Health and Welfare committee introduces RS 31795 to allow tax-data sharing in benefits-fraud probes

BOISE, Idaho — The House Health and Welfare Committee on Oct. 12 voted to introduce RS 31795, a proposed change that would allow the Department of Health and Welfare to receive tax information from the State Tax Commission when investigators have a suspicion of benefits fraud.

Jared Larson, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Chief at the Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee the proposed subsection would let the department enter into a memorandum of understanding with the tax commission to obtain tax records, including adjusted gross income, to evaluate eligibility for benefits. "This section of code governs benefit fraud and the process for investigating that," Larson said, adding the department has been developing the proposal for about two years.

Larson said the department currently relies on subpoenas for bank records to assemble income information, a process he described as "intrusive" and limited when financial institutions are out of state and do not respond. "What this memorandum of understanding would do... it would give us the authority to receive tax information when we have suspicion of fraud about a recipient that may be filed at the tax commission," Larson said. He said preliminary discussions with the tax commission show no objection to the proposal.

Representative Redmond moved to introduce RS 31795; Representative Wheeler seconded. Committee members discussed minor drafting and fiscal-note wording issues during debate. Representative Wheeler pointed to a grammatical wording choice in the draft; Representative Raso suggested changing the word "recuperate" to "recover" in the fiscal note. Representative Rubel asked whether a corrected draft required a separate motion; the chair responded that the statement of purpose (SOP) can be edited at any time and does not block introduction.

The committee approved the motion by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript. If RS 31795 is printed, Larson said Representative Furman has agreed to sponsor the bill and the committee would address detailed questions at a future hearing.

The committee chair closed the short session after encouraging members to submit additional RS proposals for the week.

Ending: With the RS introduced, the measure moves to the next stage (printing and assignment of a bill sponsor) before the committee schedules a formal hearing where details of any memorandum of understanding and potential privacy or procedural safeguards would be discussed.