House Bill 122
In House State Affairs, House Bill 122 passed on a party-line vote, 11-2. This legislation, sponsored by Representative Chad Christensen R-Ammon would allow school staffers to conceal carry. if they have a current Enhanced Concealed Carry License. An Idaho enhanced permit is a whole separate permit from a standard Idaho concealed carry permit. To receive an enhanced carry permitted, individuals require additional training. The permit is intended to allow you to carry in more states than the standard permit.
Senate Bill 1087
In the House Health and Welfare Committee, Senate Bill 1087 passed and will be heading to the House Floor for a Second reading. The bill, sponsored by Senator Kelly Arthur Anthon R-Burley and Representative Vander Woude R-Nampa, has already cleared the Senate Health and Welfare Committee and the Senate floor. If this bill passes the House Floor, it will go to the Governor for his signature and become law. This piece of legislation would bar anyone under the age of 21 from purchasing cigarettes or electronic smoking products making it consistent with federal law. Last year President Trump signed legislation that would restrict tobacco sales to anyone under the age of 21.
House Bill 293
In the House Education Committee, House Bill 293 11-4 passed out of committee. This bill, sponsored by Representative Codi Galloway R-Boise, would encourage schools to open for full-time in-person learning. If the school chooses not to open, this bill would allow a parent or guardian to withdraw their child from the school, receive prorated payment, and use it for their child’s education expense. If passed this bill would before effective April 1st. Full time in the bill is defined as a full-time 4 days a week.
House Bill 294
On the House Floor today, the body voted 47-22 in favor of House Bill 294. This piece of legislation is sponsored by Representative Wendy Horman R-Idaho Falls and Senator Lori Den Hartog R-Meridian, would allow families to take their children’s education dollars to the education provider of their choosing. The legislation would establish the Strong Students Grant Program and the Strong Students Scholarship Program, which provide funds to eligible students for certain education expenses.
Target Picking and Doxing Bills
Later on the floor the House suspended their rules and began to take up bills on the 2nd reading calendar (bills are read three times for transparency purposes). They ended up debating House Bill 195 regarding “Target Picketing” and House Bill 288 addressing “doxing” both sponsored by Representative Brooke Green D-Bosie and Representative Greg Chaney R-Caldwell. After going at ease and much discussion, the “doxing” bill was laid on the table. “Lay on the table” is a parliamentary term referring to a motion to suspend consideration of a pending motion. So in this instance, they made a motion to vote on this bill and when they voted in favor of laying the bill on the desk, they killed the bill and held it on the floor. This motion was a non-debatable motion and required a majority to pass. Later on, Representative Heather Scott R-Blanchard also made a motion to lay the “picketing bill” on the desk because she believes this bill is a direct attack on our 1st Amendment freedoms. The motion failed 16-52. House Bill 195 was voted on later in the evening. After a long debate, the bill failed 31-38. Many legislators felt that Idaho Code already addresses how to handle these situations and that this bill was infringing on Idahoan’s first amendment rights.
To read all our notes from the 2021 session, click HERE.