Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to provide for certain credited state service and utilization of unused sick leave for certain eligible nonclassified officers and employees hired by the Office of the State Public Defender before January 1, 2025.

With the creation of the State Public Defender's Office, county employees will move over as an employee to the State of Idaho. Employees moving to the State Public Defender's Office will receive comparable accrual rates based upon their county PERSI hours. Employees will be allowed transfer up to 40 hours of unused sick leave. Funds from the counties will be deposited into the Public Defense Fund to pay for unused sick leave hours transferred by each employee.

Amends and adds to existing law to provide that the state shall not act as the incorporator of a corporation and to establish provisions regarding the reformation or disassociation of certain corporations.

This legislation ensures accountability to the laws passed by the legislature and receipt and expenditure of state moneys by prohibiting the state from creating a corporation or acting as the incorporator of any corporation that is not expressly authorized by the legislature through the enactment of general laws. It is not a violation for the state to create or to authorize the creation of an independent public body politic and corporate that is created in statute to carry out a public purpose, devoid of any private party with a right of control or management, or which lacks any potential for private parties to change the fundamental structure or public purpose of the entity as provided in the statute that created it.

Amends and adds to existing law to prohibit certain materials from being promoted, given, or made available to a minor by a school or public library, to provide for a cause of action, to provide for damages, and to provide for injunctive relief.

The Children's School and Library Protection Act requires public schools and community libraries to take reasonable steps in restricting children's access to obscene or harmful material. A parent or guardian of a minor child who accesses such material in violation of this policy would be entitled to bring a civil action against the school or library for damages and injunctive relief.

Relates to the appropriation to the Division of Human Resources for fiscal year 2025.

This appropriation to the Division of Human Resources provides enhancements to the FY 2025 maintenance budget that includes funding for 5.00 FTP and the additional 2% CEC.

Relates to the appropriation to the Workforce Development Council for fiscal year 2025.

This appropriation to the Workforce Development Council provides enhancements to the FY 2025 maintenance budget that includes funding for the Launch Grants from the In-Demand Careers Fund, 3.00 FTP and grant manager funding, and the additional 2% CEC.

Amends existing law to increase the salaries of commissioners of the Public Utilities Commission, State Tax Commission, and Industrial Commission and provides appropriations for those salary increases.

This legislation provides a 3% salary increase, similar to other state employees, for each of the Public Utilities Commissioners, State Tax Commissioners, and Industrial Commissioners effective July 1, 2024. The salary of each of the three Public Utilities Commissioners is statutorily raised from $122,742 to $126,424. The salary of each of the four State Tax Commissioners is statutorily raised from $113,977 to $117,396. The salary of each of the three Industrial Commissioners is statutorily raised from $119,540 to $123,126. This legislation also provides an appropriation for the increased cost to each agency for salary and benefits for each of the ten commissioners.

Relates to the appropriation to the State Board of Education for community colleges for fiscal year 2025.

This appropriation to Community Colleges provides enhancements to the FY 2025 maintenance budget and includes funding for operational capacity enhancements at the four institutions, POST training capacity enhancement at the College of Eastern Idaho and College of Western Idaho, the 2% CEC and a net reduction of $99,800 for nondiscretionary adjustments.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the Idaho Launch Grant Program and the In-Demand Careers Fund.

This legislation makes changes to the Idaho Launch program. These include changes to the definition of In Demand Careers to include more factors instead of just the number of job openings, excludes careers that require graduate level education from eligibility, changes an eligibility date to align with schools whose school year goes into June, and gives the council a legal mechanism for means testing.

Amends existing law to revise eligibility requirements for the Idaho Opportunity Scholarship.

This is a correction made after the Legislature passed HB 500, which amended the Opportunity Scholarship to prevent students from accessing scholarship funds if they received a LAUNCH grant. This legislation clarifies that these requirements will start with the graduating class of 2025.

Amends existing law to establish provisions regarding prisoners who secure employment with a private employer.

This legislation applies to Idaho inmates hired by a private employer under the Department of Correction work releaseprogram. Itspecifiestheresponsibilityoftheprivateemployertoofferthesamesalaryrangeandbenefits as other similarly situated employees based on experience, education and other qualifications and clarifies the opportunity for inmates to use the benefits offered.