2024 Idaho Legislature: Bills That Have Been Signed into Law, Bills That Have Been Killed
By Sarah Clendenon • March 20, 2024As the 2024 Idaho Legislative session winds down, we take a look at some of the bills which passed the House and Senate and have been signed into law by the Governor, and some of the bills which were killed in the process. The session is not over yet, so there will be more to come over the next several days.
Some of those that passed include:
Senate Bill 1234 This legislation requires insurance companies to pay for 6 months of contraceptives instead of the current one or three month supplies.
The statement of purpose explains,
“This legislation allows enrollees to receive up to a six (6) month supply of prescribed contraceptives if they so choose or if they are on an established prescription already. Currently, many insurance plans reimburse for only a one (1) to three (3) month supply of contraceptive supplies. This legislation will require any health benefit plan issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, which covers contraceptives approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration, to provide reimbursement for up to a six (6) month refill supply obtained at one time by the enrollee. The exception is if the enrollee has never been prescribed prescription contraception; then the provider shall provide a smaller supply.”
Senate Bill 1372 is the bill which provides the appropriation for the Department of Agriculture including over $11M for quagga mussel and invasive species mitigation.
The Governor’s office released this statement regarding the signing of this legislation.
House Bill 406 establishes mandatory minimum sentencing for the distribution of fentanyl.
“This legislation adds Fentanyl to the list of dangerous drugs that carry mandatory minimum sentences. It defines the amounts of fentanyl that are required to meet the elements for the crime of trafficking. This statute is not meant to capture the personal user. It is intended to make clear the punishment for those who choose to manufacture, deliver, or bring into the state amounts of fentanyl that meet the quantities listed in this bill. It also adds provisions for the crime of drug induced homicide and the corresponding punishment.”
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Legislation that was killed this session includes:
House Bill 384 was the 2024 “Library Bill” which sought to address the controversy over sexually explicit materials being available to children in schools and public libraries. The statement of purpose stated,
“The Children’s School and Library Protection Act requires public schools and community libraries to take reasonable steps in restricting children’s access to obscene or harmful material. A parent or guardian of a minor child who accesses such material in violation of this policy would be entitled to bring a civil action against the school or library for damages and injunctive relief.”
The bill passed the House State Affairs committee, but when it was debated by the full House of Representatives, it was sent back to that committee. Both Republicans and Democrats voted against the bill, although for different reasons.
House Bill 615 was legislation which aimed to address public aid funds being used for illegal immigrants in Idaho. The statement of purpose detailed the goal of the bill, which would have amended Idaho Code Title 56 and Title 67.
“This legislation addresses benefits currently available to illegal aliens who come to Idaho. This bill leaves in place access to emergency medical services for illegal aliens currently authorized by the Idaho Code. The bill removes non-emergency health care benefits and some social benefits. The purpose of this legislation is to cause Idaho to not be a magnet that draws illegal aliens to Idaho.”
The bill was killed by the House Health and Welfare committee.
Senate Bill 1362 would have banned flags and banners on public school property if they were not specifically detailed in what would have been a newly created section of Idaho law. The statement of purpose explained,
“The classroom is a place to foster education and to do so, students should be comfortable and free from partisan politics. Personal political beliefs disrupt the classroom and make students uncomfortable, feel unwelcome and open the door to bullying if they are in the minority mindset. Third party flags are an open political statement and do not belong in the classroom.”
The new section’s language would have looked like this:
DISPLAY OF FLAGS ON PUBLIC SCHOOL PROPERTY. No public elementary school or public secondary school in the state of Idaho shall display any flag on such school’s property other than the following flags:
(1) The United States flag;
(2) The official flag of the state of Idaho, or any county, municipality, public university or community college, school district, special district, or any other political subdivision or governmental instrumentality of or within the state;
(3) Official flags of any state in the United States;
(4) Official flags of recognized foreign nations;
(5) Official school flags; or
(6) Official flags of any of the military branches and units of the United States
This bill passed the full Senate on a vote of 31-4, but was held by a House committee and killed.
You can continue to follow results of the Legislative session on the Legislature’s website and the Governor’s website.
Tags: 2024 Idaho Legislative Session, 2024 Idaho Legislature, Bills, Governor Brad Little, Idaho House of Representatives, Idaho State Senate, Legislation
Near 700 bills have been presented so far this session and more are coming every day, even this late in the session. A huge percentage have the inclusion in the wording that there is an “emergency” as the necessity of passing these bills. The number of bills this year blew up the old record by a country mile. My guess is that if 600 were shredded and no votes taken unless and until each legislator indicated they had read and understood each bill being considered, we’d have a much better and more responsible legislature.
Not sure that’ll ever happen.
Thanks to Idaho Dispatch for the information we need to select our representatives and senators. They better start getting something accomplished or we will find someone who can.
Alot of good bills have Passed:
H465 No AI porn of children
H433 No degree needed if skilled
H666 No abortion provider can provide sex ed materials
S1317 Don’t tread on me license avail.,$ to gun education
S1380 Social Services Ombudsmen
H0498 Harmful material on internet removed from children access
H0494 Harsher penalties for sex trafficking
H0518 Harsher penalties for Medicaid fraud
H0665 No Public $ investment for foreign adversaries
SB1291 Boycott companies that boycott non wokers
SCR116 Teach Founding principles, history of western civilizations, responsible citizenship in schls
Are all these signed by Governor? Or just passed in House or Senate and are in a dead drawer status? I know RINO party has had a successful year killing some very protective, conservative bills.
This is why the RINOs stink: They hold too much “stuff” in their drawers.
Does anyone have a problem with the fact that our REPRESENTATIVES seem to relish the job of LAWMAKER rather than REPRESENTATIVE? I do not remember telling my three to go down and make a lot of laws. Yes, some things need to be addressed, but there have been as of last March 15, OVER 1000 bills created. I can’t imagine what some of them must have been about, but that averages out to around 8 bills PER Rep and Senator. Perhaps WE THE PEOPLE need to put forth a bill that only allows for 4 bills per legislator and NONE from any agency unless they can find a legislator to put it forward in place of one of theirs. Then they might just have to THINK about the bills they are proposing and if they are truly NEEDED.
Bingo! You couldn’t have said it better.
It does appear that most legislators are busy making laws, instead of protecting our original ones in the Constitution. They probably don’t even know what’s in the Constitution, or from where it came.