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Lawmakers press Health and Welfare on reliance on federal guidelines in rule rewrite
Summary
Senators questioned whether the rules’ alignment with federal guidance cedes state control; department officials said section 3-80 aligns with federal recommendations but is not 'incorporated by reference' and that many guidelines were historically converted to non‑binding reference documents.
Several senators pressed department staff about whether the rule rewrite cedes state control by incorporating federal or CDC guidance.
Senator Zietefeld asked for clarification about documents that are 'incorporated by reference' and whether that practice removes state sovereignty over health standards. "Can you kind of refresh on our memory on how that came to be...when we started taking a lot of our statutes out and incorporating the national..." she asked. Jared Larson replied that, for the rule section she cited (section 3‑80), the text aligns with federal recommendations "so there is no reference where, say, for example, if it were to change again elsewhere that it would automatically change in Idaho; we are aligning not incorporating by reference."
Dr. Christine Hahn added historical context: roughly 15 years ago the department moved some material to guideline documents to simplify regulations and provide clinical recommendations rather than strict mandates. "So that's the best of the history that I can recall," she said, emphasizing that most guideline documents are recommendations and not legal mandates. Senators asked the department to provide a clearer crosswalk when material is struck from rules to show where statutory or other authorities now govern the same subject matter.
