Week Four | Idaho Legislative Update
January 30 - February 3, 2023
In the fourth week of the Sixty-Seventh Idaho Legislature’s First Regular Session, committees are in full swing, and bills are finding their way across the House and Senate floors. Many nonprivileged committees will soon lose their permission to introduce new bills, while others will continue ahead of print and transmittal deadlines that are fast approaching. Privileged committees in the House include Education, Health and Welfare, Revenue and Taxation, and State Affairs, with the addition of Ways and Means, which is expected to be used by House Leadership more as the session continues. In the Senate, the privileged committees are State Affairs and Judiciary and Rules.
Traditionally many of the big-ticket items are out and at the forefront for discussion by this point of the session but with looming deadlines and no solution to the budget committee logjam, many legislative ideas expected this session remain in early iterations or entirely aloof. That said, we saw dozens of new bills introduced this week, including many administrative and agency bills. Some big-ticket items have shown progress, including the introduction of adding fentanyl to the mandatory minimums, expansion of the Idaho launch program, and the long-awaited property tax bills from Speaker Moyle, Chairman Grow, and Chairman Skaug, who all introduced their property tax bills on Thursday with no commitment they would move forward.
Chairman Grow’s bill focuses on homeowner property tax relief, while Chairman Skaug’s bill intends to restore the annual indexing of homeowner exemptions. These exemptions would reestablish the homeowner’s exemption amount when HB431-2016 allowed for the removal of the annual index. Speaker Moyle’s bill would establish funding for the School District Facilities Fund, intended to fund schools to bring property tax relief. These bills represent much of the work done over the interim but also show the fracturing and divide that has plagued the property tax fights over the last several years.
JFAC has two more weeks of hearing agency presentations before setting budgets. The Committee’s goal is to begin setting budgets on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, but they are several days behind already. Committee members are starting to feel the pressure to find a solution to Speaker Moyle’s demand that the votes be counted separately for the House and the Senate. Pro Tem Winder and Speaker Moyle inched closer to a compromise this week, but the agreement fell apart. We hope to see a final compromise by the end of next week to start getting the supplementals processed and all appropriations through within the coming weeks. If no agreement occurs between the House and Senate, they prolong their time in session and begin missing deadlines for the use of federal funds, costing Idahoans millions.
Committee hearings on bills will continue as the weeks go on, which means longer and more contentious committees and lengthy floor debates. The transmittal deadline is March 6, and the two chambers aim to have all bills sent to the other side for committee consideration. The first bills of the session made their way this week. House and Senate reading calendars remain short but will grow longer, leading to multiple floor sessions making the shortest month feel like the longest.
The rules process continues to adjust behind the scenes, but for now, most committees are approving their administrative rules. Senate State Affairs approved all their assigned rules for the session, but House State Affairs, like many other committees, continued to drag its feet in starting to hear and approve rules. Approving rules will only become more burdensome to committee members as the session continues and their workload grows.
We are consistently looking and listening for intel and opportunities for you to advance your priorities. We continue to advocate for your positions and update you as we see things progress. Please do not hesitate to contact our team if you have questions or concerns or need anything. You can track our progress on bills, budgets, and rules we are monitoring on our Bill Tracker.