Summary: Recognizes 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists and highlights the importance of sustainable rangeland management and conservation policies that support pastoral communities and healthy ecosystems.

ICL’s Position: Support

Current Bill Status: 10th Order

Issue Areas: Rangelands, Natural Resources, Conservation

Summary: Affirms legislative support for “energy sovereignty,” expresses a preference for in-state dispatchable generation such as nuclear, hydropower, geothermal, and natural gas, and directs regulators to prioritize these principles when evaluating energy development and transmission projects.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Committee - House Environment, Energy & Technology

Issue Areas: Energy, Climate, Utilities

Summary: Would prevent localities from establishing regulations for working animals or commercial operations that use working animals to provide services.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Committee - House Agricultural Affairs

Issue Areas: Wildlife, Animal Husbandry

Summary: Would restrict when and how law enforcement can access private agricultural and forested areas while enforcing laws. It would specifically target activities relating to roles of Conservation Officers in investigating wildlife laws, making them subject to civil penalties of $1,000.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Senate Floor (3rd reading)

Issue Areas: Wildlife Management, Law Enforcement, Private Property

Summary: Requires electric utilities to obtain approval from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission before providing power to new or expanding electricity users with loads of 30 megawatts or more. The bill requires utilities to demonstrate that the project will maintain system reliability, ensure the large customer pays for infrastructure needed to serve it, and protect existing customers from financial risk.

ICL’s Position: Neutral/Monitoring

Current Bill Status: Committee - Senate State Affairs

Issue Areas: Energy, Data Centers

Summary: Specifically lists rats, Norway rats and roof rats as animals that county commissioners can control, declaring them to be "agricultural pests." It also adds "plant disease-causing organisms" to the same list.

ICL’s Position: Neutral

Current Bill Status: House Resources and Conservation

Issue Areas: Wildlife, Public Lands

Summary: Urges federal agencies to work with Idaho to study and pursue expanded water storage in the Upper Snake River Basin, including raising existing dams, planning new reservoirs, and completing an updated basin study to identify priority projects.

ICL’s Position: Neutral

Current Bill Status: Committee - Senate Resources & Environment

Issue Areas: Water, Dams, Basin Study

Summary: Changes Idaho’s narrowly defined Renewable Energy Resources Fund to a broader, undefined energy framework, expanding executive discretion over which federal energy revenues flow to OEMR.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Committee - Senate Resources & Environment

Issue Areas: Energy, Renewable Energy, Funding

This bill replaces HB 596.

Summary: Would allow certain annexed landowners to decline connection to municipal water and wastewater systems, potentially increasing long-term risks to water quality and aquifer sustainability.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Committee - House Local Government

Issue Areas: Water, Wastewater, Groundwater

Summary: Would merge Idaho’s Office of Species Conservation and Office of Energy, Minerals and Resources under a single administrator, consolidating species protection and resource development authority in a way that creates inherent conflicts of interest and concentrates political influence over conservation policy.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Senate Floor

Issue Areas: Wildlife, Species Conservation, Mining, Energy

Summary: Allows wolf trappers to meet the 72-hour trap-check requirement remotely via trail cameras instead of in person, potentially extending how long animals remain trapped and limiting IDFG’s ability to shorten check intervals in the future.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Committee - House Resources & Conservation

Issue Areas: Wildlife

Summary: Would prohibit placing temporary or permanent hunting blinds or stands within 300 feet of water troughs or stock ponds on public lands, restricting both hunting and wildlife viewing near these water sources.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Committee - House Resources & Conservation

Issue Areas: Wildlife, Public lands

This bill has been replaced by HB 749.

Summary: Would allow certain annexed landowners to decline connection to municipal water and wastewater systems, potentially increasing long-term risks to water quality and aquifer sustainability.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Replaced

Issue Areas: Water, Wastewater, Groundwater

Summary: Would classify wolves as predatory animals and authorize the year-round killing of wolves, including by aerial methods, shifting management authority away from IDFG and into ISDA, an agency primarily focused on agriculture.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: House Floor

Issue Areas: Wildlife, Wolves, Agriculture, Management Authority

Summary: Provides for Senate advice and consent and gubernatorial appointment for the directors of Idaho Department of Transportation, Parks and Recreation, and Fish and Game agencies. 

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Committee - Senate State Affairs

Issue Areas: Wildlife, Public Lands, Transportation

Summary: Requires county notification, potential hearings, and commission approval for each wildlife relocation effort by IDFG, granting counties the authority to block relocations and lengthening the process even for routine population management and restoration actions.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Committee - House Resources & Conservation

Issue Areas: Fish and Wildlife, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Counties

Summary: Clarifies that municipally operated, low-temperature geothermal heating and cooling systems qualify as a municipal water use—allowing cities to plan for future geothermal needs while requiring reinjection to protect aquifers and maintaining safeguards for other water users.

ICL’s Position: Support

Current Bill Status: Committee - House Resources & Conservation

Issue Areas: Water, Geothermal Heating and Cooling

Summary: House Joint Resolution 008 would amend Section 8, Article IX of the Idaho Constitution to revise how state-owned public lands and any future lands acquired from the federal government are managed. The amendment would prioritize revenue-generating activities and public access for recreation, hunting, fishing, and trapping over the sale or exchange of such lands, and would create a dedicated fund for revenues generated from future-acquired lands.

ICL’s Position: Under Review

Current Bill Status: Committee - House State Affairs

Issue Areas: State Public Lands, National Public Lands, Recreation, Natural Resources

Summary: Requires data centers to cover their full electricity costs and adds a sunset review of tax exemptions, but falls short of meaningfully addressing long-term water impacts.

ICL’s Position: Support

Current Bill Status: Committee - House Revenue & Taxation

Issue Areas: Data Centers, Energy, Water

This bill replaces SJR 102.

Summary: Senator Ben Adams’ proposed constitutional amendment would revise Section 8, Article IX of the Idaho Constitution with the stated goal of protecting public lands in Idaho. If approved, the amendment would prohibit the sale of any lands acquired by the State of Idaho from the federal government after July 1, 2026; establish management requirements for those lands; and create a public lands trust fund into which all related revenues would be deposited, along with guidelines governing how the legislature may appropriate those funds.

ICL’s Position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: Committee - Senate State Affairs

Issue Areas: Public Lands, Endowment Lands, Recreation, Natural Resources