Senate panel advances foster homes bill that removes rule requiring firearms and ammunition locked separately

The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee on an informational-and-action agenda advanced Senate Bill 1034 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation after discussion and at least one recorded objection.

Senator Brandon Shippey, sponsor of SB1034, told the committee the bill transfers existing foster-care licensing requirements that currently appear in administrative rules into statute and removes a specific rule provision that required foster-care providers to lock firearms and ammunition in two separate locations. Shippey said the remaining home-safety requirements in statute are basic — toilets, sinks, running water — and described the weapons-storage language as an undue burden that may have discouraged some prospective foster parents from licensing.

Shippey said the Department of Health and Welfare supports moving the standards into statute and plans to create an educational video for orientation that would include gun-safety information. He said education and a trusting relationship between caseworkers and foster parents are preferable to prescriptive lock-location mandates.

Senator Michelle Stennett Wintrow (referred in transcript as Senator Wintrow) questioned the evidence that the storage rule had materially reduced recruitment, noting recent increases in foster-parent interest. Shippey said he had received several anecdotal reports from people who decided not to pursue licensing and that he also solicited public comment on social media, which produced many responses saying the rule was a deterrent.

Wintrow cited national data from the National Violent Death Reporting System and other research indicating safe storage of firearms is the best-known way to reduce unintentional firearm deaths among children; she said that evidence led her to oppose the committee recommendation and that she intended to vote no. Other senators — including Senator Berkey and Senator Van Orden — said line 34 of the draft rule, which requires keeping hazardous materials inaccessible to children, could be read to include firearms and that modern safes (including biometric locks) make locked storage practicable.

Senator Harris moved to send SB1034 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; Senator Blaylock seconded. A substitute motion to send the bill to the fourteenth order for possible amendments, offered by Senator Puntro, died for lack of a second. The committee proceeded to the main motion; committee members voiced their positions during discussion, and the committee chair called the question. The committee recorded at least one explicit no vote (Senator Wintrow). The chair announced the motion carried and the bill will proceed to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation.

The bill, as described in committee, leaves existing basic foster-home standards in place while removing the specific two-location lock requirement for firearms and ammunition and anticipates education for providers as part of licensing orientation. Committee members urged careful attention to child safety and to practices such as safe storage devices, and several urged that foster parents be educated on matching storage practices to the needs and risks of specific placements (for example, older children with behavioral issues).