Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Laboratory Regulation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee advances bill to move lab rules into statute and allow market-rate lab fees
Summary
House Bill 198 would transfer several Idaho laboratory rules into statute and authorize the state lab to set testing fees at market rates to avoid disadvantaging private labs. Sponsor Sen. Carl Bjerke said the measure does not add substantive regulation; committee voted to advance the bill.
Sen. Carl Bjerke told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee that House Bill 198 would transfer existing administrative rules into statute for Idaho laboratory programs and authorize the state laboratory to change testing fees to market rates where appropriate.
Bjerke said the bill moves quality assurance and certification programs (IDAPA 16.02.06 and related chapters) from administrative rule into statute; he said the legislation does not add new regulatory burdens beyond current requirements. One substantive change, Bjerke said, is section 12, which authorizes the state laboratory to set market‑rate fees so the laboratory does not underprice private labs and thereby disadvantage private providers. He said the existing fee structure dated back decades and needed modernization.
The nut graf: sponsor framed the bill as clarification and stability—codifying long‑standing practices in statute and modernizing fees that had not been reviewed for decades. The bill does not increase regulatory obligations for laboratories beyond current practices, Bjerke said.
Sen. Wintrow asked whether moving rules into statute constituted substantive change; Bjerke said, aside from the fee change, the measure is largely a rules‑to‑statute movement. After brief questions, the committee voted to send House Bill 198 to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation.
Votes at a glance: Motion to send House Bill 198 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation — approved by committee (voice vote).
