Idaho House advances utility tax swap, Medicaid overhaul, medical residency funding and other bills

The Idaho House of Representatives on March 6 approved a series of bills addressing taxes on utilities, Medicaid policy, health-care workforce funding and rules for local government and schools.

Representative, District 21 presented the measure to change how utilities are taxed and said the bill replaces central property assessments with a usage-based tax. "This bill takes the property tax that the utilities are paying on the centrally assessed property, and it replaces it with a different type of tax... for the electric utilities, it's going to a kilowatt-per-hour tax, and for the gas companies, it's going to a therms tax," the Representative, District 21 said. Proponents called the change a revenue-neutral replacement designed to keep local taxing districts whole; some members warned it could show up as incremental charges on consumer utility bills.

The chamber also passed the Medicaid Affordability and Healthcare Access Act (House Bill 3 45), a broad measure the sponsor described as saving taxpayer dollars and changing the structure of the Medicaid expansion population’s coverage. Representative, District 17, who presented the bill, said the measure includes "comprehensive managed care" provisions, site-neutral payments and cost-sharing changes intended to reduce spending and improve sustainability in a $5.2 billion Medicaid program. Opponents, including Representative, District 19, warned the work-reporting requirements and forced managed care could harm people with disabilities and risk administrative churn similar to experiences in other states.

Lawmakers approved House Bill 3 33, an enhancement appropriation for health education and residency programs…