Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to prohibit certain in-person instruction in schools on election day.

This legislation clarifies the following when public school buildings are used as polling places to ensure student safety: 1) No in-person student instruction in school district buildings designated as polling locations. 2) In-person instruction may occur in other school district buildings not designated as a polling place. To allow school boards to make necessary adjustments to school schedules, this bill takes effect on January 1, 2028.

Adds to existing law to establish provisions regarding unmanned aircraft systems near Department of Correction facilities.

This legislation amends Idaho Code with the addition of a new section 20-251, Idaho Code to define terms and to establish provisions regarding unmanned aircraft near Department of Corrections facilities. Department of Corrections or law enforcement officers may take reasonable measures against unmanned vehicles operating in a nefarious manner in the proximity of restricted airspace within this state. Any person operating within the restricted airspace of a correctional facility will be guilty of a misdemeanor and will be fined a minimum of $2000 to a maximum of $5000 or imprisoned for not more than one year.

Adds to existing law to provide for state sovereignty, jurisdictional presumption, and a limitation on federal power.

This bill would create a new Idaho law declaring a strong presumption that the state government has jurisdiction over matters occurring within Idaho unless the U.S. Constitution clearly and specifically grants authority to the federal government.

Adds to existing law to authorize a sheriff's office to seek reimbursement for costs of recapture.

This legislation adds a new section into Idaho Code 20-629, to authorize a sheriff's office to seek reimbursement for the costs of collecting a prisoner, probationer or parolee from out-of-state. These are individuals who have absconded from the Idaho Department of Correction.

Adds to existing law to establish the Idaho E-Verify Act.

This legislation creates the Idaho E-verify Act, requiring all public agencies, at state and local levels of government, to implement use of the federal e-verify program for the hiring of new employees. Private employers that do business with state and local government, if they have 150 or more employees and contracts valued at $100,000 or more, would also have to use the federal e-verify program for hiring of their new employees. Enforcement mechanisms are included to create incentives for compliance.

States findings of the Legislature and expresses support and commendation for the Idaho National Guard.

RS33784 / HCR036 The Idaho National Guard’s current mission supports A-10 Thunderbolt II. The Department of War is planning to modernize the mission to support F-16 Fighting Falcon. This legislation affirms the Idaho State Legislature’s wholehearted support for the Idaho National Guard’s efforts to modernize its force structure, recognizing the importance of both the proposed transition of the Idaho Air National Guard from the A-10 Thunderbolt II to the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the Idaho Army National Guard’s transition from an Armor Brigade Combat Team to a Mobile Brigade Combat Team.

Amends existing law regarding counsel for the Department of Lands.

This legislation makes technical and conforming amendments to the code to align existing provisions with changes to legal representation of the Idaho Department of Lands adopted in previously enacted law, ensuring consistency, clarity, and accuracy without altering substantive legal rights. Additionally for clarity, this legislation codifies the existing authority of the State Board of Land Commissioners to utilize the General Counsel of IDL for legal services or to otherwise retain legal counsel of its choosing.

Amends and adds to existing law to provide for household egg production.

This legislation establishes a minimum statewide standard allowing residents of single-family homes to engage in limited household egg production, including keeping up to four (4) hens for household use or lawful small-scale sale consistent with existing Idaho food safety and cottage food laws. Eggs are a foundational, nutrient-dense whole food that supports protein intake, metabolic health, and family nutrition. By ensuring that families are not completely prohibited from producing a basic food staple, this bill strengthens food security, reinforces Idaho’s agricultural heritage, and promotes agricultural literacy and responsible food stewardship for future generations. The legislation preserves reasonable local government and homeowners’ association authority related to sanitation, nuisance, and multifamily dwellings, creates no new regulatory program, and does not expand existing cottage food laws.

States findings of the Senate and declares Idaho's support of its partnership with Taiwan, trade partnerships between the United States and Taiwan, and Taiwan's participation in international organizations.

This resolution reaffirms the unique relationship and strong economic ties between the State of Idaho and Taiwan.

Amends existing law to revise a provision regarding justifiable homicide.

This legislation increases the number of people that an individual can defend from 7 groups of people to ALL people in 18-4009, Justifiable Homicide By Any Person.

Adds to existing law to establish requirements and a cause of action regarding privacy and safety in public restroom and changing facilities and to establish a duty regarding the privacy and safety of restroom and changing facilities in places of public accommodation.

The Protecting Privacy and Safety in Public Buildings Act requires that government building restrooms and changing facilities must be separated on the basis of biological sex and that individuals shall make use of the facility which aligns with their biological sex. The legislation also clarifies the existing common law doctrine of premises liability by requiring public accommodations to take reasonable steps to protect the privacy and safety of their customers in rest-rooms, locker rooms, and showers. Necessary exemptions are provided for certain cases, and government entities may provide reasonable accommodations for any person who is unwilling or unable to use the multi-occupancy facility designated for their biological sex.

Amends existing law to provide certain physical presence requirements for state representatives and senators.

This legislation clarifies the requirement that a candidate be physically present in a legislative district to qualify for the Idaho House and Senate. Candidates must be registered electors for one year prior to the general election and physically live in the declared primary residence for at least 120 days in the year prior to the candidate filing date. Exemptions are provided for active military services or a religious mission.

Amends and adds to existing law to provide certain provisions regarding cash rounding.

This legislation amends Chapter 36, Title 63 to provide cash rounding guidance for goods and services when purchasers pay in cash and there are no pennies available for change. The U.S. Treasury stopped minting the penny (coin) on November 12, 2025, and supply of the penny is diminishing. Non cash payments, such as electronic payment by credit and debit cards will not be affected. Taxes shall be computed on the total price before rounding occurs. This guidance for cash rounding is optional, but represents industry best practices.

Amends existing law to provide that idle moneys may be invested 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.

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 § 67-1210, the State Treasurer will be permitted to hold some portion of the state's Idle Moneys Pool in physical gold and silver to help secure state 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 risks involved with other current state holdings, such as corporate bonds, treasury bills, and other debt instruments. This measure does not empower the State Treasurer to invest 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.

Amends existing law to revise a sales tax exemption for data center equipment and to revise a certain property tax exemption for certain capital investments.

RS33728 / H0897 This legislation amends the sales tax exemption for data centers in six key ways. This legislation does the following: 1) adds two additional criteria for qualification for the exemption related to energy and water consumption, 2) narrows the original sales tax exemption to only be applicable to the internal servers, 3) allows for the sales tax exemption to only be available for 20 years for each project, 4) for data centers constructed after April 1, 2026 it modifies the property tax abatement provision in 63-4502 to prevent a tax shift, 5) requires the tax commission to report annually on the approximate amount of sales tax revenue not collected as a result of this policy, and 6) requires the tax commission to submit a report every 5 years to the legislature with an analysis of the effects of the exemption and data centers on Idaho’s economy, energy resources, and water resources. This legislation provides that data center projects currently under construction may continue with the sales tax exemption provisions (construction materials and internal server equipment) as originally provided when 63-3622VV was enacted in 2020; however, the new 20-year provision will apply to those projects currently under construction.

Adds to existing law to establish provisions regarding law enforcement entering into a memorandum of agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

This legislation adds a new section to Chapter 6, Title 19, Idaho Code, to require local and county law enforcement agencies to apply for a memorandum of agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pursuant to section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The bill defines relevant terms, outlines participation in federal enforcement programs, and requires public disclosure when an agency is unable to enter into such an agreement. An emergency clause provides for an effective date of July 1, 2026.

Amends existing law to revise a provision regarding abortion trafficking.

This legislation removes the word "recruiting" from Idaho Code Section 18-623.

Amends and adds to existing law to revise provisions regarding the discontinuation of telecommunication service.

This legislation updates Idaho law governing the discontinuance of telephone service by clarifying when the Idaho Public Utilities Commission will recognize and rely on Federal Communications Commission authorization for service withdrawal, reducing duplicative regulatory processes. It modernizes state requirements to provide greater regulatory clarity and efficiency for providers while preserving existing protections for affected customers and communities.

Adds to existing law to establish the Emergency Care Affordability Act.

This legislation establishes the Freestanding Emergency Room and Emergency Care Affordability Act to improve transparency, promote affordability and create clear, predictable standards governing billing and reimbursement for emergency medical services provided by out-of-network freestanding emergency rooms. Federal law established baseline consumer protections for emergency services; however, gaps remain with respect to billing practices at out-of-network freestanding emergency rooms. This legislation addresses those gaps by limiting balance billing, requiring application of in-network cost-sharing, and establishing payment standards based on in-network allowed amounts for comparable emergency services.. The bill requires a freestanding emergency room disclose to patients if it does not participate in Medicare, Medicaid, or TRICARE, ensuring seniors, veterans, and other covered persons enrolled in the public health care programs receive timely notice of potential financial responsibility. These disclosure requirements are intended to prevent covered persons from receiving full, undisclosed charges for emergency services solely due to a facility's non-participation in a particular Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE. The legislation voids unenforceable billing agreements, establishes protections against excessive billing, and provides remedies for violations. The bill allows voluntary participation by self-funded health plans and authorizes limited oversight by the Department of Insurance.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the residence qualifications for fire protection district commissioners.

This proposed legislation adds language to require that an individual appointed or elected in a fire protection sub-district to be an elector residing in the fire district for 90 consecutive days before appointment or election.

Amends existing law to revise a provision regarding applicability and choice of law, to remove provisions regarding applicability and choice of law, to remove provisions regarding priority among security interests and entitlement holders, and to remove a provision regarding security interests.

By the late 1990’s physical stock certificates were being phased out and were replaced with electronic book-entry records. The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) codified how these entries were to be treated as far as ownership and security interests were concerned. In 1994, the UCC subrogated the ownership of these security interests to other entities in certain circumstances, defining the original owner as an “entitlement holder” and substituting “control” as the definitive power to liquidate the assets during time of financial distress. It is the intent of this legislation to return the control of these types of assets to the owner thereof.

Amends existing law to remove obsolete provisions.

To ensure that state laws are streamlined, up-to-date, and essential for the citizens of Idaho, while best serving public health, safety, and welfare, the Legislature approved the Idaho Code Cleanup Act, H14 in the 2025 Legislative session. Submitted sections of Idaho Code were reviewed for repeal consideration by the DOGE Task Force on the criteria of obsolete, outdated, and unnecessary. This bill repeals or updates two sections of Idaho Code pertaining to State Controller and LUMA. The bill repeals Section 67-1021C that established the Business Information Infrastructure Fund that was used for the implementation of LUMA. The bill updates Section 67-1021A that established the revenue source for the Business Information Infrastructure Fund, which sunset on June 30, 2023.

Adds to existing law to establish provisions regarding regulation of twin homes and duplexes.

Home ownership is growing increasingly out of reach for many residents due to inflation, artificial scarcity, and other economic factors. In order to decrease red tape and allow the market to further align development incentives with real demand, this legislation legalizes twin homes and duplexes on residential lots where single-family homes are already permitted. It prohibits local ordinances that ban or effectively block these forms of housing and requires clear, objective approval standards.