Idaho Bills

Adds to existing law to establish provisions regarding fertility preservation services.

The purpose of this legislation is to protect future reproductive health by ensuring access to fertility preservation services for individuals undergoing cancer treatment that may cause infertility. The legislation requires certain health benefit plans to cover standard fertility preservation procedures, such as the collection and preservation of sperm, unfertilized eggs, or ovarian tissue, for patients receiving medically necessary cancer treatment known to threaten fertility. These services must align with established medical guidelines and do not include continued storage fees.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding Idaho Digital Learning Academy funding.

This legislation makes changes to the funding formula for the Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA), emphasizing its core mission of being a gap filler in our public school system. It addresses concerns about students being double funded in specific situations, overuse by certain schools and students, elementary school programs, driver’s education costs, private school, homeschool, and virtual school program use, and alignment with the statewide general fund cut. It allows districts to pay directly for IDLA enrollments in those situations in which the state will no longer pay. The total fiscal impact of this bill is intended to address the cut proposed in the governor's recommended budget.

Amends existing law to provide for investment in physical gold and silver in certain instances, to provide for storage of physical gold and silver, and to provide for a maximum allowed investment.

RS33781 / S1421 Since the year 2000, the M2 money supply has grown by 380 percent. It has almost quadrupled. A quadrupling of the money supply will eventually accelerate the rate of inflation. By adding physical gold and silver to Idaho Code §57-720 and to Idaho Code §59-1312, the permanent endowment funds authorized by Idaho Code §57-715 and investments into the Public Employee Retirement Funds respectively will be permitted to hold some portion of these funds in physical gold and silver to help secure these assets against the risk of inflation and/or to achieve capital gains as measured in Federal Reserve Notes. The new authority will be confined to holding gold and silver directly and in a manner that does not assume the counter-party risk involved with other current holding, such as corporate bonds, treasury bills, and other debt instruments. This measure does not empower an investment in paper forms of the metal like futures contracts, or other gold and silver derivatives. The authority is confined to physical gold and silver, directly owned by the state and stored in a secure depository or any bank or credit union with a class 1 vault and, if stored in Idaho, licensed by the Department of Finance. The legislation also permits storage in states contiguous to Idaho or in the state of Texas when stored in a precious metals depository.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding student participation in nonacademic public school activities.

This legislation clarifies and strengthens rules governing dual enrollment for students educated in nonpublic schools, public charter schools, and traditional public schools. It refines academic eligibility requirements for participation in nonacademic public-school activities by requiring students to demonstrate grade‑level proficiency through state‑recognized tests or nationally normed assessments, and it assigns oversight of academic standards to the student’s primary education provider. This bill also clarifies residency requirements, ensures that charter‑enrolled students may participate in activities at their resident public school when those activities are not offered at their charter school, and reorganizes existing subsections for clarity.

Amends, repeals, and adds to existing law to provide for campaign finance transparency.

RS33778 / S1422 Idaho’s campaign finance laws, commonly referred to as the “Sunshine Laws,” were enacted in 1974 through a citizen initiative to increase transparency of money spent on political campaigns and lobbying activities. This legislation revises and reorganizes campaign finance statutes from their 1974 version by moving the provisions from Title 67, Chapter 66, State Government and State Affairs, to Title 74, Chapter 3, Transparent and Ethical Government. This drastically improves reporting clarity and strengthens enforcement in response to increased financial activity and evolving campaign practices. This legislation also expands transparency requirements related to the ballot initiative process, referendum campaigns, and independent expenditures. These provisions provide clearer disclosure of funding sources, reporting of activity, communications intended to influence voters outside of candidate campaigns, and prohibit foreign contributions for ballot measures. In addition, the legislation adds one additional pre-primary and one pre-general campaign finance report, updates contribution and expenditure limitations, and establishes a revised fine structure for reporting violations that balances appropriate penalties for small campaign violations as compared to larger campaign violations. Overall, the legislation modernizes and strengthens disclosure requirements and ensures campaign finance laws are transparent and enforceable.

Amends existing law to provide that certain judges shall not be eligible to serve as a senior judge and may not elect to receive certain retirement compensation.

This legislation will ensure that Idaho voters are able to vote for the replacement judge of their choice when a judge is about to retire. Currently, there is a practice where judges retire so early that their positions are vacated for such a length of time that an appointment is made to fill that vacancy. The appointed judge then becomes the incumbent judge at the next election and is almost guaranteed to be re-elected. This legislation provides that judges must finish their terms if they want to participate in the Senior Judge program, which involves part-time work for judges after retirement. Idaho needs its judges to work part-time after retirement as Idaho's courts typically run at capacity. Judges will agree to these new rules when they file a declaration of candidacy for a new term. Prior to filing a declaration of candidacy for a new term, these new rules will not apply to a sitting judge.

Amends existing law to revise the amount of required motor vehicle insurance relating to property damage.

This legislation amends Idaho's motor vehicle financial responsibility laws to increase the minimum required insurance coverage for property damage resulting from motor vehicle accidents. The bill increases the required minimum property damage liability coverage from fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) per accident and makes conforming amendments to insurance and bonding provisions governing proof of financial responsibility. The purpose of the legislation is to better align minimum coverage requirements with current vehicle repair and replacement costs while maintaining existing bodily injury coverage requirements.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the practice of dental hygiene.

Idaho has been a leader in scope of practice reform, and many past reforms aided Idaho’s application for Rural Health Transformation funds. Further, Idaho’s RHT application indicated that the state would explore the possibility of expanding scope of practice of dental hygienists. To address existing provider shortages in this state, this bill expands the scope of practice for dental hygienists to all dental services within the hygienist’s education, training, and experience or those services delegated to the hygienist by a supervising dentist.

Adds to existing law to provide for new large loads.

This legislation proposes to codify existing regulatory processes with respect to new large load energy service agreements. This legislation does not affect existing large load customers but will set the standard for new large loads; it will set standards and guidelines for the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to follow when contemplating a new large load contract.

States findings of the Senate and endorses the development of a state plan to support kinship caregivers.

The purpose of this resolution is to support and encourage the creation of a state plan for kinship caregivers to maximize the use of public and community-based resources.