Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee introduces five health-related bills, schedules print hearings

BOISE — The Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee introduced five legislative service (RS) requests Tuesday that would change nursing practice language, merge two long‑term care licensing boards, update controlled‑substance schedules, remove obsolete Department of Health and Welfare references in state code and implement a federal requirement for Medicaid third‑party authorizations.

Rep. Dore Healy, who represents District 15, presented RS 31‑965 to clarify licensed practical nurse responsibilities under delegated authority from registered nurses, saying the bill replaces a vague phrase with more precise language. “This is going to create a better safety and quality of care for all of our patients,” Healy said when asking the committee to introduce the measure.

The committee also introduced RS 31‑812, presented by Healy, to merge the Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators and the Board of Examiners for Residential Care Facility Administrators into a single board of long‑term care. Healy said the sponsor will provide more detail when the RS is printed for a committee hearing.

Nikki Chopsky, Health Professions Bureau chief at the Division of Occupational Professional Licenses and executive officer for the boards of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, summarized RS 31‑822. The RS would update Idaho’s Controlled Substances Act by adding 24 illicit substances — including various benzodiazepine derivatives, synthetic fentanyls, synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones — to Schedule I; by adding 23 synthetic anabolic‑steroid derivatives to Schedule III; and by placing zuranolone (Zirzuve), an FDA‑approved treatment for postpartum depression, in Schedule IV. Chopsky told the committee the Idaho Board of Pharmacy discussed the changes in open public meetings beginning in September 2024 and that no stakeholder concerns had been reported to date.

Jared Larson, legislative and regulatory affairs chief at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, presented RS 31‑820 as a “stop‑doing” and code‑cleanup package. The measure would remove antiquated references to the department in multiple code sections, transfer certain historical references and duties that now belong to the Department of Environmental Quality or the Department of Juvenile Corrections, and remove the department from a small set of functions (for example, some water plan and pool regulation references and a mid‑20th century provision related to compact hearings). Larson said the goal is to align statutory text with current agency responsibilities and gave section references the committee can review in print.

Larson told the committee that a portion of the RS concerns the data oversight council created in 2020 and noted only two full‑time equivalent positions were added at the state controller’s office to support that council; agencies have absorbed other participation within existing resources. Representative Rasor asked whether designees to the data oversight council were new hires; Larson said they were not, aside from the two FTE at the controller’s office.

RS 31‑796, introduced by Larson, would implement federal requirements from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 related to third‑party authorizations for Medicaid. Larson said the RS is intended to ensure Medicaid remains the payer of last resort and to prevent scenarios in which a non‑Medicaid insurer refuses payment solely because an item or service did not receive prior authorization from that insurer when Medicaid has authorized payment.

Committee members asked a small number of clarifying questions about fiscal impacts and jurisdictional clarity. Representative Wheeler moved to introduce RS 31‑965 and made the motion to introduce other RSes where indicated; Representative McCain moved to introduce RS 31‑820. The committee adopted each introduction by voice vote; the transcript records the chair calling for “ayes” and declaring the motions carried but does not record a roll‑call tally.

Votes at a glance

• RS 31‑965 — Clarify RN delegation to LPNs (introduce). Motion to introduce made by Rep. Wheeler. Outcome: introduced by voice vote; roll‑call tally not provided.

• RS 31‑812 — Merge boards into Board of Long Term Care (introduce). Presented by Rep. Dore Healy. Outcome: introduced by voice vote; roll‑call tally not provided.

• RS 31‑822 — Controlled substances scheduling changes, including zuranolone (introduce). Presented by Nikki Chopsky, Health Professions Bureau chief. Outcome: introduced by voice vote; roll‑call tally not provided.

• RS 31‑820 — Department of Health and Welfare code cleanup and reassignments (introduce). Presented by Jared Larson, Dept. of Health and Welfare. Outcome: introduced by voice vote; roll‑call tally not provided.

• RS 31‑796 — Medicaid third‑party authorization to comply with federal law (introduce). Presented by Jared Larson. Outcome: introduced by voice vote; roll‑call tally not provided.

What comes next

Each RS was printed for committee consideration, meaning the committee will schedule fuller hearings (print hearings) where the bills will be read line‑by‑line and stakeholders may testify. Several presenters said they will provide more detailed materials at that stage, including fiscal notes and precise statutory edits.

Meeting context

The committee convened and approved minutes from Jan. 15 and Jan. 20 before introducing the RS items. Discussion on the RS items was brief and focused on technical clarifications and the scope of statutory cleanup; no final policy votes or amendments were adopted during the session.