Idaho Senate committee sends bill to floor to codify fence responsibility at federal land boundaries

An Idaho Senate committee voted to send Senate Bill 1053 to the Senate floor with a do-pass recommendation after legislators and agricultural groups said the measure would clarify existing law that places responsibility for fences on landowners bordering federal land.

Senator Mark Harris, Idaho State Senate, Legislative District 35, presented the bill and described court rulings and local litigation he said have left landowners uncertain about responsibility for fences. "The courts have said that landowners that border federal land are responsible for building and maintaining their fences," Harris said, and he asked the committee to consider sending the bill to the floor.

The bill’s sponsors and supporters said the measure is intended to put settled case law into statute to avoid costly litigation. Harris cited litigation in Adams County in which a landowner who removed a fence…