Senate Health and Welfare committee approves reappointment, advances two legislative requests to print

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Jan. 29 voted to send a gubernatorial reappointment and two requests for legislation to print while hearing one additional reappointment by remote testimony.

The committee voted to send the reappointment of Alan Schneider to the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired to the Senate floor with a recommendation for confirmation. It also advanced two legislative studies—RS 32137, which would move an administrative rule on child-support-related license suspensions into statute, and RS 32014, which would align bureau staffing and accountability within the Department of Health and Welfare. The committee heard from Mark Watkins, a reappointment candidate to the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, but deferred a vote on his reappointment to the next meeting.

Why it matters: the measures affect how the state handles exemptions from license suspension for people behind on child support and would change internal accountability and staffing oversight at Idaho’s largest state agency, which committee members said manages…