Committee backs bill to align private and public college guide-license exemptions

House resources and conservation committee members voted to send House Bill 15 to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation after Representative Britt Raybould said the measure would equalize how Idaho treats public and private accredited postsecondary institutions that take students on guided outdoor trips.

"House Bill 15 takes a very simple approach to addressing an issue that exists within the code as it relates to outfitters and guides and their licensure," Representative Britt Raybould said. She told the committee the bill clarifies that private accredited institutions should receive the same exemption from outfitter-and-guide licensure that state employees at public postsecondary institutions currently enjoy under existing statute.

The bill drew questions from the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association and from a university representative about how the exemption might affect public safety standards, use conflicts and whether private institutions could market trips to nonstudents. Aaron Lieberman, executive director of the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association, said the association did not oppose the bill but raised concerns about three areas: potential increased user conflicts where no land manager exists, health and safety standards for guides operating under the exemption, and the lack of language limiting exempted activity to enrolled students.

"If the University falls outside the scope of licensure, the same standards and requirements that are required of a licensed guide would not apply," Lieberman told the committee, asking the sponsors to consider guardrails limiting exempt activities to academic or student-program uses and to address guide training or safety standards.

Morris Christiansen, representing Brigham Young University–Idaho, told the committee his institution currently limits trips to enrolled students and spouses and works with federal and state land managers, and that safety and professional standards guide their operations.

"We only allow access to BYU–Idaho students and their spouses," Christiansen said. "We want to operate at the standard of care, and we will operate through our state and federal land representatives as we go out onto those public lands, just as we have in the past."

Representative Raybould told the committee she had consulted Idaho Fish and Game about historical complaints and that regional offices reported no concerns; she said regional staff characterized student groups as "better behaved than most of the general public," noting examples of students picking up trash and following best practices on public lands.

After discussion, Representative Raybould moved that the committee send House Bill 15 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation. The committee adopted the motion by voice vote.

The bill text and any implementing rule language were not discussed in detail during the hearing. The committee did not add statutory language specifying training standards or a student-only restriction; committee discussion and testimony recorded concerns but did not produce a formal amendment in the hearing.