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Committee advances bill to limit agency budget-affecting policy changes outside legislative session
Summary
House Bill 90, backed by the committee, would restrict the Department of Health and Welfare from making policy changes with budget implications outside the legislative session; sponsors cited recent childcare program spending that required a pause and correction.
Boise — The Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to advance House Bill 90, which would restrict state agencies from making policy changes that have budget implications outside of the legislative session.
Senator Brian Linney, sponsor of HB 90, said the bill aims to preserve legislative authority over policy choices that carry budget consequences. "What this bill does ... is it makes sure that the Department of Health and Welfare does not make policy decisions that have budget implications outside of the legislative session, i.e., without legislative input," Linney said.
Linney cited the Idaho childcare program as an example, saying the department changed eligibility and payment practices outside the legislative process and that the resulting adjustments left the program "in the hole." He described an outcome that he said required pausing the program and later correcting it. In committee testimony, Linney said those administrative choices resulted in $50,000,000 "in the hole." Later in the same discussion he and other speakers used a different figure, saying one example put the state $15,000,000 in the hole; the transcript records both figures without reconciliation.
Senator Melissa Wintrow, who said she had been on the committee during the earlier childcare discussion, urged caution about overly constraining agencies. "If indeed the legislature makes a policy decision whether it's rule or law, would we support the agency either spending more or less if the legislature had directed them a certain way?" she asked, adding that rules can provide flexibility to respond to changing conditions and help people access services.
After discussion, Senator Keiser moved and Senator Shippey seconded a motion to send HB 90 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation; the motion passed on a voice vote. The transcript records that Senator Wintrow's vote was changed to an aye but does not show a roll-call tally.
The committee debate centered on balancing legislative oversight and the need for agency flexibility to implement programs such as childcare. The bill's text and specific enforcement mechanisms were not detailed in the recorded exchange.
