Idaho bill would reduce the powers of Idaho’s public health districts

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — Idaho lawmakers on Tuesday sent a bill for amendments that attempts to curtail the power of regional public health districts in the state after some pursued COVID-19 related restrictions during the pandemic.

The Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday voted to send House Bill 392 to the amending order, which allows wide amendments to bills. 

The bill — sponsored by Rep. Jacyn Gallagher, R-Weiser, and Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa — would modify laws that outline the powers of Idaho’s public health district boards, replacing language that allows boards to do “all” things necessary to protect public health. That law would, under the bill, allow “necessary and reasonable things” for public health. The bill would also strike language about the board’s duties for “preventive health.” 

Gallagher told the committee that, under the wider duty of public health districts in Idaho law now, boards could restrict the ability to buy sugar or flour for health concerns. 

She also said socialist principles are at play. She cited a webpage by Southwest District Health, where the district said “There is amazing power in the collective.” She said collectivism is an important concept in socialism and in communist philosopher Karl Marx’s writings. 

“It was alarming to me to read that,” Gallagher said.

Bill sponsors say legislation would help prevent public health restrictions like mask mandates

Gallagher and Lenney cited public health restrictions, like mask mandates and restrictions on large gatherings issued by health boards during the COVID-19 pandemic as the need for the legislation.

“We’re in Idaho, and I don’t think unchecked, unlimited power should be granted to any government agency or political actor in the state,” Lenney said.

Idaho never had a statewide mask mandate during the pandemic. But public health districts and other local governments did issue health restrictions. 

Idaho’s seven public health districts — which represent counties in different regions in Idaho — are typically relatively unknown agencies that regulate sewage licenses, provide vaccines and offer other public health services. County commissioners and local doctors often serve on health district boards. 

Several lawmakers on the committee worried about the bill’s removal of preventive health from the health districts’ duties in Idaho law. 

House Majority Leader Megan Blanksma, R-Hammett, said she worried how this could have a “chilling effect” on other district programs, like a dental health program for kids at Central District Health. That is Idaho’s largest health district that serves Boise and surrounding rural counties. Blanksma served on the Central District Health board and said she opposed mask mandates and other restrictions several times during the pandemic. 

Lenney had said he didn’t think health district programs would be affected by that language in the bill.

Three members of the public — including two who represented Health Freedom Idaho — testified in support of the bill Tuesday. No members of the public testified against the bill. 

David Pettinger, who was arrested in 2021 after protesting outside the home of a former Central District Health board member, told the committee the bill should move forward.

“I think that it would be an injustice to what the people of Idaho endured because of our elected officials,” Pettinger said. 

Former Washington County Commissioner Kirk Chandler, who supported the bill, also drew comparisons to communism.

“Anytime you talk about common health or common good or doing something for the community, that takes away my personal freedom,” Chandler said. 

Rep. Josh Wheeler, R-Ammon, moved that the committee send House Bill 392 to the amending order, where the Idaho House could take it up in the coming weeks of the legislative session.