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House committee holds Department of Labor rules docket after members raise concerns about removed definitions
Summary
The Idaho House Commerce & Human Resources Committee voted unanimously to hold docket 0901012401 after members questioned removing definitions from administrative rules and whether those definitions would remain accessible in statute or federal materials.
The Idaho House Commerce & Human Resources Committee on Feb. 20 voted unanimously to hold docket number 0901012401, a Department of Labor rules package, until a time certain one week later after members raised concerns about striking definitions from the rules.
The Department of Labor presentation was led by Janie Revere, director of the department, who said the initiative was part of the governor's zero-based regulation review. "There were no specific rule changes, rather we are implementing or we are eliminating outdated rules and rules that restate state or federal statute," Revere said, and added that the department held negotiated rulemaking and received no negative feedback.
Committee members pressed staff about several specific deletions of definitions. Representative Holzklaw, chairing the committee, asked where a deleted definition for "subpoena" would now be found and warned that if a definition is removed from rule it must be discoverable elsewhere for legislators and citizens. Revere replied she would consult legal counsel for an exact citation but said the department did not intend to create new definitions and relied on commonly accepted or authorizing statutory definitions.
Members flagged that some definitions appear to have been moved to federal law or to other Idaho statutes listed in the docket's authority section. Representative Holzklaw stressed the practical problem for nonexperts: "If we eliminate something from rules and I don't find it in the state statute and there's no reference in the authorizing documents to federal law ... that definition evaporates," he said.
After discussion, Representative Holzklaw moved to hold the docket "time certain" to Thursday, Feb. 27. The committee approved the motion in a roll-call vote, 15-0. The committee record shows members voting yes included Representative Vishnevsky, Weber, McCann, Cheatham, Healy, Weiswinger, Bruce, Burgoyne, Kaylor, Furman, Leavitt, Tanner, Egbert and Achilles.
The hold preserves the current rules while staff provides follow-up information identifying where deleted definitions will be located (state statute, federal code, or other official guidance). The committee's questions focused on discoverability and consistency across dockets undergoing the department's rule-review effort.
The committee proceeded to the next docket after the unanimous vote; the Department of Labor and committee staff will supply the requested citations before the Feb. 27 hearing.
