Health and Welfare committee advances three bills: obsolete-code clean-up, Medicaid scope-of-practice limit, laboratory statutes

The Health and Welfare Committee voted to send three bills to the Senate floor with due-pass recommendations: House Bill 91, House Bill 110 and House Bill 198.

House Bill 91: Alex Adams, director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee HB 91 identifies roughly 150 obsolete or inoperative statutory sections and removes them from Title 39 and related code. Adams said the items include defunct advisory committees, unfunded grant programs and archaic requirements such as printed newspaper notices for adulterated products. He described the bill as a statutory "decluttering" exercise with no fiscal impact and said agencies posted the changes for public and lobbyist review before the House action. Senator Harris moved and Senator Keiser seconded the motion to send HB 91 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the committee approved the motion by voice vote.

House Bill 110: Senator Seiderfeld introduced HB 110 as a measure to keep scope-of-practice decisions with the Legislature and professional licensing boards rather than allow Medicaid policy or administrative practice to effectively veto legislative changes. The bill does not compel Medicaid to reimburse new services but would prevent Medicaid rule or practice from being used to block a provider type authorized by statute from providing a service. The Department of Health and Welfare indicated it had no objection to the bill. Senator Blaylock moved and the committee voted by voice to send HB 110 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation.

House Bill 198: Senator Carl Bjerke presented HB 198, which moves several laboratory-related administrative rules into statute, including quality assurance for clinical laboratories, the state drinking-water laboratory certification program, clandestine drug laboratory cleanup rules, and state laboratory fees. The bill does not add new regulatory burdens except for one provision authorizing the state lab to set testing fees at market rates so the lab does not undercut private providers. Senator Shippey moved and Senator Wintrow seconded the motion; the committee approved HB 198 by voice vote.

Why this matters: HB 91 is an administrative cleanup that sponsors said will reduce confusion caused by obsolete statutory language. HB 110 clarifies that legislative decisions about scope of practice should be reflected across state programs and not be blocked by Medicaid policy; sponsors described it as preserving the Legislature's authority while retaining Medicaid's ability to exclude services where appropriate. HB 198 updates how laboratory standards and fees are codified and permits the state lab to charge market rates for services to avoid disadvantaging private labs.

Committee action distinctions: All three bills were reported out of committee with due-pass recommendations. Where members asked detailed questions — for example, about assisted-living inspection sections affected by HB 91 — bill sponsors and agency staff explained that concurrent or previously passed legislation covered necessary licensing or inspection authority and that the cleanup would not remove operative requirements. No roll-call votes were recorded for these three bills in committee; all were advanced by voice vote.