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Committee advances bill letting post council consider certifying some applicants with old nonviolent felonies
Summary
Senate Bill 1139 would allow post council discretion to certify applicants for peace-officer certification who have certain prior felony convictions that are not among the most serious crimes; the Judiciary & Rules Committee sent the bill to the floor with a due pass recommendation.
The Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1139 to the Senate floor with a due pass recommendation. Sheriff Chris Goetz of Canyon County presented the bill and said it draws a statutory line between the most serious felonies — those that automatically bar certification — and other felony convictions that post council could evaluate on a case-by-case basis.
Goetz described a staff case in which a long-serving, honorably discharged military veteran with a 24-year-old grand-theft conviction (dismissed after withheld judgment) could not be certified under current law even though an agency head and training completed suggested he would be an appropriate hire. SB1139 would permit agency heads to seek post-council consideration for those cases and permit the post-council review set out in Idaho Code §67-9411, which factors seriousness of the offense, relationship to job duties, and passage of time.
Committee members had no extended questions; no public testimony was offered. The committee approved the motion to send SB1139 to the floor with a due pass recommendation.
