Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Statutory Cleanup topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Department seeks code cleanup to remove outdated Health and Welfare references
Summary
RS 31,820 would update Idaho code to remove antiquated references to the Department of Health and Welfare, reassign legacy functions to the Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Juvenile Corrections, and remove obsolete Board of Health references; department staff described it as a 'stop doing' list and housekeeping bill.
Jared Larson, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Chief at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, presented RS 31,820 to the House Health and Welfare Committee and asked the committee to print the request for a formal hearing. Larson described the RS as a "stop doing list" that removes dead or antiquated statutory references that still assign functions to the Department of Health and Welfare despite those functions having moved to other agencies.
Larson said the bill addresses several categories: roughly one-third of the bill corrects references for functions transferred long ago to the Department of Juvenile Corrections and the Department of Environmental Quality; it removes antiquated mentions of the State Board of Health (now the State Board of Health and Welfare); it eliminates obsolete Health and Welfare sign-offs in portions of Title 22 (agriculture) where the Idaho State Department of Agriculture no longer needs the department's approval; and it removes the Health and Welfare board from conducting certain corrections-compact hearings that are now handled by the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Larson flagged pool regulation as a section where the department currently works by memorandum of understanding with district health boards and where statutory removal could shift authority to local boards. He also noted sections moved in 2021 that reassign rules from the criminal justice code to state affairs because they cross jurisdiction, and he said the department co-chairs the Data Oversight Council with the Idaho Supreme Court. Representative Rasor asked whether designees to the council were new hires; Larson replied that only two FTE were added at the state controller's office in 2020 and that other agencies absorbed council duties without additional hires.
Representative McCain moved to introduce RS 31,820; after a voice vote the chair announced the motion carried and the RS was introduced. Larson said the department will provide additional detail at a printed hearing and the director had requested the department create a broader "stop doing" list as part of its internal review.
