Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the dissolution of hospital districts.

The purpose of this bill is to bring consistency to state code governing petitions for dissolution of special taxing districts. Currently, the code on hospital districts is ambiguous, requiring signatures of electors "or owners of property" and "electors and taxpayers" within the district. This ambiguity would be resolved by defining qualified signatures only as "electors" and removing "property owners" and "taxpayers." This revision will make this code consistent with other statues regarding similar dissolution petitions that require only signatures of electors. The current language puts an undue burden on county clerks, as they would be required to verify petition signers as both electors and property owners. Conversely, clerks would be required to verify if signatures of non-electors qualified as property owners. These are time-consuming and unnecessary extra steps. The current language also is an impediment to petition sponsor who would face the awkward challenge of vetting signers as electors or property owners. Left unchanged would be the required 10% threshold required to place a dissolution on the ballot. This amendment will create consistency across Idaho law, reduce administrative burden, and give citizens greater clarity when pursuing lawful petition.