Week Ten | Idaho State Legislature
March 13 - 17, 2023
In the tenth week of the Sixty-Seventh Idaho Legislature's First Regular Session, committees hurried to introduce and move rules and bills that hadn't yet progressed. As the Chairs begin closing their committee and wrapping up their last bill hearings of the session before losing privilege next week, many simple fixes and contentious bills were heard in committee this week. Many committees will only plan to hold one to two meetings next week before shutting their committee down for the year. There are a few large to-do's still left to accomplish before the Idaho Legislature can utter the words of Sine Die; this includes HB 292 - Property Tax Relief and HB 24 – Idaho Launch Program.
HB 292, property tax relief, is moving quickly through the process compared to many other bills this session. The bill was heard in House Revenue and Taxation on Monday morning, with only one testimony opposing the removal of the March election date being utilized for bonds and levies by school districts. HB 292 was swiftly moved onto the second reading calendar, passing the House Floor with a nearly party-line vote (63-7) on Tuesday afternoon. Senate Local Government and Taxation followed the same layout as the House on Thursday afternoon and was read across the Senate Floor's second reading calendar today. We anticipate the property bill will pass the Senate early next week.
HB 24 - Idaho Launch Program is still in the amending order as leadership and the Senate Majority deliberate. The expectation is to move HB 24 from the amending order without amendments. SB 1167 – Idaho Launch Trailer Bill, was taken up in Senate Commerce and Human Resources on Tuesday; the bill made it out of committee with a 5-4 vote. The Senate held the trailer bill on the calendar for one legislative day, so we expect to see these bills back-to-back next week when the Senate finds the time to devote to lengthy debates.
The House and Senate worked continually through their lengthy floor sessions this week. The House suspended their rules to take up additional bills to catch up. The Senate moved through dozens of weekly bills during their two-floor daily sessions. While some of the backlogs have cleared, appropriations have re-filled their reading calendars. The Senate's amending order bill list has grown throughout the session, with fifteen (15) bills in this order. However, only some will move forward, while others are left to die for this session.
This week JFAC released many of the cash transfers that were being held, including Transportation, Water Quality, Parks and Recreation, and education funding. The committee also appropriated numerous trailer bills to fund bills with a fiscal note that has passed or is likely to pass. With a few budgets being returned to JFAC or failing on the House Floor, JFAC plans to meet next Tuesday to solve the issues with select budgets, and they may need to meet again after this meeting if another budget fails on the floor.
Next week, we will begin to see a few bills that have become political hostages be released while others make last-minute attempts to save their bills, but many remain kept in the drawer of the chairmen. A regular and continued practice of the process, especially as time runs out. At this point in the session, we see many bills introduced to begin conversations on issues to deal with over the summer and take up next year.
Although the House and Senate still have plenty of work to get through, we can see the end of the session approaching quickly. House Leadership aims to conclude on Friday, March 24, 2023, but the Senate anticipates their work to spill over to the following week before starting a new month. The pile of work for the Governor is mounting as the Legislature will wait for him to treat all bills before Sine Die.
To see progress on bills, budgets, and rules we are monitoring on our Bill Tracker.