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Senate Health and Welfare committee approves reappointment, advances two legislative requests to print
Summary
The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved a gubernatorial reappointment to the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired and voted to advance two legislative studies—one moving child-support license-exemption rules into statute and another to increase bureau accountability at the Department of Health and Welfare.
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 billions in taxpayer dollars.
Senator Brandon Shippey, District 9, presented RS 32137, saying the proposal moves “section 302 from IDAPA 16.03.03 (Child Support Services) from administrative rule into statute” and returns the matter to the legislature. Shippey said the bill is substantially the same as existing rules but removes Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) as a listed good-cause exemption to avoid license suspension for some people behind on child support. “It is time to move these chapters into code and to return law making to the lawmakers,” Shippey said. He declined to elaborate on the rationale for removing TANF from the rule, saying he would reserve that detail for the full hearing.
RS 32137 was moved to print in committee and will be scheduled for a formal bill hearing.
Senator Brian Lenny (R-Nampa) presented RS 32014, describing it as an accountability measure for the Department of Health and Welfare, which he described as the state’s largest agency with roughly 3,000 employees and a $6 billion budget. Lenny said some bureau chiefs oversee hundreds of employees and millions in spending and that the request would “align bureau staffing with division standards to ensure accountability.” He cited the benefit field operations bureau as an example, saying it has about 418 full-time positions compared with 249 positions in the Department of Agriculture.
RS 32014 was also moved to print.
On gubernatorial reappointments, Senator Michelle Wintrow moved and Senator Blaylock seconded sending the reappointment of Alan Schneider to the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired to the Senate floor with a recommendation for confirmation; the committee approved that motion. The committee also considered the reappointment of Dr. Timothy Rerich (listed in committee remarks with variant spellings) to the State Board of Health and Welfare; an initial motion lacked a second and briefly “died,” but members later seconded and sent that appointment forward with a recommendation for confirmation.
The committee heard remote testimony from Mark Watkins, who identified himself as a professor at Brigham Young University–Idaho and a current member of the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Watkins told the committee he has been legally blind most of his life and went fully blind about seven years ago. He described a 12‑week training at the state assessment and training center in Boise as “invaluable” and said his lived experience and committee experience inform his work on the commission. Committee members asked questions about the programs and services he referenced; no committee vote on Watkins’s reappointment occurred at the Jan. 29 meeting and members said they would vote at the following meeting.
The committee also approved procedural items: minutes for Jan. 22 and Jan. 23, 2025 were accepted.
What’s next: RS 32137 and RS 32014 will be scheduled for formal hearings and bill filings after printing. The committee will vote on Watkins’s reappointment at its next meeting.
(Notes: committee remarks used the transcript spelling “Rerich/Rarick/Rerick” for the doctor nominated to the State Board of Health and Welfare; the article reflects the spelling most consistently used in the committee record as “Dr. Timothy Rerich.”)
