senate State Affairs.

Republican supermajority.
No hearing.
No vote.

Wake up, Idaho.
Move. This. Bill.

[Stop Idaho RINOs @stopidahorinos]

You just can't make this stuff up!

[Kent Marmon @KentMarmon]

The day has come for the Idaho Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee to do their "Budget Setting" for the FY2027 Maintenance Budgets.

"Maintenance" Budgets are the adjusted budgets that "keep the lights on" for the various departments of state government. They include adjustments for inflation, staffing costs, and inflation. They do not include "new" spending for new programs or capital items. If there are requests for additional spending above-and-beyond what is needed to "maintain" government services as they now exist, those budgets would be brought by JFAC to the Legislature as "Enhancement" Budgets. It is anticipated that there will be few-to-none of these "Enhancement" Budgets this year due to "belt tightening."

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee is made up of ten state Senators and ten state Representatives who share the duties of putting together a state budget using the Governor's suggested budget, department and agency requests and direction from the 105 Legislators (70 Representatives and 35 Senators) who represent the people of Idaho.

The day will start at 8 A.M. in Room C310 of the Idaho State Capitol on Friday, February 13th. The date might seem a little daunting for those who are superstitious! JFAC members will receive a General Fund Daily Update from Christopher Lehosit, Senior Analyst with the Legislative Services Office (LSO).

From 8:10 to 9:30 A.M., the "Program" Maintenance Budgets will be set for the Legislative branch, Public Safety, Natural Resources, Health and Human Services and Economic Development.

After a break, "Program" Maintenance Budget setting will continue with the Judicial Branch, Constitutional Officers, General Government, Office of the State Board of Education and Public Schools.

Both the House and Senate will go to Floor Session at 11:00 A.M.

After the Budgets are "set" by JFAC, they are introduced as bills in each house, half going to the House and half going to the Senate as Appropriation bills (5 bills to each body) that will be presented by the members of JFAC over the next several days.

If you can't attend in person but would like to see how this all works, you can go on-line to https://t.co/16QoKR3rrh and watch it live. It might not be "riveting," but it is sure to be educational and enlightening!

Senators serving on JFAC are Scott Grow, Co-Chair (Eagle), Jim Woodward (Sagle), Kevin Cook (Idaho Falls), Carl Bjerke (Coeur d' Alene), Phil Hart (Kellogg), Cindy Carlson (Riggins), Glenneda Zuiderveld (Twin Falls), Codi Galloway (Boise), Janie Ward-Engelking (Boise), and Melissa Wintrow (Boise).

State Representatives serving on JFAC are Josh Tanner, Co-Chair (Eagle), Steve Miller (Fairfield), Rod Furniss (Rigby), James Petzke (Meridian), Dustin Manwaring (Pocatello), Brandon Mitchell (Moscow), Elaine Price (Coeur d' Alene), Chris Bruce (Kuna), Kyle Harris (Lewiston) and Brooke Green (Boise).

[Kent Marmon @KentMarmon]

The Idaho House voted on a Concurrent Resolution (HCR25) that calls on Congress to call a Convention of States to draft and pass a "Balanced Budget Amendment" to the Constitution of the United States. After over an hour of debate on the floor, the measure passed by a vote of 36-34.
All five House members of the Idaho Gang of Eight, of which I am a member, voted "no," joined by most of the House members of the Idaho Freedom Caucus.
Hundreds of grassroots delegates to the Idaho Republican Party Winter Meeting wrote and passed a Resolution against approving a Convention of States to amend the U.S. Constitution and party chair, Dorothy Moon has spoken all over the state sharing the party position on the issue.
Despite that fact, the entire House Leadership, all members of the majority (Republican) party voted in favor of the measure.
Some of those opposing the measure said that they were fearful that an open Convention of States could lead to a "runaway convention" and the danger of having the Constitution re-written. Others said that they didn't believe that even if a Balanced Budget Amendment was approved by the Convention that Congress would follow it any more than they follow the Constitution as it is written.
I understand that if a Convention is held, delegates can approve amendments, but those amendments must then be approved by 2/3 of the states with 2/3 of the people of each state voting for approval. That's a pretty high bar.
My position is set more in reality... the reality that our federal government is now nearly $39 Trillion in debt, that the creation of, and flooding the market with more fiat money to allow for that debt is the cause of the inflation that is strangling our people, and that about half of all personal / individual federal income taxes collected (about $1.1 Trillion of the annual total collected) is going to pay the annual interest payment on the debt, and that amount is growing from year-to-year.
I also understand that the national debt is 124% of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and that the interest payment is nearly 4% of GDP. Economic analysts predict that we will be between 133 and 135% of GDP with the national debt in less than ten years. That level of debt is one of the factors that has left Venezuela, one of the most economically sound nations in the world just a little over a decade ago, in ruins today.
Many of the Representatives who voted in favor of the Resolution today are also those who have consistently voted for increased state spending and the acceptance of billions of federal dollars just to balance our state budget. In fact, over the last five years, federal dollars have made up from 37 to 45% of the "revenue-side" of the budget equation. During that period, over $24 Billion has flowed into our state from the federal government, not counting all the money that came our way during the "COVID" years.
Idaho currently receives over $1.60 from the federal government for every $1.00 Idahoans pay in federal income taxes, making us a "taker" / welfare state.
As a state, we haven't been able to reel in the spending, either. When cuts are suggested to just about any budget, people start screaming. Many want it all, and they want someone else to pay for it.
The reality is that if a balanced budget amendment is passed, Congress will be forced to cut all non-essential spending and drastically increase taxes on everyone to cover the spending they will still have to do. The nearly 40% of Americans who pay no federal income taxes will need to be taxed.
They will still have to service the nearly $39 Trillion national debt -- it isn't just going to go away. Interest payments of over $1 Trillion a year will still have to be paid.
If Congress returns to only those things enumerated in the Constitution as the proper role of the federal government, most, if not all the ABC agencies that began during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt and that were subsequently created by administrations in the decades since will need to go away.
All the programs of welfare and aid from birth to death will need to come to an end. Healthcare will need to be completely restructured taking government completely out of the picture. Aid to the poor will need to return to churches and volunteer community organizations run through donations and American altruism.
With the loss of federal funds to the state of Idaho, our budget will only be about 60% of what it is now. Anything that isn't required by our state Constitution or that isn't the proper role of government will need to be slashed. If you think a 4% holdback is bad, pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and you'll quickly see that that 4 or 5% reduction in spending at the state level is nothing more than a cakewalk.
So, yes, I voted "No." It isn't because I'm not outraged with the out-of-control spending by all levels of government or the fact that our federal government is nearly $39 Trillion in debt. It's because I understand that what we really need to do is to work through this mess carefully and methodically.
A mandated federal balanced budget or not, we need to roll up our sleeves and get all government back to what our founding fathers created, abandon the "nanny state" and return to personal responsibility where people earn their way, get to keep what they earn, and make the decisions for themselves and their families.
HCR25 will now move to the Idaho State Senate. I hope and pray that they will exercise more common sense than the majority in the House did, and that they kill it once again.
Kent Marmon
Idaho State Representative
District 11-A (Caldwell)

[Idaho Freedom Foundation @idahofreedom]

Capitol Clarity is going back to its noon lunch hour time! Join us this Thursday, Feb 5, to hear Max Nelsen from @FreedomFdtn discuss Ending Taxpayer Support for Teachers' Unions.

[Kent Marmon @KentMarmon]

Here's some "Budget 101" information to help you understand Idaho's budget and the budgeting process...

https://t.co/eF2kBBJgo6

[Kent Marmon @KentMarmon]

It does my heart good to hear others saying what the Idaho Gang of Eight (and I) repeated over-and-over again during the session last year... "Medicaid growth is crowding out every other priority...", "the budget spends today and sends the bill to tomorrow's taxpayers...", and "Idaho families cannot spend more than they earn, and neither can (should) state government."

This time, these words came from someone other than the five State Representatives and three State Senators who make up Idaho's Gang of Eight. It came from Josh Tanner of Eagle who, until recently, was the Assistant Majority Leader in the House and is now the Co-Chair of the powerful Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) made up of members from both the House and the Senate.

Tanner says that the Governor's proposed budget "does not balance on an on-going basis and places Idaho's stability at serious risk."

The Gang of Eight said that more times than we can count during the last session as we urged our fellow Legislators to vote against extra spending for new government growth / expansion above that needed just to maintain current government programs. Had they listened to us then, we wouldn't be in the financial mess we're in now, because our plan would have saved Idaho's taxpayers between $1.2 and $1.4 Billion. We urged that Enhancement Budgets (beyond the current needs including inflation) not pass if they exceeded 1.2% of the Maintenance Budget; that Idaho accept no federal money to fund them (that come with all kinds of strings attached); and that the state add no more employees in those budgets.

Of the Governor's budget, he says that it is full of "one-time gimmicks, spends more than the state takes in, and leaves Idaho with the lowest ending fund balances in nearly a decade."

For your sake, I hope that a majority of Legislators join in and vote that way during this session that began on Monday.