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Committee introduces bill to let attorney general investigate alleged criminal conduct by city elected officials
Summary
Representative Bruce Skog introduced RS 31834 to expand the Idaho attorney general's investigatory authority, currently applied to county elected officials, to include elected city officials; the committee voted to introduce the proposal unanimously.
Representative Bruce Skog, District 10, said RS 31834 would extend to city-elected officials the same investigative authority the attorney general currently has for county elected officials under code created in 2014. "What is good for county elected officials is good for city elected officials," Skog said in committee.
Skog told the committee the existing 2014 code covers allegations of criminal-code violations by county elected officials but, for unknown reasons, does not apply to city mayors and city council members. He described situations in which local prosecutors were reluctant to pursue alleged misconduct because of close local relationships and said the attorney general's office has declined jurisdiction in some city cases because the statute did not authorize it.
Skog said the measure is not aimed at county employees but at elected officials, and that prior efforts to pass similar language made it through the House and Senate committee process in a prior session but failed on a tied vote on the Senate floor. He said he plans to bring agency witnesses, likely from the attorney general's office, at a full bill hearing to explain how the authority has been used.
A committee member who previously served as a city councilman supported the introduction, describing having faced mayoral misconduct that local prosecutors did not pursue. A motion to introduce RS 31834 carried by voice vote; the mover was recorded in the discussion but not named clearly in the transcript and the chair declared the motion carried. No numerical tally was given at the hearing.
The committee did not adopt any statutory language during the print hearing; the measure was only introduced. Representative Skog said he is working with Representative Chris Bruce, who is currently a city councilman, and expects a fuller hearing with the attorney general's office to explain the application and scope of the authority.
