What happened to that Idaho bill? Little’s latest post-session signings, vetoes
This tracker was last updated on April 10, 2026, with the latest decisions by Gov. Brad Little on bills that passed in the last days before the 2026 legislative session ended April 2.
Each January, Idaho lawmakers converge on Boise to propose bills and make laws. But the process can be opaque, and it’s hard to keep track of all the pieces of legislation.
We at the Statesman produce in-depth reporting, but we’re also providing this bill tracker to help people see where bills stand as part of the process to become laws.
There are two parts of the Idaho Legislature: the House and the Senate. Lawmakers propose bills to committees, which decide whether to introduce them. After a committee in the House votes to introduce a bill, it is referred to a committee for a public hearing. If the committee passes it, the full House must vote on it. If that’s successful, the bill repeats the process in the Senate until it gets to Gov. Brad Little to sign into law or to veto.
Below are more than 90 high-profile bills we covered in the 2026 legislative session and where they stood after the session ended April 2.
Crime
Masks: House Bill 489 would have added penalties for people who commit a crime while wearing a mask. The sponsors returned the bill to committee after criticism and brought a new version, House Bill 685, which passed the House but died in a Senate committee.
Separately, a Senate Democrat introduced a bill to prevent law enforcement from wearing masks. Senate Bill 1246, which is similar to parts of an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement bill proposed in Utah, did not receive a hearing.
Soliciting sex work: House Bill 493 was a rerun of a bill that failed in 2025 to make soliciting commercial sex work a felony on the first offense, with an exception if the suspect is age 18 to 20. The bill passed the House but never got a hearing in the Senate.
Drones and prisons: House Bill 522 sets penalties for flying a drone near a prison. It comes after attempts to bring illegal items to prisons by drone. Little signed it.
Execution procedures: House Bill 525 eliminates judicial review of execution protocols created by the director of the Idaho prison system under the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. A revised version of the bill, House Bill 803, passed the Legislature, and Little signed it.
County jails: House Bill 556 deals with a financial problem for counties: Idaho doesn’t always have room for prisoners in state prisons, so it sends inmates to county jails. But the state doesn’t reimburse counties for the full cost, leaving those local governments to pick up the difference. The bill would raise the state daily payment rate to $80, compared with today’s $55 for the first week, $75 after. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Reckless Driving: House Bill 570 would let officers charge someone with reckless driving if they’re speeding at least 20 miles per hour faster than the speed limit in an active school zone or construction zone. The bill passed the Legislature, and Little signed it.
Disturbing the peace: House Bill 615 made it a misdemeanor to disturb or delay a religious gathering. Little signed it. Another bill, Senate Bill 1296, added a specific criminal trespassing offense for entering church premises when not allowed. Little signed that, too.
Prison sexual contact: House Bill 696 adds to existing law that prohibits correctional officers from engaging in contact of a sexual nature with prisoners to better align with federal law. Any physical touching, including over or under clothing, or between someone’s mouth and a prisoner’s body, such as kissing, are now included in the law. It passed the Legislature, and Little signed it. It takes effect July 1.
Prison notoriety: Senate Bill 1232 temporarily prevents convicted prisoners in Idaho from profiting from things like books deals. Victims can file claims to the money. After five years any remaining funds will be returned to the prisoner. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Decedent photo exemption: Senate Bill 1250 prohibits the release of any images of deceased people created as part of police or coroner investigations through the state’s public records request process. The legislation was introduced after the recent release of thousands of crime scene photos from the University of Idaho student murders. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Abortion trafficking: Senate Bill 1370 would have strengthened the state’s “abortion trafficking” law after a legal challenge. It passed the Senate but died in the House.
Kratom: Senate Bill 1418 would’ve set a 21-and-older age limit on kratom, which is sold in gas stations and smoke shops. It also would have required certain labeling, such as a batch number and warning statements; and banned “adulterated” or chemically enhanced kratom. The bill failed in the Senate.
Education
Teachers union: House Bill 516, originally a bill built around reiterating parental rights concerning gender-identity education, was retooled in the session’s final days into legislation aimed at restricting public teacher unions from perceived benefits of taxpayer funds. It passed the Legislature, and Little signed it. It takes effect July 1.
Moment of silence: House Bill 623 requires public schools to begin each morning with a one-minute moment of silence where students could spend the time reflecting, meditating, praying or doing any other silent activity, as long as they don’t interfere with other students. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Graduate medical education: House Bill 978 appropriated additional funds to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for public health services for fiscal year 2027, but cut nearly $500,000 dedicated for eight medical resident slots to train health care workers. Little line-item vetoed that cut and signed the remainder of the bill.
President search nondisclosure: Senate Bill 1225 exempts from the Idaho Public Records Act the names of candidates to become a public university president, except for the lone finalist. Little signed it. It took immediate effect.
Artificial Intelligence: Senate Bill 1227 requires a statewide framework on AI and policies in local school districts. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
High-needs special education: Senate Bill 1288 establishes a designated fund available for public K-12 schools to help educate students with disabilities who need costlier services, like a nurse or interpreter. It will initially provide $5 million of one-time money in fiscal year 2027. Little signed it, and also Senate Bill 1447, the associated appropriation bill. Both take effect July 1.
Religious schools: House Joint Resolution 7 would have repealed the Idaho Constitution’s Blaine Amendment, which prohibits governments from sending public money to religious schools. It failed in the House.
Compulsory attendance: House Joint Resolution 9 proposed an amendment to the Idaho Constitution to remove a clause on compulsory school attendance and replace it with language reading: “The right of the people to educate their children without government regulation outside of the public schools of the state shall not be infringed.” It failed to garner the two-thirds majority it needed in the House to advance.
Elections
Term limits: House Concurrent Resolution 23 calls for a convention of states to amend the U.S. Constitution to include congressional term limits. It died in committee for lack of support.
Highway districts: Senate Bill 1356 would affect how the Ada County Highway District holds elections, making them partisan and making the vote countywide, instead of by district. The bill was the fourth attempt this session — one in the House and three in the Senate — to move the legislation, which passed the Legislature and Little signed it. Most of the law takes effect July 1, with the nonpartisan races to follow starting in January 2027.
Voter ID: Senate Bill 1237 prohibits voters from signing an affidavit at the ballot box if they don’t have an ID when they go to vote. The bill’s sponsor brought a new version, Senate Bill 1322, which requires the voter to provide more information and for that information to be verified before the voter receives a ballot. Little signed it.
Campaign finance: Senate Bill 1422 would have increased political campaign donation caps in statewide races to $6,000, up from $5,000, per election; and to $1,500, up from $1,000, for legislative and local candidates per election. It also would have improved campaign-finance reporting enforcement by the Secretary of State’s Office through more uniform fines and better-defined disclosure requirements. It passed a Senate committee but died when it never came up for a Senate vote.
City council districts: House Bill 720 would have required cities with over 25,000 people to hold council elections by district. In the Treasure Valley, the bill would have affected Caldwell, Kuna and Eagle. The legislation passed the House but died in the Senate.
Judicial elections: Senate Bill 1324 would have blocked people who are appointed to fill a judicial vacancy from running for that seat in the following election. A follow-up bill, Senate Bill 1343, would have taken away benefits from some judges who retire before finishing their term. Both died in the Senate.
Energy and Environment
Bike and pedestrian projects: Lawmakers in 2025 approved new laws forcing highway districts to prioritize car projects and prohibit narrowing roads below a certain width. House Bill 508 would add an exception for districts to pursue bike and pedestrian improvements. Little signed it.
E-bikes: House Bill 500 clarifies the place of e-bikes on the road. A crash in Boise inspired the legislation. Little signed it. It takes effect July 1.
Car registration: House Bill 533 eliminates the requirement that cars carry registration stickers. Little signed it, and it goes into effect July 1.
Government
Private counsel: House Bill 498 allows the Legislature to hire private attorneys for legal actions against the federal government. It passed the House but died when it failed to get a hearing in the Senate.
Lottery sales: House Bill 504 would ban bulk purchases of Idaho Lottery tickets exceeding $5,000 in a single day, ostensibly in an effort to counter out-of-state “syndicates” from pooling money to win state jackpots. Little signed it. It takes effect July 1.
Telecom service: House Bill 674 aimed to streamline the process of eliminating local telecommunication services by accepting Federal Communication Commission rulings on such discontinuation decisions, rather than requiring additional review and concurrence by Idaho’s Public Utilities Commission. Little vetoed the bill, citing concerns that rural Idahoans could lose access to critical phone services in their communities.
Hiring relatives: House Bill 686 allows cities under 10,000 people to hire relatives of the mayor or city council members if they can’t find anyone else to fill the job. Little signed it, and it will take effect July 1.
Private property rights: Senate Bill 1326 prohibits government agents from entering private land without a search warrant, unless it’s urgent or they have the lawful consent of the landowner. Little signed the bill, which took effect immediately, but he wrote that it would be challenging to implement.
Digital current kiosks: Senate Bill 1359 would require certain disclosures and actions from operators of kiosks for digital financial transactions, such as cryptocurrency, to protect vulnerable seniors from possible fraud. Little vetoed the bill, citing “critical drafting deficiencies that would undermine its own purpose.”
Ethics committee: House Resolution 27 would have made private much of the process for investigating legislators’ possible ethics violations. The sponsor said ethical concerns should be handled internally by lawmakers. The House returned the bill to committee, shelving it for the session.
Library directors: House Bill 715 requires boards of city-run libraries to gain city council approval to hire or fire library directors. Previously, library boards exclusively held this authority. Little signed it.
Day cares: House Bill 758 changes state law so that an in-home day care provider’s children don’t count as part of the provider-child ratio, as long as they’re age 5 or older. Little vetoed the bill, citing child safety and fraud risks.
Hispanic affairs: A lawmaker brought a bill to eliminate some state funding for the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs, after a committee in January rejected an attempt to get rid of the commission. The bill to eliminate some funding, House Bill 840, died when it did not receive a hearing.
Child care assistance: Senate Bill 1435 approved funding for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, including $64 million for the state’s subsidized child care program for low-income families. The program came under the spotlight over unspecified and uncorroborated concerns of potential fraud, with a state audit finding very little. But the joint budget-setting committee pulled back $14 million in federal grants for fiscal year 2026 and declined to fund a $16 million request for fiscal year 2027 intended to expand the predominantly federally subsidized program.
Day of prayer and fasting: The House majority leader introduced House Concurrent Resolution 28 to call on Idaho residents to help address issues like division and low snowpack by joining a day of prayer and fasting. It was adopted by the House and Senate.
Records requests: Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, brought at least three bills to allow people to file complaints over records requests instead of filing a lawsuit. None of them advanced to the House floor.
Symbolic tents: House Bill 603 prohibits all symbolic tents overnight at the Capitol Mall in Boise. The bill generated concerns that it potentially violates First Amendment free-speech and assembly rights. In 2022, Little sued protesters over the issue. Little signed the bill. It took immediate effect.
Guns in courthouses: House Bill 621 aimed to allow concealed weapons, including firearms, into county courthouses where other county offices are located. It would have prohibited guns from physical courtrooms. The bill’s fiscal note, which said it would have no financial impact, was questioned by lawmakers, because several courthouses would require expensive remodels to accommodate necessary changes to security screening. The bill passed the House but died on the Legislature’s last day when it failed to get a Senate committee hearing.
Lifetime hunting license: House Bill 855 changes residency requirements to obtain lifetime fishing and hunter licenses from six months to five years. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Sharia law: Senate Bill 1233 would have kept religious and cultural law out of Idaho, though the sponsor acknowledged there’s been no evidence of that being a problem in the state. It failed in the Senate. But a competing bill, House Bill 602, which seeks to keep foreign law out of Idaho, passed. Little signed it.
Separately, House Concurrent Resolution 29 recognizes the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as terrorist organizations, following similar moves by the governors of Texas and Florida. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group, said the resolution would have no legal effect. It was adopted by the House and the Senate and does not require the governor’s signature.
Too many bills?: Senate Concurrent Resolution 114 aimed to limit how many bills lawmakers could bring. The bill’s sponsor said he had seen more bills related to national debates than Idaho concerns and that the number of bills strained state resources. But another lawmaker said that limiting the number of bills would silence constituents. The resolution passed the Senate unanimously but was not taken up by the House.
Health
“Social transitions”: House Bill 822 would allow parents to sue school guidance counselors or other entities if parents think they played a role in their child’s interest in undergoing a gender transition. The bill is the third version of the proposal the session. It passed the Legislature and Little signed it. It takes effect July 1.
Mental health: House Bill 491, one of the first this session, would protect people from liability if they stop and help someone with a mental health or suicidal crisis. Little signed the bill, which takes effect July 1.
Vaccines: Senate Bill 1346 would have banned children and pregnant women in Idaho from getting mRNA vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine, for the next two years. It died waiting for changes in the Senate.
A separate bill, House Bill 808, would have classified vaccinations as voluntary and prevented cities and local governments from establishing their own vaccine mandates, including at day cares and schools. The House Health and Welfare committee narrowly voted it down.
Medical neglect: House Bill 757 would have narrowed the definition of “medical neglect” to exclude cases where parents sought alternative treatment or declined a risky treatment. The bill did not define alternative care. Lawmakers previously rejected the introduction of this bill, but the sponsor brought it back with minor changes. It died when it failed to get a House committee hearing.
Medicaid expansion: House Bill 913 would impose monthly work requirements on the lower-income Idahoans who receive health insurance through the state’s Medicaid expansion. It follows past efforts, including this year with House Bill 850, to repeal the program outright. The work-requirements bill passed, and Little signed it. The Department of Health and Welfare must implement the new requirements no later than Dec. 31.
Religious health sharing ministries: House Bill 783 would have allowed people in health care sharing ministries, where members pool their resources to cover fellow members’ health expenses, to claim the monthly shares they pay for health-share programs as eligible medical expenses for medical savings accounts. It did not advance.
Rats: Senate Bill 1271 would have declared a public health and safety nuisance and required the Department of Agriculture to monitor and address the growing rat population in the Treasure Valley. The bill passed the House but was voted down in the Senate. A new version of the bill, Senate Bill 1445, passed the Senate but died when it failed to get a House committee hearing.
SNAP: House Bill 730 would tighten eligibility and add anti-fraud checks to the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. It would require the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to enter into a data-matching agreement with the State Lottery Commission to identify households with lottery winnings of $3,000 or more and disenroll them from the program. Little signed it.
A separate bill, House Bill 903, sought to amend the state’s definitions of candy and soda in an effort to clarify what foods are restricted from SNAP. Lawmakers banned candy and soda from the program during the 2025 session but heard after its implementation that retailers and consumers have had difficulty interpreting the definitions. A House committee passed it, but the measure went no further.
Suicide hotline: House Bill 860 provides fixes to a 2023 law that limited children’s and teens’ access to the suicide hotline and prevented school districts from providing basic medical care, such as Band-Aids, without parental consent. Little signed it.
Family caregivers: House Bill 807 would have restored a program that allowed parents and spouses to be paid for care they give to loved ones with disabilities. The Department of Health and Welfare ended the program last year amid a personal care provider shortage. The bill was introduced, but the chair of the House Health and Welfare committee didn’t give it a hearing.
Emergency rooms: Senate Bill 1319 would have ensured that freestanding emergency rooms are reimbursed at the same negotiated local market rates as in-network providers, and that they disclose to patients if they do not participate in the government’s Medicare, Medicaid or Tricare programs. The bill passed the Senate but died in a House committee.
Housing
Short-term rentals: House Bill 583 would deregulate short-term rentals across Idaho. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Manufactured homes: House Bill 800 aims to spur more housing production by easing restrictions on where prefabricated homes can be situated, within single- and multifamily neighborhoods. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Starter home subdivisions: Senate Bill 1352 restricts cities from creating or enforcing ordinances that prevent construction of “compact” single-family dwellings of 1,500 square feet or less on residential subdivisions of at least 4 acres. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Granny units: Senate Bill 1354 prevents homeowner’s associations from being able to ban residents from building accessory-dwelling units, or ADUs, on their property. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Immigration
Cooperation agreements: Senate Bill 1441 would require law enforcement agencies in the state to apply for 287(g) agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A similar bill was shot down, but Senate leaders brought this bill back at the end of the session to the chagrin of Idaho sheriffs. It died awaiting changes in the Senate.
E-Verify: E-Verify is a federal website that employers can consult to see whether a worker or prospective worker is eligible to work in the U.S. Senate Bill 1247 would have required state and local governments as well as some employers with agency contracts to use E-Verify to make sure their employees are legally allowed to work in the U.S. It passed the Senate but was “radiator capped” on the second-to-last day in the House, meaning lawmakers completely rewrote it into a 287(g) cooperation bill outside the normal process. The new version of the bill passed the House but died when the Senate disagreed with the changes.
Two other bills dealing with unauthorized workers, House Bill 700 and House Bill 704, passed the House but died waiting for a hearing in a Senate committee.
Arrest data and refugee resettlement: Senate Bill 1442 would have required refugee resettlement agencies to report data about their programs and law enforcement to report data about the immigration status and nationality of people arrested in the state. The bill was an amalgamation of previous bills that stalled. A changed version of the bill passed the Senate, but the House did not take it up.
Student immigration status: House Bill 656 would have collected the immigration status and primary language of Idaho students. It did not receive a hearing, and the House Education Committee rejected a replacement bill.
Patient immigration status: House Bill 592 would have collected the immigration status of patients at hospitals. It did not receive a hearing.
Legal challenge: Senate Bill 1260 is intended to strengthen one of the immigration laws from 2025 that a judge partially blocked in Idaho court. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Harboring or shielding immigrants: House Bill 693 and House Bill 764 would have prohibited concealing, transporting or providing legal assistance to immigrants, among other things. House Bill 693 did not receive a hearing, and House Bill 764 was held in committee.
LGBTQ+ issues
Pride flags: House Bill 561 takes aim at the city of Boise, which got around a restrictive flag law enacted in 2025 by making the Pride flag and an organ donor flag official city flags, which are displayed at City Hall. The bill replaced an earlier version. The bill fines government entities $2,000 per day per violation. Little signed it. It took immediate effect, prompting the city of Boise to take its Pride flag down.
Separately, House Bill 896 would have granted authority to the governor, the House speaker and other select elected officials to refer alleged violations of state law by city and county officials to the attorney general for enforcement. The stiffest penalty for a proven offense could have resulted in disqualifying the officeholder. The bill sponsor said it was not inspired by the Pride flag situation in Boise. It passed the House but was overwhelmingly voted down in the Senate.
Anti-discrimination: House Bill 557 would have blocked cities from enforcing anti-discrimination ordinances that go further than state law, in particular by adding protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. The attorney general, businesses, property owners and residents could have sued a city if it had an anti-discrimination rule on the books. The legislation passed the House but died awaiting a hearing in a Senate committee.
Bathrooms: House Bill 607 would have let people sue businesses and local governments that allow transgender people to use restrooms aligning with their gender identity. It passed the House but died when it failed to get a Senate committee hearing. House Bill 752 makes entering a bathroom for a gender not assigned to someone at birth a misdemeanor, and a felony for a second offense. Little signed it, which led to protests in his office and several trespassing arrests. It takes effect July 1.
Gay marriage: Lawmakers reran a 2025 memorial asking the nation’s highest court to “overturn” its landmark 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Gay marriage has been legal in Idaho since 2014 under a federal appeals-court ruling in another case. The bill lost support from last year but still passed the House. It did not move forward in the Senate.
Taxes, budgets and money
Tax conformity: House Bill 559 is about Idaho’s decision to align its own tax code with the federal one. The bill, which Little signed, conforms with some of the sweeping provisions Congress passed in President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” like tax exemptions for tips and overtime.
Cash transfers: House Bill 968 would have transferred unused money in the state permanent building fund to the Legislature’s account for fiscal year 2026 to remodel legislative space. Little line-item vetoed a $5.8 million transfer, as well as “sufficient funds” from a payroll fund to the general fund, for the purpose of balancing the state budget.
Rainy day funds: House Bill 975 would have restricted transfer of state budget-stabilization funds when their balance exceeds 15% of general fund revenues for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, sending them to the state’s rainy day fund. Little vetoed the bill, maintaining transfer of excess funds to the general fund.
Budget cuts: Senate Bill 1331 codifies Little’s 3% budget reductions for fiscal year 2026 to most state agencies and an additional 1% cut approved by the Legislature, with some select exemptions. Little signed it.
Precious metal investment: Senate Bill 1338 would have granted the Idaho state treasurer the option to invest idle funds into gold and silver bullion and store the physical assets in secure private facilities. The bill passed the Senate but died when it failed to get a House committee hearing.
Penny elimination rounding: Senate Bill 1350 sets uniform standards for cash payment rounding up and down at Idaho businesses with federal elimination of penny production. Little signed it, and it takes effect July 1.
Stablecoin payments: Senate Bill 1423 aimed to increase payment efficiency and transparency, reduce transaction costs and promote financial competition by allowing state government to make payments with a cryptocurrency called stablecoin. The Trump-aligned proposal was the fourth version of the bill this session. It passed the Senate but died when it failed to get a House committee hearing.
Budget ceilings: House Bill 959 raises the annual limit by which a fire-protection or ambulance-service district can increase its budget, amending a 2021 tax law to help small, fast-growing cities keep up with population growth. The bill, which Little signed, also allows voters to roll back a district’s budget through a ballot measure. It’s is a softened version of an earlier bill that sought to raise the budget ceiling for cities, too; that bill was voted down in the House.
Statesman reporters Becca Savransky, Sarah Cutler, Angela Palermo, Mark Dee and Rose Evans contributed. Think we’re missing something? Email ckomatsoulis@idahostatesman.com or scutler@idahostatesman.com.
