Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the recall of city council members elected by district.

The purpose of this legislation is to bring Idaho Statute 34-1702 into line with Idaho Statute 50-707A. Statute 50-707A(4) requires that when Idaho cities reach a population greater than 100,000 inhabitants as of the last decennial census, that districts within the city shall be established, and one candidate residing in each district shall be elected to the city council. This legislation establishes that a recall petition against a city council member may be filed with the county clerk that is signed by twenty percent (20%) of registered electors that were eligible to vote in the city council member's district in the last election.

Amends and repeals existing law to revise provisions regarding daycare licenses.

Since 2020, the Idaho Legislature has approved over $574 million in federal and state funds for the Idaho Child Care Program. However, during that time the number of licensed facilities in Idaho has gone down, the number of available seats has gone down and even industry advocates say there is a childcare crisis in our state. This bill is the first step toward addressing that crisis in a new way by seeking to make it easier for people to start and operate childcare businesses while ensuring the health and safety of Idaho children. The bill does the following: • Clarifies the definition of "supervision" so there is a common standard across the state; • Provides clarity to new providers who apply to the Department of Health and Welfare for a license; • Recognizes the diverse types of providers by allowing for age-appropriate, community-appropriate and provider-appropriate approaches to ratios of adults to children; • Requires a review of existing administrative rules for the childcare program and tells DHW to bring legislation in 2026 to put the rules into code. • Eliminates the current two-tier regulatory system for childcare, placing licensing responsibility at the state level.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding extended and continued care and to revise provisions regarding relative foster care.

This bill augments recent reforms to the foster care system with two changes: 1) it would allow for extended care for youth aging out of the foster care system, not to exceed age 23 under limited circumstances; and 2) it would allow the department to establish separate licensing standards for relatives and non-relatives while maintaining health, safety, and security.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding indecent exposure.

This legislation amends Idaho Code 18-4116 and clarifies the definitions of willful and lewd indecent exposure.

Amends existing law to provide an exemption for relatives of members of the Legislature participating in the legislative page program.

This legislation amends Idaho Code 18-1359 to exempt the legislative page program.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding homestead property.

Idaho has a set of exemptions, consisting of a series of different statutes, which protect equity in certain pieces of property. These exemptions apply when (1) judgment creditors seek to satisfy their judgments from a judgment debtor’s assets, and (2) in bankruptcy cases which are filed in the District of Idaho because Idaho has opted out of the federal exemptions. Every exemption in Idaho can be claimed by an unmarried debtor. However, the same is not true for married debtors. Currently, Idaho’s existing homestead statute requires married debtors to share a homestead exemption, whereas unmarried debtors can claim the entirety of their homestead exemption. This proposed bill eliminates the marriage penalty contained in I.C. 55-1002 for married debtors by eliminating the language requiring married debtors to share the homestead exemption and replacing it with language that explicitly states that the homestead exemption may be separately claimed by each married spouse. This bill also proposes a modification to I.C. 55-1008 to specifically state that the reinvestment requirement contained within the statute does apply in bankruptcy cases. This explicit language is necessary in light of the 9th Circuit’s holding McCallister v. Wells which held that under current 9th Circuit precedent, when a homestead statute contains a reinvestment requirement, that requirement applies to sales of real estate in a bankruptcy case after the petition date. Debtors who file bankruptcy cases cannot qualify for mortgages for a period of 2-3 years after they file because of the bankruptcy filing on their credit reports and thus cannot realistically re-invest the proceeds of their homestead within a 1-year period. Therefore, this bill proposes to eliminate that reinvestment requirement for that narrow category of debtors who file bankruptcy cases.

Adds to existing law to establish provisions regarding foster home health and safety requirements.

This bill eliminates Sections 230, 232, and 233 from Idaho Administrative Procedures Act (IDAPA) 16.06.23 relating to Foster Care Licensing and moves the necessary components into statue. This bill adds the aforementioned effected sections to the Child Care Licensing Reform Act and in doing so, regulatory authority is returned to the elected legislature.

Amends and repeals existing law to revise provisions regarding immunizations in daycare and schools.

This statute streamlines and clarifies existing regulations by transferring decision-making authority from the Department of Health and Welfare back to the Idaho Legislature. By doing so, it ensures greater legislative oversight and accountability while making the statute more accessible and understandable for all.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding staff allowance.

This strikes a section of code that restricts school boards' ability to exercise local control over staffing decisions and prevents school districts from allocating funds to their most critical needs

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.