Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the homestead exemption.

This legislation provides that a homeowner who is absent in the current year by reason of religious missionary service shall not be disqualified from receiving the homestead tax exemption. Under this legislation, homeowners who serve religious missions and intend to return to their homestead will be treated the same as homeowners actively serving in the military.

Adds to existing law to establish provisions prohibiting the unlawful employment of unauthorized aliens.

This bill creates a new chapter in Idaho law making it a misdemeanor for employers, labor representatives, or employment agents to knowingly hire, continue employing, recruit individuals who are not lawfully present in the U.S. or authorized to work under federal law. It defines when an individual is considered unauthorized and requires employers to stop employment if they know or should know that work authorization has expired or been revoked. Employers who verify work authorization through the federal E-Verify system before hiring, and receive confirmation, are shielded from criminal liability and may raise good-faith compliance as an affirmative defense. An emergency clause provides for an effective date of July 1, 2026.

Adds to existing law to establish provisions regarding hearing loss screening.

This bill ensures our youngest Idahoans are screened for hearing loss at birth so that proper interventions can be accessed in a timely manner.

Amends, repeals, and adds to existing law to establish provisions regarding background checks conducted by the Department of Health and Welfare.

This bill is brought to satisfy the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) so that Department of Health and Welfare (DHW) can continue to conduct background checks. For DHW to conduct background checks with the FBI: 1) a statute must exist as a result of legislative enactment; 2) require fingerprinting of applicants; 3) expressly or implicitly authorize the use of FBI records for screening of applicants; 4) to avoid overbreadth, identify the specific categories of licenses or employees falling with in the law’s purview; 5) not be against (federal) public policy; and 6) not authorize receipt use of confidential criminal history information to a private entity.

Amends existing law to provide for certified interior designers to be able to sign and seal certain technical submissions and to make such submissions to state or local governmental entities.

This legislation exempts the practice of interior design from the Idaho Architecture Practice Act to allow certified interior designers to sign and seal technical submissions for a limited set of drawings that are nonstructural and non-seismic interior construction and alteration projects. Additionally, this legislation establishes a voluntary certification for interior designers to be administered by the Idaho Board of Architects and Landscape Architects in order for interior designers to obtain sign and seal privileges. The certification is voluntary and will not require certification for interior designers who choose not to obtain it. Interior designers are trained, tested through education, experience, and examination to create safe, functional, accessible, and code compliance spaces. This legislation establishes a pathway for interior designers to practice to the fullest extent of their education and training.

Amends existing law to provide for registration fees.

The purpose of this legislation is to have new residents in Idaho register their vehicle in Idaho. Currently people wait as long as possible after moving to Idaho to register their vehicles in the state. By not registering in Idaho, the state loses money.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the duties of political treasurers.

RS33756 / H0930 This Legislation amends Idaho Code Section 67-6604, relating to Campaign Finance. The bill does two things. It will: • Require all political candidates and Political committees to open a separate checking account for the purpose of collecting contributions and paying expenses of one’s campaign and said funds shall not be commingled with any other account; • Require a candidate who loans personal funds to his political campaign account, an amount exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000), to report said loan to the Idaho Secretary of State and shall deposit said loan amount into his candidate campaign checking account; and • Allow a candidate and a political committee to invest campaign funds, but only in certificates of deposit, money market accounts, or other cash-equivalent accounts. A candidate or political committee may not invest in stocks or other equity securities.

States findings of the Legislature and requests that Congress call a convention for proposing amendments under Article V of the Constitution of the United States.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes the growing national debt as a legitimate threat to the United States of America and serves as an application by the State of Idaho to call a “Convention for proposing Amendments” under Article V of the United States Constitution, strictly limited to proposing a Balanced Budget Amendment to the States for Ratification. Idaho’s application for a “Convention for proposing Amendments” sunsets on December 31, 2033.

Amends Senate Bill 1326a to revise a definition and revise provisions regarding federal government agents and local coordination.

RS33794 / H0936 This legislation is a trailer bill that makes changes to Senate Bill 1326, which relates to 4th amendment protections on privately-owned land. It removes employees of the federal government from the definition of “government agent” in the proposed Section 18-7102, Idaho Code. It also changes the “shall” to a “should” in the proposed Section 18-7104, Idaho Code, relating to federal government agents notifying the county sheriff prior to executing search warrants.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding a certain property tax exemption for low-income housing.

This legislation amends and updates current statue, 63-602GG, Idaho code, which provides a property tax exemption for qualified workforce and affordable housing developments in Idaho. It allows non-profit organizations to partner with for profit entities on affordable housing developments and take advantage of other federal financial incentives. The proposed legislation also ensures the burden of new workforce housing construction will not negatively impact other local property taxpayers and provides counties with the discretion to "opt-out" of the exemption on a per-development basis.

Relates to the appropriation to the Department of Fish and Game for fiscal year 2027.

RS33612 / S1382 This appropriation to the Department of Fish and Game enhancements to the FY 2027 maintenance budget that includes funding for fisheries habitat projects; good neighbor authority projects; inflationary costs at fisheries; temporary employees; wolf depredation response and control; inflation at fisheries facilities; customer communications services; for licenses and support; replacement items; and IT hardware.

Adds to existing law to establish provisions regarding starter home subdivisions.

With the national median age of first-time home buyers having recently reached 40, the need to reduce barriers of entry in the face of increasing cost of living and artificial scarcity is apparent. This legislation removes red tape discouraging first-time home ownership by enabling small-lot starter home subdivisions on residential land, removing local zoning barriers that prevent compact single-family development. It sets reasonable state standards for lot size, frontage, setbacks, and density, while preserving health, safety, environmental, and infrastructure requirements.

Adds to existing law to provide for regional service centers.

This legislation provides a framework that two or more school districts or charter schools can use to share services that are cost-prohibitive or impractical for a single district or charter to deliver independently. Regional Service Centers provide targeted support to school districts and charter schools, particularly small and rural ones, with a focus on hard-to-fill special education positions such as speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and school psychologists, and other non-instructional positions, such as business managers. Districts and charters often compete for a limited pool of qualified special education professionals at a high cost, and many do not require full-time staff to meet their students’ needs. The legislation creates a fund to account for various levels of shared service contract costs, paid by school districts and public charter schools that choose to participate, that would vary annually based on the participation of local schools and their specific needs. Many states use similar models to share specialized services.

Adds to existing law to require public schools to offer daily recess to students in kindergarten through grade 5 and to encourage public schools to offer unstructured activity breaks for students in grades 6 through 8.

This legislation adds a new section of code to require public schools to provide daily recess for students in kindergarten through grade five and encourage schools to provide unstructured activity breaks for students in grades six through eight. This aligns with extensive evidence that recess is not a luxury but a necessary component of healthy child development including boosting learning, behavior, health and happiness

Relates to the appropriation to the Office of the Attorney General for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

RS33821 / H0951 This bill for the Office of the Attorney General provides an increased appropriation of $980,000 in the Consumer Protection Fund. This appropriation is in addition to the FY 2027 maintenance budget and restores funding on a onetime basis that was previously reduced through the FY 2027 budget rescission. Language included in the bill sets aside existing Idaho Code so that moneys in the Consumer Protection Fund may be used for the furtherance of all the Attorney General's duties and activities under Idaho law, as opposed to only duties and activities that relate to the Consumer Protection Act. This bill also includes an FY 2026 supplemental appropriation of $980,000 in the Consumer Protection Fund, restoring funds on a onetime basis that were previously reduced through the FY 2026 budget rescission.

Adds to existing law to establish the Virtual Currency Kiosk Fraud Prevention Act.

The purpose of this legislation is to establish a clear regulatory framework for virtual currency kiosks operating within the State of Idaho to enhance consumer protection and prevent financial exploitation. The bill requires kiosk operators to register with the state, provide clear fee and exchange rate disclosures, post fraud warnings, maintain transaction records, and implement reasonable transaction limits and fraud-prevention safeguards. Virtual currency kiosks have increasingly been used in scams targeting Idaho consumers, particularly older adults, due to the rapid and irreversible nature of virtual currency transactions. By creating transparency and accountability requirements, this bill strengthens consumer protections while allowing legitimate virtual currency businesses to operate responsibly within the state. The measure promotes public safety, supports law enforcement investigations, and reduces financial exploitation without prohibiting lawful virtual currency kiosk activity.

Adds to existing law to declare certain rats a public health and safety nuisance and to require abatement.

The purpose of this legislation is to address the growing presence of invasive Norway rats and roof rats in Idaho, which pose risks to public health, agriculture, and infrastructure. Idaho has not historically had established populations of these rats, and early, coordinated action is necessary to prevent permanent establishment and increased long-term costs. This legislation declares these rats to be public nuisances and aligns their treatment across existing Idaho laws governing invasive species, agricultural pests, and public health pests. It designates the Idaho Department of Agriculture as the coordinating agency to work with state and local partners using existing authority and resources, without creating new programs or requiring new funding.

Adds to existing law to provide for the Legislative Services Office to provide the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee with a calculated reduction from the Governor's budget document.

RS33663 / H0875 This legislation directs LSO to perform a calculation of historical personnel expenditures compared to original personnel appropriations for each entity with 50 or more FTPs. That ratio may be used by JFAC to reduce the agency’s requested amount for increases in employee compensation, benefits, and health insurance.

Relates to the appropriation to the Department of Administration for fiscal year 2027.

RS33711 / H0923 This appropriation to the Department of Administration provides enhancements to the FY 2027 maintenance budget that include a shift of utilities costs from the General Fund to dedicated funds and a program transfer for an administrative support position. It also provides dedicated funding for 1.00 FTP for a bureau chief for Medicaid procurement, general inflation for utilities rate increases, IT hardware, and an adjustment to a prior General Fund rescission for a long-term vacant position to correct a calculation error.