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Committee advances bill to speed income verification in public‑assistance fraud investigations
Summary
House Bill 62 would let the Department of Health and Welfare request tax data from the Idaho Tax Commission (via an MOU) to verify income in public assistance fraud probes; the committee voted to send the bill to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation.
Representative Ben Fuhrman, R‑District 30 (Butte and Bingham counties), presented House Bill 62 to the House Health and Welfare Committee and asked members to move the bill to the House floor with a due‑pass recommendation.
Fuhrman clarified that the bill deals with public assistance benefits other than Medicaid. “Everything we're talking about here is things that do not fall under the authority of the Medicaid fraud control unit as provided in section 56‑226 of Idaho code,” he told the committee.
Under current practice, Health and Welfare investigators can subpoena banks and other sources to verify income, a process Fuhrman said can take 30 days or more and may stall when entities are out of state. HB 62 would authorize Health and Welfare to request tax information the state already possesses from the Tax Commission through a memorandum of understanding; Fuhrman said the tax data is private and may only be used in investigations or as required in court proceedings.
Representative Redmond moved to send HB 62 to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; the chair recorded the bill as sent to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation.
Fuhrman told the committee the approach is intended to streamline fraud investigations and reduce delays caused by out‑of‑state subpoenas; the bill does not expand Medicaid fraud authority and is limited to public assistance programs handled by Health and Welfare.
