Week Seven | Idaho Legislative Update
February 20 - 25, 2023
The start of the seventh week of the Sixty-Seventh Idaho Legislature's First Regular Session was slow as legislators took the time to embrace the annual traditions and memorials done on President's Day. As the week went on, some committees opted out of having meetings, which gave many legislators time back in their day to prepare for the long floor sessions ahead of them. Calendars continue to fill up with more legislation, and we have reached the part of the session where floor sessions will begin earlier in the day and take longer, leading to multiple sessions per day. With the transmittal deadline approaching fast, committees are putting time into ensuring bills are getting through the process on time. Chairpersons have already informed us that not all bills introduced thus far will move forward before the March 6th deadline. The Senate will continue to try rolling unanimous votes on the floor to catch up on their calendar, and the House will continue to move through its entire third reading calendar daily.
While the long-awaited hearing on HB 24 – Idaho Launch Program -- didn't happen this week, there are active conversations on a trailer bill that will add sideboards and bolster some support for the bill in the Senate. This bill could be the key to getting HB 24 through Committee and across the Senate floor. While there is no hearing scheduled at this report's time, we will be watching closely for a hearing next week. We can also provide more information on what sideboards the trailer bill may have as we move through next week.
Committee hearings continue to be long and contentious. Yet, we have seen some committees think critically about unintended consequences potential legislation may cause. Many veteran legislators have noted their shock by the number of bills being reintroduced or returned to the Committee from the floor after issues have arisen. Many bills are being reintroduced on the House side with changes, while the Senate is sending bills needing fixing to the amending order. Each of these bills takes precious time away from the Committee and could be the cause of a lengthy and more contentious session.
There certainly has been a growing list of bad ideas and bills that seek limerence among factions of legislators. Still, processes used in committees and the body could slow and stop many negative bills while passing agency and other reasonable legislation. These bills have included law enforcement reemployment, high school financial literacy requirements, broadband funding, bi-partisan election bills, and more.
As we head into the third and hopefully final month of the session, we expect to see more quarrelsome hearings on big-ticket items, including a solution to property taxes in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. So far, this Committee has introduced several ideas but has yet to face a contentious tax bill hearing with various stakeholders and differing opinions. Speaker Moyle and other key legislators will be heavily involved in crafting these upcoming tax bills, and we will continue to be active in the discussions as well.
JFAC began setting budgets on Monday, starting with the Office of the Governor's budgets, then moving into mission-critical supplementals. With over half the Committee being new, the Committee is doing their due diligence to review budgets with a fine tooth comb before introducing the budget in Committee. A few budgets are being held to give the committee members time to research, resolve miscalculations, or allow more time to digest line items. Despite much drama to begin the session, JFAC is catching up and working well to pass budgets. It is always amazing to see how fast JFAC moves on agency budgets and how quickly they can get unanimous votes on many items. There is less public involvement in the traditional process this year, but we remain committed and in daily attendance for budget meetings and hearings.
To see progress on bills, budgets, and rules we are monitoring on our Bill Tracker.