A new bill would give the Legislature direct control over high school graduation requirements.

The House Ways and Means Committee — a catchall panel made up largely of GOP and Democratic leadership — quickly introduced the bill during an early morning meeting Friday.

Graduation requirements now reside in Idaho Department of Education rules — and the Legislature can approve or reject rule changes. But the bill would move all the graduation requirements into state code, “where they should have been the whole time,” said Rep. Dale Hawkins, R-Fernwood, a supporter who presented the bill to committee.

The difference with this move: the Legislature and the governor would be able to add or delete graduation requirements simply by passing a bill.

During a brief hearing, Hawkins said the requirements in code might be “slightly different” than the requirements now in agency rule. But he could not offer details, deferring instead to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, who was not present in the hearing.

Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise, opposed introducing the bill.

“We should be trusting the education professionals and the administration,” he said. “I think we have sufficient control as it is.”

The committee introduced the bill, paving the way for a full hearing, perhaps in the House Education Committee.

Mask mandate prohibition heads to governor 

Idaho schools, colleges and universities could soon be barred from implementing mask mandates. The Senate overwhelmingly supported House Bill 32 Friday, sending it to Gov. Brad Little. The bill passed nearly along party lines. 

Sponsoring Sen. Brian Lenney said trust in public health districts has “eroded” since the COVID-19 pandemic, and banning mask mandates would show that “the mistakes of the past will not be repeated in the future.”

“We keep hearing in the news about what the next pandemic is going to be,” said Lenney, R-Nampa. “I’ve heard, bird flu, swine flu, whatever China invents next.”

Sixty-nine people have tested positive for avian flu in the U.S., and one has died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The “current public health risk is low,” CDC reports, but the agency recommends masks, among other personal protective equipment, when exposed to sick animals. 

HB 32 would apply to public schools, colleges and universities as well as city, county and state governments and their various agencies, including public health districts. All would be prohibited from requiring masks “for the purpose of preventing or slowing the spread of a contagious or infectious disease,”  the bill says. 

HB 32 would not apply to jobs where masks are “an integral and compulsory safety component,” the bill says. 

The Senate voted 27-6 in favor of the bill, which already cleared the House. One Senate Republican joined the Democrats in opposition Friday. 

Sen. Jim Guthrie, a Republican from McCammon, said the bill is ambiguous about how it would apply to public health districts, and it “usurps local control.” 

“Sometimes we legislate from up here, and it has an effect on those that are elected to govern at the local level, and I worry about that.”

House committee rejects required reporting on immigration status in schools

The House Education Committee Friday rejected a proposal that would have directed schools, colleges and universities to collect and publicize information on the citizenship status of students. 

Rep. Steve Tanner tried to introduce the plan, but it failed on a 7-7 tie vote amid bipartisan opposition. Tanner, R-Nampa, argued that the bill would measure the “burden” on education caused by people coming to the United States thanks to “the actions of the Biden administration.” Tanner specifically noted the cost of schools to teach English to non-native speakers.   

“We’re just asking for demographics, social metrics, so we can assess, really, what is the measure of the new burden that we’re trying to meet?”

But opponents questioned the sponsor’s justification for collecting the data, and worried the proposal could be unconstitutional. “This smells like undue discrimination,” said Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise. “It will cost the taxpayers about a quarter million dollars to litigate.” 

Others argued the data collection and reporting could require significant expense to schools, colleges and universities — costs that weren’t identified in the draft bill’s fiscal note. It would have directed “any educational institution that receives funds from the state” to record the immigration status and nationality of all enrolled students. And it would have directed all public school districts and colleges and universities to publicize the aggregate data. 

The rationale behind collecting citizenship data to identify costs associated with teaching English “doesn’t hold a lot of water,” said Rep. Jack Nelsen. Public school districts already report how many students require instruction when English is a second language. 

“Unless there’s other reasons for collecting this data, we already have that,” said Nelsen, R-Jerome.

Rep. Lance Clow wondered about the value of knowing students’ nationality, and said he had “questions about the constitutionality” of the proposal. 

“I have some challenges that we’re looking for undocumented residents in the state, and that they’re going to require every parent to now prove their nationality,” said Clow, R-Twin Falls. “I just hope we don’t end up putting yellow stars on a group of people.”

Tanner’s proposal wasn’t unique. Education Week reported that state education officials in Oklahoma last month approved an administrative rule requiring that parents prove citizenship or legal immigration status when enrolling their children in public schools. 

Also last month, Tennessee lawmakers introduced a bill that would charge undocumented students tuition and fees to attend public schools, and Indiana lawmakers introduced a bill denying public school enrollment to undocumented students, Education Week reported. 

Rep. Dale Hawkins, R-Fernwood, moved to introduce the bill with a slight modification. Otherwise, no committee members lobbied in favor of it, aside from the sponsor. 

House Education Committee chairman Rep. Douglas Pickett, R-Oakley, who voted to return the proposal to its sponsor, noted at the end of Friday’s meeting that Tanner’s idea isn’t dead. It could resurface later this session.

‘Another option:’ a new anti-DEI bill surfaces

A competing diversity, equity and inclusion bill made its debut Friday morning.

The bill would essentially take the State Board of Education’s existing anti-DEI resolution and move it into state law.

The bill also would tack on penalties. If a college or university teaches DEI or establishes a DEI-aligned program, the State Board could collect penalties of up to 5% of a program budget. The State Board also could collect fines: $10,000 for a first violation, $25,000 for a second violation, and $50,000 for any subsequent violation.

“This is to give (us) another option to consider,” said Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, chair of the Senate State Affairs Committee and the sponsor of the new DEI bill.

Senate State Affairs already has a second anti-DEI bill — from a House-Senate task force that studied the issue before the session. Sponsored by Sen. Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene, this bill bans DEI offices and DEI officers and forbids discrimination in hiring or admissions. It too carries financial penalties, budget cuts of up to 2%.

Without discussion, the committee printed Guthrie’s bill. The committee could take up one or both anti-DEI bills at a future hearing.

Proposed property tax cut heads to House floor

A $100 million-a-year property tax cut bill is going to the House floor.

A followup to an omnibus property tax relief law from 2023, the bill would send school districts $50 million a year to offset bond issues and levies.

The other $50 million a year, also permanent, would go directly to homeowners for tax relief.

While schools and local governments collect and spend property taxes, the state has a overarching role in tax policy. “I think some of that falls to us,” said Rep. Jason Monks, R-Meridian, the House’s majority leader and a bill co-sponsor.

House GOP leadership has proposed a troika of tax cuts, including an income tax cut and an increase in the grocery tax credit. All told, the cuts could exceed $400 million.

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted unanimously to send the property tax bill to the House floor — but not without some testy discussion. The committee’s chair, Rep. David Cannon, R-Blackfoot, cut off Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, as Gannon discussed broader state tax policy.

Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise, said he supported the bill and the promise of additional tax relief, but lamented the $400 million or more that the Legislature is stripping away from public schools and state programs. “At the end of the day, you only get to play the cards you’re dealt.”

Rep. Jeff Ehlers, R-Meridian, said the far-reaching tax relief is not something to fear. “I think that’s something to celebrate.”

Bill requiring same-sex dorms heads to full House 

A bill requiring single-sex dorms and restrooms on college campuses is headed to the House floor. 

Rep. Barbara Ehardt’s bill would direct colleges and universities to designate multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms and dorm rooms “for the exclusive use by either females or males.” The requirement would also apply to prisons and domestic violence shelters. 

Transgender college students — and other students whose gender identity doesn’t match their birth sex — would be barred from using bathrooms, locker rooms and dorm rooms that align with their preferred gender.

The House Judiciary and Rules Committee approved House Bill 264 on a party-line vote Friday after a lengthy public hearing.  

“What this is doing is continuing what Idaho already started in the protection of girls and women,” said Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, who presented the bill with an attorney from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian conservative advocacy group. “…Female dorms need to remain for our women only.”

The legislation includes a private cause of action that would give someone standing to file a lawsuit against a higher education institution, prison or shelter that fails to take “reasonable steps” to maintain same-sex facilities. 

More than a dozen people testified against the proposal. Many argued that the bill targets transgender rights, and it would create uncomfortable — and potentially dangerous — situations when a transgender person is forced to use a restroom that aligns with their birth sex rather than their identity. 

“This is not about privacy or safety,” said Nikson Mathews, a transgender Meridian resident. “It weaponizes suspicion, giving people permission to police others simply for existing.”

Democrats questioned the purpose of the legislation. “I have not seen any shred of a problem being addressed here,” said House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise. 

Ehardt said she didn’t have documentation showing people have had their privacy or safety violated, and “we’re not finding that problem yet” at the university level. But she appeared to cite Adree Edmo, the Idaho prisoner who successfully sued the state after she was denied gender-confirmation surgery. Edmo in her lawsuit asked to be transferred from a men’s prison to a women’s prison. 

“I believe that our laws in Idaho are becoming more clear as to what our values are,” Ehardt said. “We want to make it very certain, though.”

Rep. John Shirts, who supported advancing the bill, said there’s “a compelling governmental interest in doing this type of legislation.”

“Women should not have to be forced to share facilities with biological males in prisons or domestic violence shelters,” said Shirts, R-Weiser. 

Eagle library could tap state funds for lawsuit under new bill

A new bill would allow local government agencies to tap state funds while defending a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s “harmful” materials library law. 

Earlier this month, national book publishers, authors, the Donnelly Public Library and some Idaho parents filed a lawsuit challenging House Bill 710 in federal court. The Eagle Public Library and three county prosecutors — from Ada, Nez Perce and Valley counties — were named as defendants along with the state. The Idaho Capital Sun reported on the lawsuit here. 

Sen. Dan Foreman introduced a bill to allow local governments to request state assistance while defending the library law and other constitutional challenges to state laws. 

“The bill is designed to protect local property taxpayers from funding a litigation that is based upon a statewide issue,” the bill’s statement of purpose says. 

Local agencies would file a request for assistance with the Idaho Constitutional Defense Council. The council — which includes the governor, Senate president pro tem, House speaker and attorney general — oversees the Constitutional Defense Fund. 

The state has spent $11 million defending state laws with the Constitutional Defense Fund since 2017, the Idaho Statesman reported last year. The costliest lawsuits over the last two decades challenged state laws on abortion and same-sex marriage, the Statesman reported. 

The Senate State Affairs Committee voted to introduce the bill, setting the stage for a future public hearing. Foreman, R-Moscow, is co-sponsoring the bill with Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens.