Senate committee backs resolution rejecting portion of genetic counselors' code-of-ethics rule

The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to send House Concurrent Resolution 14 to the full Senate with a "do pass" recommendation, endorsing the committee's prior rejection of a section of an administrative rule that had incorporated an anti-discrimination statement into the Genetic Counselors Code of Ethics.

The resolution, presented by Senator Van Orden, seeks to confirm the committee's action to reject that portion of the administrative rule. Senator Lenny moved that the committee send HCR 14 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the motion was seconded and carried. Senator Wintrow registered opposition during the vote.

Committee members debated whether the rejected text was a standard inclusive, nondiscrimination statement. Senator Van Orden described the measure as a concurrence with an earlier rejection of the ethics language. Senator Wintrow opposed sending the resolution forward, saying she believed the clause ensured protections against discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, gender identity and sexual orientation and that rejecting it was problematic for those reasons.

Senator Lenny made the motion to advance the resolution, and it was seconded. The committee chair called the question and the motion passed; the record notes at least one opposing senator during the roll call. The committee did not, in committee, change any statute; HCR 14 is a concurrent resolution to register the Senate's position on review of an administrative rule.

The resolution now goes to the Senate floor for consideration. If approved there it will represent the Senate's concurrence with the committee's rejection of that portion of the genetic counselors' administrative rule.

Meeting context: the discussion was brief compared with other agenda items, and committee members who spoke framed the issue as narrowly administrative (rule review) rather than a new statutory change.