Idaho Bills

Adds to existing law to establish the Idaho Code Cleanup Act.

The incoming federal administration will be creating the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to examine ways to cut unnecessary bureaucracy and inefficient spending and regulations at the federal level. Idaho has been in a DOGE mode for many years, including reducing the footprint of the administrative state through paring back administrative rules. This legislation represents the next step in this process, which will require state agencies to go through the same kind of review of Idaho Code that has been performed with administrative rules. It requires state agencies to review their titles and chapters of Idaho Code for unnecessary, obsolete, and outdated provisions, and to report to the Legislature by September 1, 2025, their recommendations for the removal of such provisions. The Legislature will then consider these and any other proposals for removing unnecessary complexities and bureaucratic processes from Idaho Code in the 2026 regular session.

Amends, repeals, and adds to existing law to provide for the Idaho Board of Long-Term Care Facility Administrators.

This piece of legislation will merge the current Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators and the Board of Examiners of Residential Care Facility Administrators into the Idaho Board of Long-Term Care Administrators. There are no changes to the regulation of either industry. Combining the boards into one Board of Long-Term Care Administrators will allow for increased efficiency of the Board.

Amends existing law to provide that a third party that requires prior authorization for items or services provided to a recipient of medical assistance shall accept authorization from the state.

This bill clarifies the responsibility of a third party covering a Medicaid-eligible individual to accept the state's authorization for a service or item the third party requires prior authorization for if the state plan (or a waiver) covers the service or item. This bill is required to be enacted by federal law and assures that Medicaid is always the payer of last resort for any Medicaid-eligible individual.

Adds to existing law to establish provisions regarding the issuance of a subpoena in a contested case.

Although subpoenas are generally permitted in administrative contested cases, Idaho’s Administrative Procedure Act is currently silent on procedures and enforcement. This bill outlines the parameters for the requests, issuance, service, and enforcement of such subpoenas.

Amends existing law to revise an exemption for certain violations for licensed children's residential care facilities, registered children's institutions, and behavioral health youth crisis centers that provide emergency runaway services.

This legislation amends section 18-1510 Idaho Code to eliminate the provision for minor consent of services in cases of runaway situations, thereby clarifying the authority of parents in such circumstances.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding methods of execution.

This legislation proposes firing squad as the primary enforcement mechanism to administrate the death penalty. Intravenous administration of a lethal substance is the secondary mechanism should, for some reason, the firing squad method not be available.

Adds to existing law to establish the Medical Ethics Defense Act.

The Medical Ethics Defense Act protects the conscience rights of healthcare professionals and healthcare entities. It protects them from being forced to participate in non-emergency procedures that would violate their sincerely held religious, moral, or ethical beliefs. Healthcare professionals should not be forced to violate their oath to "do no harm." This bill protects healthcare professionals from discrimination when they exercise their rights of conscience. It also enhances patient care by protecting them from discrimination when they report violations of the law or exercise their constitutionally protected free speech rights. The Act is intended to supersede other provisions of Idaho law that are less protective of rights of conscience

Amends existing law to provide for the payment of depredation claims that are deemed possible.

The purpose of this legislation is to change terminology to make it more consistent with language used by responsible investigators. It also provides a third avenue of payment for those impacted by Wolf/Grizzly depredation.

Amends existing law to revise a definition.

This legislation updates the statutory language regarding the delegation of tasks by registered nurses (RNs) to licensed practical nurses (LPNs). Specifically, it removes the term "contributing to" and incorporates "performing appropriate delegated focused assessment" to clarify the scope of tasks an LPN can perform under the delegation of an RN. The purpose of this change is to better reflect the practical roles and responsibilities of LPNs, enhance clarity in their scope of practice, and ensure alignment with current standards of nursing practice. This amendment supports improved collaboration within the nursing profession while maintaining patient safety and quality care.

Amends existing law to provide that a governmental entity shall only display certain flags.

This legislation would allow government entities to only display certain types of flags.

Adds to existing law to provide for certain voluntary noncompliance and acceptance of risks.

This proposed legislation allows individuals to refuse evacuation orders but requires them to accept all risks and reimburse rescue costs if needed.

Amends existing law to provide a definition for agricultural buildings and that counties shall not alter the provisions of the section.

This legislation creates a unified and singular definition for "Agricultural Buildings" across all local jurisdictions.

Amends existing law to make codifier's corrections.

The purpose of this legislation is to make codifier and technical corrections to the Idaho Code. During the course of a session, the same code sections and chapters might be amended multiple times in different bills. These amendments cannot always be cleanly reconciled and incorporated into the Idaho Code. Rather, the changes can result in inconsistent numbering of statutes, irregular grammar, and “surplus punctuation” — for example, a comma that was not itself deleted in any bill but was associated with deleted language. In the annual codifier bill, the Legislative Services Office corrects any such irregularities and also makes other technical corrections to the Idaho Code, such as revising grammar and punctuation, correcting inaccurate code references, and updating archaic language. Codifier and technical corrections are not substantive in nature and will not change the meaning or effect of any section or chapter being amended. This is merely “cleanup” legislation, intended to provide clarity to readers of the Idaho Code.

Relates to the appropriation to the State Board of Education for community colleges for fiscal year 2026.

This appropriation to Community Colleges provides enhancements to the FY 2026 maintenance budget. Thisappropriationprovidesanadditional$1,679,800tothemaintenanceappropriationprovidedtoCommunity Colleges found in House Bill 341 that includes additional funding for the enrollment workload adjustment and requires the Office of the State Board of Education to develop an outcomes based funding model for the Community Colleges. Table 1 shows incremental adjustments to the budget found in the bill, of which the ongoing increase is $1,679,800. Table 2 shows the adjustments leading to the FY 2026 Total. The total budget for the Community Colleges is $69,219,700 and provides support to the College of Eastern Idaho, College of Southern Idaho, College of Western Idaho, and North Idaho College.