Senate committee sends SB 10-31 to amendment order after debate over limits on health districts

The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee moved on Senate Bill 10-31 to the fourteenth order for possible amendment after extended debate over language that would narrow public health districts’ authority.

Senator Brian Lenny, sponsor of SB 10-31, told the committee the bill would remove a broad grant of power that currently lets health districts act in the name of public health without a clear statutory limit. "All this entire bill does is say, hey. You guys just have right now, they can do all things ... we're just kind of knocking you down a peg saying, if you are going to do something, it should be justified by science, by reason, by necessity," Lenny said.

The measure would strike language that lets health districts take "all things required" for public health and replace it with a requirement that districts take "only actions specifically authorized by state law that are necessary and reasonable for the preservation and protection of public health." It also states that "preventive health measures may be taken only in cases of a demonstrated immediate public health risk supported by scientific…