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Committee advances bill to let Health and Welfare obtain tax data for non‑Medicaid benefit investigations
Summary
The Senate committee voted to send House Bill 62 to the floor after the Department of Health and Welfare said the measure would let investigators obtain adjusted gross income from the tax commission under a memorandum of understanding to verify eligibility for programs such as TANF.
A Senate committee voted to send House Bill 62 to the floor with a “do pass” recommendation after hearing from the Department of Health and Welfare about the bill’s aim to streamline investigations of non‑Medicaid benefit fraud.
Jared Larson, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Chief at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee the bill “authorizes the department to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the tax commission” so investigators can obtain adjusted gross income from tax returns for checks on programs such as TANF. He said the change would be less intrusive and more efficient than issuing subpoenas or trying to reconstruct income from bank records.
“The statement of purpose may still say Medicaid fraud, but it is not Medicaid fraud,” Larson said, distinguishing the proposal from investigations handled by the Medicaid fraud unit. Larson said the tax commission already maintains roughly 60 memoranda of understanding with other public entities and that the commission “had no concerns” in preliminary discussions about implementing this bill.
Senators asked how the change would affect departmental resources and the tax commission. Larson said the department expects no fiscal impact and that the change should lessen investigators’ workload; he added that the tax commission did not indicate the bill would create an additional burden for its staff.
Senator Wintrow thanked Larson and said accountability for taxpayer dollars was a key reason to support the bill. The motion to send House Bill 62 to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation was moved by Senator Kaiser and seconded by Senator Ziderfeld. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; no roll call tally was recorded in the transcript.
The bill, as described in committee, would allow the department to obtain adjusted gross income via an MOU with the tax commission for civil recoupment and eligibility determinations for non‑Medicaid benefits. No amendments or alternative implementations were recorded in the committee discussion.
