Committee advances bill to create centralized portal for agency reports

At a House State Affairs Committee meeting, lawmakers advanced House Bill 215, a measure to create a centralized, public portal for statutorily required reports submitted by state agencies. Representative Heather Scott (R-2) presented the bill and introduced Alex Penny, a research analyst with the Legislative Services Office, who described the research behind the proposal.

Alex Penny told the committee that Legislative Services Office research used key-term searches of Idaho Code and an agency survey to identify dozens of reporting requirements and contacts. "We identified over 370 of these requirements, whittled that down a little bit to about 296, and we then sent that out to the 105 agencies," Penny said, adding that his office received roughly 57 responses indicating agencies no longer submit certain reports.

The bill would establish a searchable portal on the Legislature’s website to make statutory reports easier for legislators and the public to find, Penny said. He described planned features including agency and committee search filters and automated notifications both to report recipients and to agencies when reports are due.

Representative Scott said the portal would not prevent agencies from continuing current reporting practices; reports could still be filed the same way while also appearing in the portal. Scott also told the committee the bill includes code cleanups removing obsolete one-time reporting requirements identified by the survey and sets a default annual due date of Dec. 15 where a statutory due date is missing, referencing Idaho Code section 67.466 and a new section 67.705 in the bill text.

Committee members asked whether the portal would include search-by-keyword and whether LSO would provide training to new committee chairs and agency contacts; Penny said both automation and training were possibilities as the portal is developed. Representative Mickelson moved to send House Bill 215 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation; the motion carried on a voice vote.

Clarifying details from the presentation include LSO's count of identified statutory reporting requirements (about 370, reduced to about 296 for the survey), the survey being sent to 105 agencies, and 57 agency responses indicating reports were no longer being submitted or were irrelevant. The sponsor noted several specific obsolete code sections were removed as examples in the bill text but said about 30 more such sections exist across committee jurisdictions.

The bill will go to the full House for further consideration.