Committee deadlocks on bill to change rule review to sunset; related bill held for revision

Representative Barbieri, sponsor of House Bill 217, said the bill would replace a statutory "review" process with a "sunset" mechanism, requiring agencies to justify rules every eight years and to provide statements on statutes and implementation costs.

Alan Prouty, vice president for environmental and regulatory affairs at JR Simplot Company and chairman of Food Northwest Trade Association, urged the committee to oppose H 217. He said mandatory eight-year sunsetting would impose a heavy administrative burden on state agencies and the regulated community, citing environmental rules that largely implement federal statutes and sometimes require frequent, targeted updates tied to federal changes or scientific developments.

John Eaton, vice president of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, also urged opposition and offered alternative process changes. Eaton said existing statute (cited in testimony as Idaho Code § 67-454) authorizes germane subcommittees to review rules but argued the legislature has not consistently followed that process; he proposed working on a targeted procedural fix rather than wholesale sunsetting.

Committee members raised concerns about implementation costs, primacy with federal agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the potential for unintended consequences if required rulemaking windows lapse. Proponents of the measure said sunsetting would force legislative oversight of administrative rules and curb regulatory creep.

Representative Nicholson initially moved to send H 217 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation; the motion was later withdrawn by unanimous consent. Representative Scott later moved to send H 217 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation; the committee took a roll-call vote and the motion failed 7 to 6. The transcript records a series of yes and no responses during roll call and states the motion failed 7 to 6; the committee then proceeded to House Bill 218.

Representative Barbieri described House Bill 218 as a companion measure that would limit an agency director's ability to promulgate rules more than 10 years after a statute's enactment unless the statute is substantively amended; Representative Alfieri moved that H 218 be held in committee to allow statutory language fixes. The committee approved the motion to hold H 218.

Testimony and Q&A in the hearing focused on: administrative workload for agencies and regulated entities, the role of federal statutes (for example the Clean Water Act and EPA delegated programs) in shaping state rules, the temporary-rule process for emergencies (such as ISDA's quagga mussel actions on the Snake River), and procedural alternatives such as better use of germane subcommittees to pre-review pending rules before session.

No final statutory text or fiscal analyses were produced in this hearing; committee action was limited to the failed roll-call motion for H 217 and holding H 218 for revision.