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Committee moves S 1330 to order for amendment to raise small claims limit
Summary
S 1330, which would raise Idaho's small claims limit from $5,000 to $15,000, was moved to the 14th Order of Business for possible amendment after testimony from a small-business owner and a courts representative concerned about workload and jurisdictional effects.
Senator Galloway presented S 1330, proposing an increase in Idaho’s small-claims limit from $5,000 to $15,000 to help individuals and small businesses resolve routine disputes without full civil litigation. Josiah Silva, a District 15 constituent and small construction business owner, testified that the current $5,000 cap prevented him from pursuing valid claims and described a $15,000 rental-damage incident he was advised not to pursue because of the limit.
Jason Spillman, legal counsel for the Administrative Office of the Courts, testified that increasing the limit would likely raise judicial workload and could shift cases between magistrate and district courts; he noted that the statutory magistrate limit remains $5,000 although the courts had raised it to $10,000 by rule. The committee voted to send S 1330 to the 14th Order of Business for possible amendment.
