Committee advances bill barring local governments from mandating EV chargers in building permits

The Senate Commerce Committee voted to send House Bill 86 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation after extended testimony from both supporters and opponents over whether the state should preempt local codes requiring electric-vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

Representative Joe Palmer of Meridian, chairing the House committee that produced the measure, told the Senate committee the bill would "preempt local governments from being able to enforce or force a government or a person to put in EV chargers in their building through the building permit process." Palmer argued that building codes are intended for health and safety and said requiring conduit or transformers as part of permitting imposes high costs.

Lisa Hecht, a retired electrical and computer engineer from Boise who owns an EV, urged the committee to oppose the bill and to preserve local planning authority. "As I plan my routes through Idaho, I drive through towns where chargers exist," Hecht said. She told the committee that charging infrastructure can bring customers to small towns and that planning ahead avoids more-expensive retrofits.

Jonathan Oppenheimer, government-relations director for the Idaho Conservation League, also urged opposition and described the bill as contrary to a "dig once" approach. He said leaving conduit and preparatory work out of initial construction risks higher retrofit costs later and cited the statewide outflow of money for fossil fuels as a reason to plan for EV infrastructure.

Supporters of HB 86 framed the bill as protecting property owners from being forced to install costly equipment and preventing what they described as overreach by local governments. Opponents emphasized local control and the economic benefits of chargers to small and rural communities.

During committee debate several senators argued both sides. Senator Leahy said the building code should remain focused on health and safety and supported the bill as keeping the building-code process in scope. Senator Warren Engle King (identified in committee as a supporter of local control) said Boise had taken extensive public input before adopting its code and opposed preemption.

Vice Chairman Lenny moved and Senator Nichols seconded a motion to send House Bill 86 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation. The committee voted by voice; the motion carried. Committee minutes show members asked that their individual votes be recorded, but the transcript of the hearing does not list the recorded roll-call in this hearing transcript.