Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to provide that rental agreements may be sent to lessees at their last known address or last known e-mail address; to provide that rental agreements shall contain provisions regarding late fees and other charges; to provide for a presumption regarding maximum value of personal property under certain conditions; to provide that no provision of specified law shall be deemed to create any liability of the owner or operator to the lessee for loss or damage; to provide for lien sales at certain locations and to provide for towing of stored vehicles under certain conditions.

This bill updates and amends sections 55-2301, 55-2304, and 55-2306 relating to self-service storage facilities. The referred-to statute has not been amended since 1989, before the active use of the internet and e-mail communications for business purposes. Amendments include definition updates, identifying reasonable rates for late charges and clarifying enforcement of lien language for consumers and owners.

Amends existing law to provide that the Governor shall appoint the directors of the Department of Correction, the Idaho Transportation Department and the Department of Parks and Recreation, all of whom shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor.

This legislation will move three Director positions from leaving at the pleasure of the respective Boards to leaving at the pleasure of the Governor.

Amends existing law to revise the sales tax revenue distribution formula to counties and cities.

The purpose of this legislation is to correct the inequities that exist with regards to how much each city and county receives from the sales tax distribution formula. The current formula for determining how much each city and county is partially based on the antiquated system of historical calculations based on the now non-existent personal property tax assessed to every Idaho citizen which included among other things, the number of pigs, chickens, cows, silverware and other personal items. The current system creates additional inequities because it relies on property values. This has created a situation where some cities and counties receive ten times the amount than other cities and counties receive when compared to how much they would receive if calculated based solely on population. This legislation freezes the current distribution to cities and counties and distributes new revenue based on population. Ifthestatecollectsmorerevenuethanthepreviousyear, theexcessfundsaredistributedtocities and counties that receive less than their respective counterparts based on per capita calculation.

Amends existing law to revise a definition.

Section 33-3717B, Idaho Code, sets out the provisions for determining residency status for students attending our public four-year institutions. In 2016, legislation was enacted amending these provisions to allow students who enrolled at an Idaho public postsecondary institution within six years of graduating from an accredited secondary school to receive residency status for tuition purposes. The purpose of the original change was to accommodate those students that had deep ties to Idaho who had left the state to attend undergraduate school and now wanted to return to their home state to finish their education and live. While the current provision serves most of these students, there have been a handful of students who have fallen outside of this time period by three to six months, due to the gap in the spring secondary school graduation and the fall time period for postsecondary enrollment. While there have not been large numbers of students who have been impacted by this gap, those students who have been impacted fall into the group of students encouraged to return to Idaho. The proposed legislation would amend Section 33-3717B, Idaho Code, to extend the time period after secondary school graduation from six years to seven years.

Amends existing law to increase the time period when a claim to collect wages, penalties or interest must be commenced.

This would extend the time in which a claim for unpaid wages could be made to the Department of Labor (DOL), or in District Court, from the current six (6) month limitation to twelve (12) months. Workers who have been paid, but not paid in full, are currently required to make a claim within six months. If the claim is not timely made, the action is barred, and the worker cannot recover unpaid wages. This extends the time period to make a claim to twelve (12) months. This six-month limitation is unduly short and many workers may not be aware that wages are owed, or how to recover, within this short period of time. Federal law allows a two-year statute of limitations for unpaid wages. The Idaho Department of Labor can investigate and recover claims of $5,000 or less. If the claim exceeds that amount, the claimant is referred to a private attorney. The DOL currently has 980 open claims. Sixty percent of those are for partial unpaid wages. The DOL receives an average of six new claims each day. Many claims are denied, limited or not pursued because of the six- month limitation. Current amount of unpaid wage claims with the Idaho Department of Labor is $1.4 million. Through November, 2016, collections resulted in approximate recovery of $435,000. December, 2017, alone saw $31,000 collected for 81 claimants.

Amends existing law to provide for intangible personal property held at least twelve months under the definition of “qualifying property” for capital gains purposes.

This legislation allows taxpayers to deduct 60% of the capital gain net income from the sale or exchange of intangible personal property held at least twelve (12) months.

Stating findings of the Legislature and recognizing the potential for the State of Idaho to be a worldwide leader in the manufacturing and commercialization of the advanced reactor industry, including the fabrication and manufacturing of small modular reactors; acknowledging the opportunity this position brings to Idaho's overall economic, business, and technological sectors; and urging exploration of a variety of new public-private program and policy partnerships that promote, establish, and advance the advanced reactor industry.

The purpose of this resolution is to recognize Idaho's potential to be a worldwide leader in the advanced reactor industry, including small modular reactors, and to recognize the need for and show support for advanced nuclear energy reactor manufacturing and workforce training programs. This resolution also encourages further research and development efforts to further improve nuclear energy technology, security, and safety.

Amends and adds to existing law to require homeowner associations and management bodies of condominiums to provide statements of property owner accounts within a specified time after receipt of a request; to provide that statements shall be without cost to owners; and to provide for content of statements.

This legislation requires a homeowners association (HOA) or its agent to provide a statement of account to a property owner who is a member of the HOA or to the owner's agent within a reasonable time period and without further charge to the property owner.

Amends existing law to revise the tax levy rate on property for a county justice fund.

The county justice levy was established to allow counties to levy a dedicated property tax to fund county justice related services including sheriffs patrol, jail operations, juvenile detention, misdemeanor and juvenile probation, prosecution, public defense, and certain court related personnel costs. The current statutory levy limit for the county justice levy is twenty hundredths of a percent of a taxable market value (.002). Thirty-two counties currently levy a justice levy. Of these 32 counties, 16 are at or near statutory levy limits, thus capping their ability to raise revenues to pay for necessary justice related services. This legislation will increase the statutory limit on the county justice levy to twenty-five hundredths of a percent of taxable market value (.0025).

Amends existing law to revise and clarify provisions regarding federal land rights-of-way.

The current Idaho Statute 402-04(A) recognizes that the federal land rights-of-way were granted to the state for public use in perpetuity. The 1976 act allowed for the continuance of rights-of-ways in existence prior to itspassage. Abandonmentofanyrights-of-wayshallnotoccurduetopassageoftimeorfrequencyofuse,but onlythrougheminentdomainproceedings. Recently,throughtheuseoffederaltravelmanagement,resource and land management plans, the federal agencies, primarily the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, have closed roads and trails across federal lands, sometimes without regard to rights-of-way existing prior to the act. These closures have denied the public's access to enjoy the lands' multiple uses and has reduced state and county revenues derived from all industries related to access and extraction. These closures have also created wildfire suppression hazards by delaying response times to either re-open the closures or construct new means of access. This bill clarifies that federal agency plans desiring to close any existing rights-of-ways cannot circumvent eminent domain proceedings and explains what maintenance actions may be taken by the state or any of its political subdivisions.

Adds to existing law to provide for applicability, to provide for required practices for pharmacy benefit managers, to provide for enforcement, and to provide maximum allowable cost transparency requirements for pharmacy benefit managers.

Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBMs) are middlemen that were originally designed to reduce administrative costs for insurers, validate patient eligibility, administer plan benefits, as well as negotiate costs between pharmacies and health plans. Today PBMs have control over almost all aspects of the prescription drug transactions, with the three largest PBMs managing 78 percent of the prescription drug benefit transactions. The purpose of this legislation is to establish a Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act so that pharmacies in Idaho have all the information needed to make operational business decisions. The legislation would create and give oversight of PBMs that operate in Idaho to the Idaho Department of Insurance (DOI), along with establishing transparency of the covered prescription drug lists and the methodology that determines how reimbursement to the pharmacies is ultimately calculated.