The reckless, chaotic final days of the Idaho legislative session | Opinion
The Idaho Legislature has been at its worst this week.
And that’s saying a lot, considering the Idaho Legislature has been really bad in the past.
The final days of a legislative session tend to be a hectic race to pass bills that have been lingering or held in one chamber as collateral for other bills in the other chamber. Horse-trading and gamesmanship are always part of the waning days of the session.
But what we’re witnessing this week in the Idaho Legislature is like nothing we’ve seen before.
The sheer number of bills being taken up has been breathtaking.
You ever notice that you’ve never heard of a “House Bill 1000”?
That’s because the Legislature has never gotten that high, but it sure came close this session, reaching House Bill 978.
That’s the highest number of bills in recent history, possibly ever.
In the past 26 years, the highest number of bills proposed was from the 2005-06 Legislature, when 877 bills were proposed over those two legislative sessions.
Most two-year cycles, the highest number of bills has been in the 600s or 700s.
The House printed 489 bills each in the 2025 and 2026 session. And this week, we’ve seen many bills come back from the dead after having been introduced months ago — yes, months ago — but are only now being debated.
Bills have been rushed through committee and straight to the floor, such as a bill to change how Ada County Highway District commissioners are elected. That bill passed out of a Senate committee on March 16, but sat on the Senate reading calendar for weeks before being passed by the Senate on Wednesday. From there, it moved straight to a House committee, which quickly passed it and sent it to the House floor Wednesday evening, where it passed amid a flurry of other bills.
This year, we’ve also seen not one, but two, bills passed by using a shifty technique called “radiator capping,” by which legislators take an entirely unrelated bill that had passed through the committee process, amend it to get rid of everything that originally passed and insert other language for the legislation they want to pass.
It’s a dirty little trick that’s not used often, but Republican legislators used it twice this week — once to kneecap teachers unions and again to force local police agencies and sheriff’s offices into 287(g) agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The bill restricting unions passed, but the ICE agreements appeared to be dead as of Thursday afternoon.
And from chaos comes dysfunction.
On Thursday afternoon, Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, claimed the bill to impose 287(g) agreements violated Senate rules for not having germane amendments. That set the Senate at ease while senators tried to figure it out.
Similarly, confusion and misinformation marred the Legislature’s budget-setting committee, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, when the committee apparently voted inadvertently to cut eight graduate medical spots in a budget bill.
A major additional requirement for a civics curriculum in every Idaho school district — introduced in February — was passed by the Senate on Wednesday and brought to the House Education Committee for consideration that same day, and debate was cut short after less than an hour, after which it passed the House the next day. Why rush such a significant bill in the last days of the session?
And perhaps the culmination of the insanity was the debate on House Bill 621, which ensures that citizens can carry firearms when entering city or county buildings, even if there’s a courthouse within that building.
Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, said he was voting for the bill so he didn’t break his 100% NRA voting record, but he said the bill’s fiscal note is a lie and false advertising.
Rep. Rick Cheatum, R-Twin Falls, said: “I ask you to vote no. I’ll be voting yes because I can’t oppose the NRA, but I don’t like this bill.”
Again, this bill was introduced on Feb. 11 — nearly two months ago. But for some reason, legislators only now are trying to jam this bill home without even hearing from the city and county officials who will have to find a way to pay for major changes to their buildings. That bill also appeared to be dead Thursday afternoon, fortunately.
This is not how you govern.
This is reckless.
Sen. Treg Bernt, R-Meridian, summed it up well to Idaho Statesman reporter Kevin Fixler.
“My grandmother always used to tell me, ‘Treggie, nothing good ever happens after midnight,’” he said.
It’s well past midnight at the Idaho Legislature.
It’s time for bed.
Scott McIntosh is the opinion editor of the Idaho Statesman. You can email him at smcintosh@idahostatesman.com or call him at 208-377-6202. Sign up for the free weekly email newsletter The Idaho Way.
This story was originally published April 2, 2026 at 4:23 PM.
