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Committee sends bill to amend search-and-rescue reimbursement threshold to amendment order
Summary
The Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee sent House Bill 185 to the fourteenth order for amendment; the bill would raise the threshold at which Idaho's catastrophic search-and-rescue fund is used from $4,000 to $8,000.
The Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee voted to send House Bill 185 to the fourteenth order for a possible amendment. The measure would increase the dollar threshold that triggers access to Idaho's search-and-rescue catastrophic reimbursement fund from $4,000 to $8,000.
Senator James Ruckde, R-29, introduced the bill and noted a cross-reference on the bill's first page that was not updated; he asked the committee to send it to the fourteenth order so staff could correct the drafting omission.
Kelly Brasfield of the Idaho Association of Counties testified in support and described the bill as a procedural change to ease reimbursement timing for counties. Sheriff Chris Goetz (testifying remotely for the Idaho Sheriffs' Association) told the committee that the first $4,000 historically came from a regular search-and-rescue fund and anything above that went to a catastrophic fund that meets infrequently. "Helicopter bills easily surpass $4,000," the sheriff said, noting that some modern rescues use specialized equipment and can be more costly than when the statute was adopted in the 1980s.
Witnesses said the catastrophic fund currently holds about $700,000 and averages roughly five qualifying incidents per year under the current statutory threshold. Funding sources described by witnesses include small allocations from recreational-vehicle registrations, gasoline-tax receipts and fishing/game license revenue; the bill does not increase those fees, only the reimbursement threshold.
Senators moved the bill to the fourteenth order to allow a staff amendment replacing the lone remaining "$4,000" reference on page one with "$8,000." The committee did not take a final floor recommendation at the hearing and instead authorized amendment in the fourteenth order.
