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Senator moves three mental‑health and substance‑use rule sets into Idaho code; committee sends RS31829 to print
Summary
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to send RS31829 to print. Sponsor Senator Julie Van Orden said the bill would move existing Department of Health and Welfare rule provisions for children's mental health, adult mental health and substance use disorder services into statute without changing services.
Senator Julie Van Orden, R‑District 30, asked the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on the record to send RS31829 to print, saying the draft would transfer three Department of Health and Welfare rule sets into Idaho statute. "It doesn't increase or decrease services to anybody," Van Orden said, describing the proposal as a change in where program regulations are codified rather than a change in services.
The bill would relocate definitions and eligibility‑screening requirements from administrative rule into Idaho Code for three program areas: children's mental health services (cited in part to Idaho Code chapter 16), adult mental health services, and substance use disorder services. The draft also repeals the three administrative rule chapters effective July 1, the same day the statutory provisions would take effect, Van Orden told the committee.
The move, she said, is intended to allow the Legislature to address the provisions through statute rather than through the administrative‑rule process. No changes to levels of care, benefits, or eligibility were asserted in committee testimony.
Senator Blaylock moved to send RS31829 to print; Senator Lehi seconded. The motion carried on a voice vote. The committee did not take a roll‑call tally and did not amend the RS during the session.
Committee members asked no substantive questions during the discussion recorded in the transcript.
The committee record shows the RS was placed on the print calendar for further consideration and a full hearing would follow the print stage if sponsors proceed.
