BOISE — A day that featured minimal bill action, plenty of caucus meetings and multiple procedural delays was upended Thursday afternoon by yet another COVID-19 announcement.

The end result was a split decision, with the Idaho Senate adjourning for the year, while the House decided to remain in session for at least another day.

House members will be back this morning at 9 a.m. to vote on a motion to adjourn “sine die” or “without a day,” meaning they would be done for the year.

Alternatively, they could remain in session into next week — a move that would force the Senate to reconvene. It would also give lawmakers the opportunity to cast override votes, should Gov. Brad Little reject any bills.

“The House has preserved its right under the Constitution to act on a veto,” said House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley. “I think many of our members will talk to their families over the evening and come in the morning and take up ... a motion to sine die. We have members who want to vote on that motion. We’ll see how it goes.”

In sharp contrast to the grueling pace of the last few days, neither chamber cast more than a handful of votes Thursday. The Senate finished voting before lunch; the House handled two bills in the afternoon, including a 50-12 vote on legislation doubling the amount of sales tax revenue going to the Idaho Transportation Department.

Perhaps fittingly for a session marked by bitter debates over transgender athletes, abortion and anti-Affirmative Action measures, the final legislative action of the 2020 session came when the House killed a “Too Great for Hate” specialty license plate on a 32-30 vote, without debate.

The bill would have raised money for the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in Boise. It was proposed by four-term Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb, D-Boise, who is retiring this year.

Other than Rep. Jennifer Seegmiller, who is filling in for Rep. Caroline Troy, R-Genesee, every representative in north central Idaho voted against the bill.

Some lawmakers habitually oppose any specialty license plates. All five north central Idaho representatives, however, joined a party-line vote earlier this session on legislation creating a “Choose Life Idaho” specialty plate, which will raise money for pregnancy resource centers.

“Clearly this (vote) wasn’t about license plates,” Buckner-Webb said Thursday. “It had to do with what the plate said — ‘Too Great to Hate.’ That’s unfortunate; I would have thought that would be a unifying message for all of us.”

She suggested the vote was consistent with other actions taken by the Republican caucus this year.

“I’m not going to throw labels around, but I will tell you there’s a problem,” Buckner-Webb said. “If you look at the legislation that’s been passed this entire session, over and over it has seemed discriminatory and focused on under-served and under-represented populations.”

Four of the 14 House Democrats were absent during the vote.

Shortly after the license plate bill died, legislative leaders learned that 11 more people in Blaine County had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, bringing the statewide total to 23. It was the first instance of community spread in Idaho, meaning the individuals weren’t infected through out-of-state travel or by being in close proximity to a known carrier.

House and Senate Democrats have criticized the Republican majority’s decision to remain in session, despite the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control to avoid gatherings of 10 or more people.

Given the potential risks of exposure over the past few days, Democrats indicated they plan to “self-quarantine for the recommended weeks in our home districts, since we are potentially virus carriers.”

“It’s frankly embarrassing that the Legislature remained in session, in flagrant disregard of all public health guidance,” said House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise. “We remained not to pass bills that would help laid-off waitresses, not to address unforeseen pressures on Idaho’s health care system, but to ban transgender athletes and Affirmative Action.”

Bedke said leadership “isn’t downplaying or under-playing the seriousness of this. We’re emphasizing that we’re following the guidelines from the local health districts. We believe that’s what we’ve done, and at the same time finishing the session.”

If the House adjourns today, it will tie for the fourth-shortest legislative session in the last 20 years.

Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 791-9168.