Senate committee sends SB 1031 to amendment order after debate on limiting health districts’ powers

At a meeting of the Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee, senators debated Senate Bill 1031, which would narrow public health districts’ authority by replacing broad language that allows them to do “all things” in the name of public health with a requirement that actions be “specifically authorized by state law” and “necessary and reasonable.” After extended questioning and public testimony, the committee voted to send the bill to the 14th order for possible amendments.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Brian Lenny of Nampa (Idaho Senate District 13), said the measure is intended to “put some guardrails” around public health districts and to ensure actions are “rooted in statute, in science, and in necessity.” He told the committee that the purpose is to rein in what he described as excesses during the COVID-19 pandemic: “unchecked unlimited power has no place in any government agency or bureaucracy,” Lenny said.

Supporters argued the current statute gives…