Committee sends bill to floor to let treasurer join national ABLE consortium, lower participant fees

An Idaho House committee voted to send House Bill 26 to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation on a voice vote after hearing testimony from the state treasurer and disability advocates.

Idaho State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth told the committee the bill would amend Idaho Code 56-708 to allow the treasurer to "enter into an agreement with a national consortium of ABLE accounts," create an ABLE advisory council and provide financial literacy outreach through the Treasurer’s Office and the Idaho State Independent Living Council.

ABLE accounts, created under federal law as Section 529A of the Internal Revenue Code, let eligible people with disabilities save for disability-related expenses without losing certain public benefits. Ellsworth said joining a multi-state consortium reduces per-account overhead and can substantially lower the fees paid by individual account holders. "If through a partnership, I can reduce that cost to 19 to 33%," she said, and added that current non‑partner fees people pay to out‑of‑state…