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RS 31987 would move foster-care licensing rules into statute and add firearm-safety education for foster parents
Summary
Sen. Brandon Shippey said RS 31987 transfers licensing provisions from administrative rule to statute and replaces a requirement that foster parents lock up firearms with an educational-video approach; the committee voted to send the RS to print.
Sen. Brandon Shippey (District 9) described RS 31987 to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee as a measure to transfer certain foster-care licensing provisions from administrative rule into statute and to refine firearm-related requirements for foster parents.
"This bill eliminates sections 230 and 232 and 233 from the Idaho Administrators Administrative Procedures Act, relating to foster care licensing and moves the necessary components into statute," Shippey said. He told the committee that one issue driving the RS was a licensing requirement that foster parents lock up guns and ammunition in separate locations, a rule he said discouraged some prospective providers.
Shippey said the Department of Health and Welfare supports the change and that the department will create an educational video on gun safety to include as part of the orientation for becoming licensed. "The department will be creating an educational video on gun safety, which hasn't existed before now," Shippey said, describing that as an alternative to placing specific storage mandates in statute.
Senator Wintrow asked how the measure would safeguard against firearms being kept where children could access them (for example, under a pillow or in a desk drawer). Shippey told the committee that placing specific statutory requirements about firearm storage is legally and practically tricky and that education tailored to different foster-care scenarios would be more effective than vague rules.
Senator Blaylock moved to send RS 31987 to print; the committee approved the motion by voice vote. The transcript does not include the full text of the RS, the exact statutory language to be moved, or a fiscal note.
