Committee advances bill moving foster licensing rules into statute and removes separate gun-locking requirement

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1034 to the full Senate with a due-pass recommendation after a floor of committee discussion.

Sen. Brandon Shippey, sponsor of SB1034 (District 9), said the bill relocates requirements that were previously in administrative rules (identified in testimony as sections 230, 232 and 233 of the Idaho Administrative Procedures Act) into statute, and removes a specific requirement that foster-care providers lock firearms and ammunition in two separate locations. Shippey said the remaining standards are basic habitability items — running water, sink, toilet — and that the statute would reflect long-standing expectations foster parents have followed. Shippey said he and other foster parents found the previous locking requirement to be an undue burden and a…