Idaho Legislature's end date in sight; here is what's happened so far

As the Idaho Legislature heads into what’s targeted as the last month of the session — though who can say when it will truly wrap up — there’s been a few headline items already passed, and many more budget bills to go before lawmakers may head home.

With hundreds of bills introduced and in various stages of consideration, here is a nonexhaustive look at some of the main topics that have come up so far.

School choice

After years of proposals and pressure to pass a bill to allow state funds to go toward private education, the Legislature this year passed a $50 million school choice tax credit. Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed HB 93 on Thursday, marking the first time in state history state funds will be allowed to go toward private K-12 school tuition.

There was lengthy debate on the bill and overwhelming opposition from public school advocacy groups. Its supporters argued that parents should be able to access state funds if public school isn’t working for their children, and opponents argued that the state shouldn’t fund another system of education when they felt Idaho’s public schools weren’t adequately supported.

Medicaid

As has been the case for a number of years, the Medicaid program and ways to contain its costs have been a major topic of debate during the 2025 session.

Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, introduced a bill to fully repeal Medicaid expansion — a program approved by Idaho voters via a ballot initiative in 2018 to expand coverage to those who earned too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid and not enough to get insurance through the state health care exchange. This bill has not advanced since its introduction in January.

Two other bills dealing with Medicaid and expansion are working their way through the system. Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene, introduced a bill in early February that required the Department of Health and Welfare to seek permission from the government to make 11 major changes to the program in a short timeline under threat of the full repeal of Medicaid expansion. Many argued the conditions in the bill were impossible to meet and would guarantee the repeal.

HB 138 passed the House in a 38-32 vote, and awaits a hearing in the Senate.

Redman and others have also introduced HB 328, which would seek some of the same changes to expansion as HB 138, but would also shift the method of administration of the entire Medicaid program in Idaho. This bill is expected to have a hearing on Tuesday.

Immigration

Republican lawmakers in Idaho have been calling for greater enforcement of illegal immigration, and this year two bills were introduced to create new state-level crimes of being in Idaho without documentation and allow local law enforcement to enforce immigration in certain circumstances.

One of those bills, HB 83, has cleared the Idaho House and advanced through a Senate Committee on Friday. The committee voted to send the house bill to what’s known as the 14th order, which means that senators may submit and vote on potential amendments.

Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, sponsored HB 83, and Senate President Pro Tempore Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, sponsored SB 1039. Anthon said Friday the amendments were meant to consolidate their bills.

Idaho lawmakers have also been discussing introducing legislation to require employers to use a system called E-verify, which is meant to check immigration status, InvestigateWest reported in January. No bill has been introduced yet this session.

Bills to hit the governor’s desk

As of Thursday, Gov. Little had received 12 bills and signed 10, according to the most recent available tracking sheet.

One of those that he signed was HB 7, a bill to create a $300 mandatory minimum fine for possession of small amounts of marijuana. The bill faced opposition in committee from a group of veterans who advocate for the legalization of medicinal marijuana.

One bill still sitting on his desk awaiting a signature is HB 32, which would prohibit governments, health districts and schools from implementing mask mandates to slow the spread of infectious diseases.

A few House Republicans and one Republican senator voted against the bill, citing the preemption of local control. All Democrats who were present to vote in the House and Senate opposed the bill.

Budgets, what’s left?

While lawmakers have hundreds of bills to consider during the roughly three-month session, the only action they are constitutionally obligated to take before the session may adjourn for the year is to fully fund a balanced budget.

The budget setters of the Joint Finance and Appropriate Finance Committee (JFAC) got off to a rocky start, as the members failed to agree on a revenue projection from which to set the budget against in a mid-January meeting.

Members approved a current fiscal year projection, but a fiscal year 2026 number has not been set.

Lawmakers are required to approve a balanced budget, so it’s unclear what the balance will be against if there’s no projection. Legislative Budget Manager Keith Bybee told the Lewiston Tribune that he has not been through a session where a revenue number was not set.

Members also initially failed to agree on employee compensation adjustments in two attempts, before approving a pay raise in early February, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.

The budget writers have approved agency “maintenance budgets,” which do not include new spending. There have also been several budgets that include new requests that have advanced out of JFAC.

New spending in the biggest budgets — public schools and Medicaid — have not yet come up.

If the majority of either the House or Senate reject any of the budgets on the floor, budget-setters must go back and try again.

The target end-date for the session is March 21.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.