State Affairs committee advances measures on filing fees, campaign merchandise reporting, transparency and ratepayer protections

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee advanced several items on Monday, introducing two rule‑setting (RS) drafts, sending one bill and one resolution to the House floor with a due‑pass recommendation and introducing a ratepayer protection proposal.

Representative Stephanie Mickelson of Bonneville County asked the committee to introduce RS 32292C1, which would raise filing fees for candidates. “What you have in front of you is an RS that you had seen before … and what we did was we simply moved the filing fees up,” Mickelson said, listing higher fees for U.S. Senate, congressional, statewide and judicial offices.

The committee also introduced RS 32571, presented by Representative Joe Alfieri of District 4 in Coeur d’Alene. Alfieri said the RS would allow campaigns to report sales of campaign merchandise such as hats or T‑shirts as bulk receipts rather than reporting each individual transaction, so long as each sale is $200 or less and the campaign reports the aggregated amount to the Secretary of State. “You bring hats to an event, you sell your hats at $20 apiece, you report it as a bulk transaction,” Alfieri said. He added that the RS does not eliminate reporting to the Secretary of State and that campaigns would still report the aggregated receipts.

Committee members asked several questions about sales tax and how the exemption would work in practice. Alfieri said the RS exempts those campaign sales from reporting under Chapter 36, Title 63 (the transcript reference to sales‑tax reporting) and that, as written, campaigns would not be required to collect and report sales tax on each small resale transaction. He and other members discussed scenarios such as buying merchandise for resale and whether the merchant or the campaign would pay sales tax at the point of initial purchase.

Representative Heather Scott, District 2, presented House Bill 358, legislation to require agencies to submit certain agreements and memoranda (MOUs/MOAs) through a designated State Comptroller reporting portal. Scott said the measure would put into law reporting requirements that previously had been implemented only as a Comptroller policy. “They shall submit through the designated State Comptroller’s reporting portal and the agency shall report the agreement,” she told the committee, describing required fields including document title, execution date, participant list and a summary of purpose. The committee voted to send HB 358 to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation.

Representative Barbara Ehart of District 33 presented House Resolution 11, a nonbinding resolution commemorating the historical role of prayer in American public life and citing U.S. history and case law. Ehart said the resolution is intended as an affirmation of historical practice and noted the U.S. Supreme Court decision cited in the transcript (transcript text: “March versus Chambers,” commonly cited as Marsh v. Chambers). The committee voted to send HR 11 to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation.

Representative Dan Garner of District 28 introduced RS 32620, described as a ratepayer protection RS that would require a large electric customer — an entity expected to draw 10 megawatts or more — to pay the infrastructure or generation costs necessary to serve that load rather than passing those costs on to retail ratepayers. The committee voted to introduce RS 32620.

The committee also approved ministerial business, including approval of minutes for the March 6 meeting.

Votes at a glance: - Approval of March 6 minutes — motion carried (voice vote; no tally provided). - RS 32292C1 (increase candidate filing fees) — motion to introduce carried (voice vote; introduced). - RS 32571 (campaign merchandise aggregated reporting; $200 transaction threshold; sales‑tax reporting exemption cited) — motion to introduce carried (mover: Representative Palmer; voice vote; introduced). - HB 358 (require State Comptroller portal reporting of agreements/MOUs/MOAs; required fields and annual review) — motion to send to floor with a due‑pass recommendation carried (mover: Representative Barbieri; voice vote). - HR 11 (recognizing historical role of prayer in public life) — motion to send to floor with a due‑pass recommendation carried (mover: Representative Scott; voice vote). - RS 32620 (ratepayer protection for large electric loads — 10 MW threshold) — motion to introduce carried (voice vote; introduced).

The committee’s action advances HB 358 and HR 11 to the House floor for further consideration, while the RS measures will require additional committee consideration and drafting before they could become law or be enacted as administrative rules. Several members signaled follow‑up questions, particularly on the campaign‑merchandise RS and the sales‑tax implications; no final votes on policy language were recorded at the committee level for those RS items.

Members and staff noted that some provisions discussed—such as whether and when sales tax would be collected on merchandise bought for resale or donated goods resold by campaigns—would be clarified in subsequent drafting or by the Secretary of State/Comptroller offices’ guidance.

The committee adjourned after introducing RS 32620.