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Committee backs moving newborn-screening rules into Idaho statute
Summary
Senate Bill 1014 would transfer existing administrative rules governing newborn screening into Idaho Code; the committee recommended the bill be sent to the floor with a due-pass recommendation after public comment in support from an Idaho parent.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee recommended sending Senate Bill 1014 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation. The bill transfers existing administrative rule language that governs newborn screening for infants born in Idaho into statute.
Senator Camille Blaylock, R-District 11, presented the bill and said the language being transferred is the same rule text the committee approved earlier. "These are the same rules that we approved a couple weeks ago in this committee I would move those rules into statute," she said. Blaylock told the committee the newborn-screening requirement dates back to 1921 and that the bill consolidates and reintroduces the repealed statute language verbatim into a streamlined section of Idaho Code. She said the bill "does not introduce new requirements or change current practices; it simply ensures that elected officials maintain clear oversight of what is being enforced today."
Jennifer Beazer, an Idaho resident who said she works with families affected by positive newborn-screening diagnoses, testified in support. "These are genetic conditions. They don't go away. We don't grow out of them, and every day they're fighting for their needs," she said, and thanked the sponsor for moving newborn screening into Idaho Code.
Senator Harris moved to send the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; Senator Wintrow seconded. The committee approved the motion by voice vote. The bill will proceed to the Senate floor.
