Week Six | Idaho Legislative Session
February 13 - 17, 2023
The sixth week of the Sixty-Seventh Idaho Legislature's First Regular Session marks the potential halfway point of the session. With the target Sine Die date being Friday, March 24, 2023, leadership continues to stay positive the Idaho Legislature will go home on time despite the many unresolved policy issues and looming budget deadlines. Nonprivileged committees are now working through their bills and rules, and House Ways and Means held its first committee meeting this week.
JFAC has finished the 2023 Session Budget Hearing Schedule. They are now in process of clearing the backlog of supplementals and deficiency warrants, and they wrapped up the week with discussions on CEC and total statewide budget discussions. Now that leadership has agreed on how JFAC will be voting, supplementals and deficiency warrants have slowly started to work through the process. Meanwhile, many of the larger supplementals expect to be considered alongside the FY 24 budgets this year as JFAC continues to clear the backlog. You will see relevant budgets in your report's "Appropriations and Budgets" section as they trickle in.
The House and Senate's work continues as floor sessions grow longer. The Senate had its first session stretch into the afternoon this week as they worked to process bills. Committee hearings are now longer and more contentious as bills receive public input and full consideration. Once again, the Senate's calendar moves much slower than the House. However, the Senate has begun to use its rules to roll unanimous votes on less contentious issues to speed up the process. We continued to see the House intermittently take up controversial bills on the Floor, but the Senate still awaits a long, contentious floor debate on policies working through committee, which includes HB 24 - Idaho Launch; it has not yet scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Commerce and Human Resources Committee.
With the introduction deadline for unprivileged committees this week, there were 40 new bills introduced in various committees, as well as five more bills in House Ways and Means. This committee has opened only with the permission of the Speaker of the House, and we expect members to utilize it more and more as the session progresses. As the session continues, we anticipate many more bills will route through Ways and Means.
As we round out the sixth week of session, many of the social issues continue to dominate headlines, dozens of anti-local government bills continue to work their way through the House, several property tax bills have been introduced but likely won't move forward; many other issues remain pending. We have said before when in session in the Idaho State Capitol, an hour feels like a day, a day feels like a week, a week feels like a month, and a month feels like a year. This session has undoubtedly been the case as many returning legislators continue to fight, and many freshmen have now caught on. They are choosing sides and preparing for battle on several looming issues.
Notwithstanding the drama, politics, and rhetoric, many good bills continue to progress, and the legislature is working hard to achieve success, balance the budget, and serve their constituents. We remain optimistic and committed to your success and are grateful for the privilege and opportunity to represent you. While we strive to overachieve for you, please let us know if there is anything else we can do to better support and help you with the legislative session's process, politics, and policies. To see progress on bills, budgets, and rules we are monitoring on our Bill Tracker.