State Affairs committee advances law to standardize agency agreements reporting; introduces campaign-fee and energy ratepayer measures

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee on Monday advanced legislation to require state agencies to report agreements and memoranda of understanding to the State Comptroller under a uniform statutory standard and introduced several draft measures affecting campaign filing fees, campaign merchandise reporting, and large power users.

House Bill 358, presented by Rep. Heather Scott (R.-District 2), received a motion to send it to the House floor with a due-pass recommendation and the motion carried by voice vote. Scott told the committee the bill converts a comptroller policy into law because the policy alone does not compel agencies to post agreements online. The bill directs agencies to submit agreements through the State Comptroller’s designated reporting portal and standardizes required data fields, including the document title, execution date, parties, and a summary of purpose. It also establishes an annual review of reporting practices. Scott said the measure stops short of requiring a full digital document portal at this time but could be expanded once reporting is routine.

Also before the committee were three RS (request statutes) introduced for consideration:

- RS32292C1 (Rep. Stephanie Mickelson, R.-Dist. 32) proposes raising candidate filing fees. Mickelson described an increase in several fee amounts — for example, U.S. Senate from $500 to $1,000, U.S. House from $300 to $500, statewide constitutional offices from $200 to $1,000, state legislator filing to $250,…