Idaho Bills
661 bills · 2022 Regular Session
Adds to existing law to prohibit the unfair collection of residential rental application fees.
This bill will provide tenants with some of the most significant renter protections to date. It also provides a specific enforcement mechanism under the Idaho Consumer Protection Act. This legislation is supported by the Idaho Apartment Association and was developed with their support. This bill applies only to landlords or their management companies who charge application fees and prohibits the following five things: 1. Making undue profit on application fees. 2. Collecting and retaining an application fee when no rental property is available for lease. 3. Collecting and retaining an application fee when there is no intention to consider the applicant for a rental property. 4. Failing to return an application fee within forty-eight (48) hours after requested by the applicant if no screening took place. 5. Retaining application fees from an applicant who was never screened.
28 – 38
Adds to existing law to establish the Education Savings Account Act.
This legislation creates the Idaho Education Savings Account Act (ESA). By establishing an ESA, parents becomeempoweredtoidentifyandutilizethebestmeansofeducationtheirchildren. Parentswillbeallowedto use ESA funds for tuition to private schools, non public online learning programs, tutoring services, textbooks, curriculum, instructional materials, computers and a host of other education support services. ESA funds are only available to parents of students who are not enrolled in a public school. 90% of average amount of spent by the state and local school districts for each student.
Relates to the appropriation to the Soil and Water Conservation Commission for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
ThisistheFY2023originalappropriationbillfortheSoilandWaterConservationCommission. Itappropriates a total of $5,485,400 and caps the number of authorized full-time equivalent positions at 18.75. For benefit costs, the bill increases the appropriated amount for health insurance by $850 to $12,500 per eligible full time FTP,includesaone-yearholidayofunemploymentinsurance,andadjustsworkers'compensationamounts. The billalsoprovidesfundingforpermanentemployeesfortheequivalentofa3%salarystructureshiftandprovides $1.25 per hour per eligible employee to be distributed based on merit for change in employee compensation. The bill funds two line items, which provide additional General Fund and federal funds that are passed-through to the 50 local Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and matching funds for the Conservation Enhancement Reserve Program. Also included in this bill is a onetime FY 2022 supplemental, which provides funds for the Water Quality Program for Agriculture.
33 – 0
Amends existing law to provide that certain chiropractic physicians are qualified health professionals for purposes of returning athletes to play after suspected concussions or head injuries.
This legislation adds an Idaho licensed chiropractic physician to the list of qualified health professionals permitted to return a youth athlete to participation in a sport after healing from a diagnosed concussion. It also allows a chiropractic physician to evaluate a youth athlete for a suspected concussion and determine their ability to continue participating in a sporting event. To “return to play”, the chiropractic physician must have successfully completed a board of chiropractic physicians approved concussion management education program. The program must include instruction on comprehensive concussion and other brain injury evaluation, ongoing reassessment of patient, recognition of atypical response to brain injury, implementation of appropriate plan of care, return to activity determination, and referral to appropriate health care provider as indicated. The standards for the qualifying education program mirror the standards put forth by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education for an athletic trainer master’s degree program. Within Idaho statute, chiropractic physicians are authorized to supervise athletic trainersin carrying out their duties at defined by their scope of practice.
Amends existing law to revise fee provisions.
This Act more proportionately shifts the financial burden of the invasive species registration program away from the vessels that present the least amount of risk to Idaho waterways, and instead toward the vessels that present the greatest risk for the introduction of invasive species into Idaho waterways. The Act reduces Idaho resident motorized vessel fees for invasive species by 50%. The Act also reduces regulation by eliminating the current requirement for more than 110,000 annual invasive species registrations for small nonmotorized watercraft such as paddleboards and canoes. The Act will save the state more than $165,000 per year in vendor fees that are associated with the sale of invasive species stickers for small nonmotorized watercraft.
States findings of the Legislature and requests that Governor Jay Inslee of Washington oppose and veto a proposed tax on fuel exports from Washington to Idaho.
This joint memorial is a message to the Governor of Washington opposing a proposed Washington law that would impose a tax on fuel exported by Washington to Idaho.
65 – 0
Adds to existing law to provide requirements regarding a coronavirus vaccine and religious exemptions and to provide for a claim against an employer in certain instances.
This legislation is to provide certain requirements regarding a coronavirus vaccine requirement and religious exemptions, to provide for a claim against an employer in certain instances, and to provide legal remedies.
54 – 15
Amends existing law to revise a provision regarding the number of signatures required on a recall petition.
This legislation will ensure proper alignment of the calculations for how many petition signatures are required to force a recall election for a local elected official with the body of electors who elect said official.
35 – 0
Amends existing law to increase the value below which a vehicle is considered low-value for disposition.
The purpose of this legislation is to better streamline a timely method for disposal of abandoned and unclaimed low value vehicles. The current valuation for abandoned vehicle lien sale requirements does not reflect the marketenvironmentthatlawenforcementagenciesandtowcompaniesfindthemselvesin. Withincreasedcosts for towing and storage of abandoned vehicles over the years, tow companies and law enforcement agencies find themselves forced to perform expensive auctions on vehicles whose possessory lien exceeds the abandoned vehicle's market value. By increasing the low dollar valuation, law enforcement and towing companies will be able to yield monetary and man hour savings while maintaining proper notification and due process for vehicle owners and lien holders.
Amends and adds to existing law to revise and clarify provisions regarding requirements for extraordinary collection actions by health care providers against patients.
The legislation modifies the Idaho Patient Act by clarifying that the pursuit of overdrawn checks for the amount of the overdrawn check is not an extraordinary collection action, providing a faster timeline for adverse credit reporting in exchange for giving up the ability to pursue other extraordinary collection action, adjusting the timing and content of certain necessary patient communications as well as the burden of proof, before engaging in an extraordinary collection action against a patient. The legislation also provides intent language to further clarify that the limits on costs, fees, and attorney’s fees began with any extraordinary collection action commenced on or after January 1, 2021, regardless of when the goods or services were delivered to the patient.
31 – 3
States findings of the Legislature and honors the life and achievements of Ed Cheff, the longtime head baseball coach for Lewis-Clark State College.
This resolution recognizes and honors the life of Coach Ed Cheff for his dedication, drive, and desire to the success of the Lewis-Clark State College (LCSC) Baseball Team and for the contributions to the State of Idaho, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), United States Baseball, Major League Baseball, LCSC, Nez Perce and surrounding counties, the city of Lewiston, and his family.
Amends and repeals existing law to provide for consistency of terminology with respect to state employees.
The purpose of this legislation is to add clarification on how state law is applied to all state employees, while alsoclarifyingwhichsectionsofIdaho’spersonnelsystemlawsapplytoclassifiedemployees. Addinginclusive language to include “classified and nonclassified state employees” will help to ensure employee best practice standards are applied across all state employees in the executive department and provide a foundation for decisions and policies. The changes will further clarify that only classified state employees are subject to the merit system and due process.
34 – 0
Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the deadline for notice of certain deaths and to revise provisions regarding indigent burial or cremation.
With increase in case loads and difficult identifications, next of kin (NOK) notifications are taking longer. This proposal changes the coroner requirement to report cases to the Treasurer's Office from 48 to 72 hours. Decedents, with no legal NOK or have family that have abandoned, are statutorily Coroner/PA/Indigent cases. Current state statutes required that the decedent is not cremated prior to 14 days after death and when the application has been submitted and approved, so in addition to needing more time to find NOK, this proposed legislation would allow for cremation to be done 10 days from death and the application made and or a waiver to abandonment to be obtained.
States findings of the Legislature and recognizes the 50th anniversary of the Sawtooth National Recreation Act and celebrates the contributions that Idahoans have made to protect and appreciate this iconic landscape in Idaho.
This resolution recognizes the 50th anniversary of the Sawtooth National Recreation Act, which established the SawtoothNationalRecreationAreaconsistingof760,000acres. ThisActpreservedthenatural,scenic,historic, pastoral, and fish and wildlife values and enhances the recreation activities on an iconic Idaho landscape.
18 – 51
Relates to the appropriation to the Idaho Commission for Libraries for fiscal year 2023.
This is the FY 2023 original appropriation bill for the Commission for Libraries. It appropriates a total of $7,706,700 and caps the number of authorized full-time equivalent positions at 37.50. For benefit costs, the bill increases the appropriated amount for health insurance by $850 to $12,500 per eligible full time FTP, includes a one-year holiday of unemployment insurance, and adjusts workers compensation amounts. The bill also provides funding for permanent employees for the equivalent of a 3% salary structure shift and provides $1.25 per hour per eligible employee to be distributed based on merit for change in employee compensation. The bill funds five line items, which provide additional funds for Broadband Reimbursements, Project Coordinator, Local Library Grants, Digital Training and Programming, and Digital Access.
29 – 36
Adds to existing law to establish endangered missing person alerts and to provide criteria for activation of an alert.
The Endangered and Missing Person Alert (EMPA) is designed to locate any endangered or missing person regardlessofage. EMPAwillcreateaunifiedapproachbyIdahoLawEnforcementonhowtohandlethesetypes ofcasesandsetalertstandardsandcriteriaforutilizingthestateandnationalnotificationsystems. Implementing this EMPA system will allow Idaho to communicate with all the surrounding states who currently utilize this system to further expand and enhance the ability to notify the public about missing persons events. A unified EMPAwillalsolimitthenumberofalertstominimizeconfusionforthepublicandsimplifythealertingprocess for Law Enforcement. The EMPA creates a statutory authority for the State Communications Center, Idaho Transportation Department, Idaho State Lottery and other dissemination partners to create procedures with standardized requirements to alert the public to missing children, adolescents and adults.
46 – 18
Repeals existing law relating to unorganized associations and parades.
This proposal is to eliminate Idaho Code Section 46-802 entirely. Currently Idaho Code Section 46-802 makes it illegal for a “body of men” to “associate together as a military company or organization” or “parade in public with firearms in any city or town of this state” unless they’re “called into service of the state.” The restrictions in this code section are antiquated and are clear violations of the First and Second Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Sections 9, 10, and 11 of the Idaho Constitution. The proposed change will eliminate this statute entirely.
57 – 13
Amends existing law to revise certain fees.
Since transitioning to a new registration system in April of 2020, our vendor network went from 361 at the beginning of 2020 to its current state of 197. Vendors are not willing to sell certificates of number for such a minimal return. In particular, many legislators, county assessors, and private vendors have raised concerns that this reimbursement is woefully inadequate. The $1.50 fee retained by the vendor has not been updated since its origination while the costs to sell these stickers are increasing. The average wage of a vendor’s employee is $14.00. It can take up to 10 minutes with a customer to obtain the required information to sell a certificate of number. The current $1.50 vendor fee does not cover the cost of those employees selling the IDPR products. OHV increase from $12.00 to $15.00 for residents and $20.00 for non-residents. IDPR is receiving the exact same amount of funds as they did 35 years ago per certificate of number. The dedicated funding revenue will be administered by the statewide IDPR Off-Highway Vehicle Program which provides OHV safety education and public outreach, funds OHV maintenance crews, provides online mapping, and funds trail projects throughout the State
Adds to existing law to provide that enrollment shall replace average daily attendance in funding formulas for fiscal years 2023 and 2024 and to provide for a study committee on the public school funding formula.
Thecurrent"FoundationProgram–StateAid–Apportionment"foundinChapter10ofTitle33IdahoCodewas first established in 1980. At that time, the student counts were used to determine Education Support Units. The counts were done by seat time, also referred to as Average Daily Attendance (ADA). In 2016, HCR 33 created an Interim Legislative Committee to study the funding formula within this chapter. The Interim Committee was reauthorized in 2017 and 2018. While the interim committee recommendation to move to a student-based formula was not implemented in 2019, there was strong consensus that the state should move from the current ADA student count to an enrollment-based formula. During the 2019 Session, H 293 was signed into law to require schools to track both ADA and enrollment. This was done to provide a better understanding of the fiscal impact of a singular change to the funding formula. H 293 also mandated a review of the funding formula by July 1, 2024 For the past two school pandemic impacted school years, the State Board of Education has passed temporary rules to use the enrollment counts, rather than the ADA. Schools are well prepared to make a change to enrollment as they have been providing both counts since the Fiscal School year 2020.This bill codifies what has been a temporary rule, with a sunset on July 1, 2025. With the requirement of a review of the funding formula this bill authorizes the legislative council to appoint an interim committee to meet the requirement under Idaho Code 33-1026. An emergency clause to put this change into law upon passage and approval will replace the existing administrative temporary rule, while authorizing the State Board to promulgate rules similar to those that were in place for the past two school years.
39 – 31
Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding civil air patrol and to provide for memorandums of understanding regarding operational and training missions.
This bill increases the type of support that the military division can provide to Idaho Wing, Civil Air Patrol, to include using appropriated funds to pay for both cadet and adult members' travel and expenses related to Civil Air Patrol training and educational opportunities nationwide and to pay for normal operating expenses of Idaho Wing, including travel. None of these funds will be used for compensation or benefits for Idaho Wing employees.
30 – 4
Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding computing Idaho taxable income of multistate or unitary corporations.
This bill relates to the taxation of multistate business income in Idaho. Over the past few decades, most states have moved towards taxing multistate income based on both market-based and single-sales factor approaches. Idaho currently taxes multistate income for sales other than tangible property (ie., intangible property and services) using a "cost-of-performance" method. Cost-of-performance assigns the sales revenue to the location having the greater proportion of services performed. Market-based sourcing assigns the sales revenue to the location receiving or benefiting from the services. Changing to "market-based" sourcing for these activities will create uniformity with other states. Note that Idaho currently applies market-based sourcing to the sale of tangible property which is already uniform to other states. Idaho currently taxes multistate income using a three-factor method to apportion business income, which includes: 1) Property; 2) Payroll; and 3) Double-weighted sales. Changing to a single-sales factor to apportion income will simplify the process and also create uniformity with other states. As other states have moved away from cost-of-performance as well as three-factor apportionment methodologies, instances of double taxation for Idaho-based companies, and instances of out-of-state companies doing business in Idaho without paying income taxes have become more and more prevalent. This bill resolves these two problems, provides for a more-favorable tax environment for Idaho, and simplifies the taxation of multistate income for both taxpayers and the State Tax Commission.
33 – 0
Amends existing law to revise eligibility requirements for the Armed Forces and Public Safety Officer Scholarship.
This bill aims to update Idaho code 33-4302 so that if (a) an Idaho parent serves in the military and (b) falls in-service doing what they were ordered to do, then (c) their child or spouse will be eligible for this scholarship, assuming they meet the other prerequisites. Currently, they must fall in combat.
33 – 0
Amends existing law to increase the salaries of members of the Public Utilities Commission; to increase the salaries of members of the State Tax Commission; to increase the salaries of members of the Industrial Commission; appropriates an additional $20,800 to the Public Utilities Commission for commissioner salaries; appropriates an additional $25,700 to the State Tax Commission for commissioner salaries; and appropriates an additional $20,200 to the Industrial Commission for commissioner salaries.
This legislation provides for a five percent (5%) increase in the annual salary of each of the Public Utilities Commissioners, State Tax Commissioners, and Industrial Commissioners effective July 1, 2023. The salary of each of the three Public Utilities Commissioners is statutorily raised from $114,520 to $120,246. The salary of each of the four State Tax Commissioners is statutorily raised from $106,072 to $111,376. The salary of each of the three Industrial Commissioners is statutorily raised from $111,470 to $117,044. This legislation also provides an appropriation for the increased cost to each agency for salary and benefits for each of the ten commissioners.
53 – 14
Relates to the appropriation to the Public Schools Educational Support Program's Division of Teachers for fiscal year 2023.
This is a trailer appropriation bill for the Public School Support Program for the Division of Teachers for FY 2023. The bill provides ongoing funding for the fiscal impacts of H656 that amends teacher placement on the Career Ladder based on experience outside of Idaho.
34 – 0
Relates to the appropriation to the Department of Administration for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
This is the FY 2023 original appropriation bill for the Department of Administration. It appropriates a total of $25,767,500 and caps the number of authorized full-time equivalent positions at 128.00. For benefit costs, the bill increases the appropriated amount for health insurance by $850 to $12,500 per eligible full time FTP, includes a one-year holiday of unemployment insurance, and adjusts workers compensation amounts. The bill also provides funding for permanent employees for the equivalent of a 3% salary structure shift and provides $1.25 per hour per eligible employee to be distributed based on merit for change in employee compensation. Thebillfundssixlineitems,whichprovideadditionalfundsforarentincreaseforelectedofficials; threeproject managers, a project coordinator, and facility condition software for the Division of Public Works; and a transfer from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund to backfill the Employee Group Insurance Fund.
31 – 2