Summary: Establishes state policy to recognize and support the development and implementation of wildlife crossings, improving public safety and protecting big game migration corridors through coordination with stakeholders at the intersection of transportation infrastructure and wildlife connectivity.

ICL’s Position: Support

Current Bill Status: Filed for 3rd Reading

Issue Areas: Wildlife, Public Lands, Transportation

Summary: Revises Idaho’s data center tax incentives by limiting the sales tax exemption for new facilities to server equipment, phasing out eligibility for the large capital investment property tax exemption, and adding new requirements related to utility cost recovery and water use notification. The bill also establishes reporting requirements on economic, energy, and water impacts. Overall, it narrows incentives while increasing transparency around the impacts of data centers.

ICL’s Position: Support

Current Bill Status: House Floor

Issue Areas: Data centers, Energy, Water

Summary: Addresses the significant water demands of data centers by restricting consumptive water use for cooling in new facilities unless the water is supplied by a municipal or similar public system. It also establishes legislative findings that such water use may conflict with the public interest and water conservation goals. The bill strengthens the state’s ability to evaluate and limit water use impacts from data center development.

ICL’s Position: Support

Current Bill Status: House Floor

Issue Areas: Data centers, Water

Summary: Calls on Idaho's congressional delegation to protect Idaho's public lands from sale or transfer.

ICL’s Position: Support

Current Bill Status: Committee - House Resources & Conservation

Issue Areas: Public Lands

Summary: Creates a new framework for developing fee-based “managed recreation opportunities” on state endowment lands through collaboration between IDL and IDPR.

ICL’s Position: Neutral

Current Bill Status: Committee - House Resources & Conservation

Issue Areas: Public Lands, Endowment Lands, Recreation

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