Legislative Bill Tracking
ICL was founded in 1973 to serve as the voice for conservation in the Idaho Statehouse, and for more than fifty years we’ve played a role on issues that matter to you and families across the state. The Idaho Legislature considers hundreds of bills each session and many of those have an impact on Idaho’s air, water, wildlife, and communities. We represent our members by working with legislators, partners, and constituents to advance conservation goals.
Idaho Legislature Bill Tracker 2027
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Summary: TBD
ICL’s Position: TBD
Current Bill Status: TBD
Issue Areas: TBD
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Idaho Legislature Bill Tracker 2026
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Summary: Regulates the use of thermal imaging, night vision, transmitting trail cameras, and drones for hunting while making exemptions for predators and agricultural purposes.
ICL’s Position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: LAW
Issue Areas: Wildlife, Hunting
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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: Adopted
Issue Areas: Wildlife, Public Lands, Transportation
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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: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Data centers, Energy, Water
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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: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Data centers, Energy, Water
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Summary: Calls on Idaho's congressional delegation to protect Idaho's public lands from sale or transfer.
ICL’s Position: Support
Current Bill Status: Adopted
Issue Areas: Public Lands
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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: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Public Lands, Endowment Lands, Recreation
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Summary: House Bill 911 establishes rules for approving and serving “new large loads” of electricity, defined as any increase of 50 MW or more at a service entrance. The bill requires utilities to submit service contracts for commission approval, including a “no harm test” to ensure existing customers are not adversely affected, and sets requirements for cost allocation, financial security, and dispute resolution. The law aims to protect ratepayers while allowing large electricity consumers, like data centers, to connect to the grid.
ICL’s Position: Neutral
Current Bill Status: LAW
Issue Areas: Data Centers, Energy
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Summary: Requires ACHD Commissioners to declare party affiliation, participate in the primary election, and represent every person in all of Ada County.
ICL’s Position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: LAW
Issue Areas: Transportation, Clean Air, Air Quality, Elections, Public Safety
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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: Adopted
Issue Areas: Rangelands, Natural Resources, Conservation
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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: Adopted
Issue Areas: Energy, Climate, Utilities
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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: LAW
Issue Areas: Wildlife, Animal Husbandry
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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: LAW
Issue Areas: Wildlife Management, Law Enforcement, Private Property
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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: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Energy, Data Centers
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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: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Wildlife, Public Lands
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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: Adopted
Issue Areas: Water, Dams, Basin Study
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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: LAW
Issue Areas: Energy, Renewable Energy, Funding
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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: LAW
Issue Areas: Water, Wastewater, Groundwater
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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: LAW
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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: LAW
Issue Areas: Wildlife
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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: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Wildlife, Public lands
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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
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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: Failed
Issue Areas: Wildlife, Wolves, Agriculture, Management Authority
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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: LAW
Issue Areas: Wildlife, Public Lands, Transportation
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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
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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: LAW
Issue Areas: Water, Geothermal Heating and Cooling
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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
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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: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Data Centers, Energy, Water
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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: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Public Lands, Endowment Lands, Recreation, Natural Resources
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Summary: SB 1271 declares Norway rats to be invasive and a public health threat and directs ISDA to coordinate abatement efforts with state and local partners.
ICL’s Position: Support
Current Bill Status: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Pests, Public Health
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Summary: Exempts “plug-in” solar panels from current statutory restrictions.
ICL’s Position: Review
Current Bill Status: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Energy, Solar Panels
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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: Replaced by SCR 124
Issue Areas: Wildlife, Public Lands, Transportation
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Summary: Eliminates several Idaho Department of Fish and Game statutory requirements related to wolf management reporting, facilitation of interstate wolf transfers, and penalties for certain big-game violations.
ICL’s Position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Did Not Pass
Issue Areas: Wildlife
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Summary: Establishes a minimum 30-day public comment period for any proclamation related to season-setting or take limits.
ICL’s Position: Support
Current Bill Status: Failed To Pass
Issue Areas: Wildlife
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Summary: Moves Idaho’s solid waste regulatory framework from public health districts to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, consolidating authority with minor changes to regulatory requirements and review.
ICL’s Position: Neutral
Current Bill Status: LAW
Issue Areas: Pollution, Waste
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Summary: House Bill 511, sponsored by the Idaho Department of Lands, proposes increasing the structure surcharge levied on improved private forest land parcels in the WUI by raising the cap from $40 to a maximum of $100 per parcel. ICL supports this proposal as a step in the right direction and would like to see continued discussion about sustainable funding and responsibility for fuel reduction and fire management projects in high-risk areas.
ICL’s Position: Support
Current Bill Status: LAW
Issue Areas: Fire Management, WUI
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Summary: Senate Joint Memorial 108 urges federal officials to protect grazing permits for livestock producers who file wildlife depredation claims, despite a lack of evidence that federal agencies have penalized permittees for participating in existing compensation programs.
ICL’s Position: Neutral
Current Bill Status: Adopted
Issue Areas: Agriculture, Wildlife
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Summary: Senate Joint Memorial 107 offers a symbolic endorsement of the DeLamar mining project despite the absence of a completed federal environmental review, and the Idaho Conservation League has not yet taken a position pending BLM analysis.
ICL’s Position: Review
Current Bill Status: Adopted
Issue Areas: Public Lands, Natural Resources, Mining, Conservation
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Summary: House Joint Memorial 009 seeks to circumvent court rulings protecting Shoshone-Bannock treaty rights by reasserting FLPMA as the controlling authority for land exchanges.
ICL’s Position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Adopted
Issue Areas: Public Lands, Native American Rights, Conservation
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This bill has been replaced by SJR 103.
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: Replaced by SJR 103
Issue Areas: Public Lands, Endowment Lands, Recreation, Natural Resources
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Summary: HB 508 would allow federal funds for building sidewalks and bike lanes. Penalties only apply to elected officials
ICL’s position: Support
Current Bill Status: LAW
Issue Areas: Air Quality, Public Safety, Transportation
HB 471: Politicizing Ada County Highway District (2025)
Summary: House Bill 471 is an attack on the Ada County Highway District.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Dead
Issue Areas: Air quality, Clean Air, Elections, Public Safety, Transportation
HB 458: Addressing environmental health at school (2025)
Summary: House Bill 458 would protect the health of Idaho's schoolchildren.
ICL's position: Support
Current Bill Status: House Committee
Issue Areas: Air quality, Clean Air, Public Safety
HB 146: Wind Turbine Light Mitigation (2025)
Summary: House Bill 146 requires five years to retrofit existing wind turbines with a light mitigation system to be more visible to aircraft.
ICL's position: Support
Current Bill Status: Law
Issue Areas: Clean Energy, Climate Change, Energy, Public Safety, Sustainability
SB 1170: Changing cyanide mining rules midstream (2025)
Summary: SB 1170 proposes to revise and lock in rules for mines that use cyanide as part of their gold mining projects.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Law
Issue Areas: Clean Water, Fish and Wildlife, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Idaho Department of Lands, Mining, National Forests, Public Lands, Salmon and Steelhead
HB 389: State fire $upression on federal lands (2025)
Summary: HB 389 permits the state of Idaho to fight fires on federally-managed public lands, and submit the bill to the federal government for possible reimbursement.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Law
Issue Areas: Public Lands, Wildfire
SJM 104: Seizing the Camas National Wildlife Refuge (2025)
Summary: SJM 104 expresses frustration with management on the Camas National Wildlife Refuge, and calls on congress and the President to transfer control of these public lands as a "solution."
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Approved
Issue Areas: Fish and Wildlife, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Public Lands, State Issues
HB 387: Decommissioning Windmill Cash Upfront (2025)
Summary: HB 387 requires the owner of a wind turbine project to pay a deposit necessary to reclaim the site.
ICL's position: Review
Current Bill Status: Dead
Issue Areas: Clean Energy, Energy, Idaho Department of Lands, Wildlife
SB 1164: Building Code Requirements (2025)
Summary: SB 1164 requires local government to respond to an applicant within a specified time, forcing cities to approve development proposals without full evaluation.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Law
Issue Areas: Building Codes
HB 326: Attacking the Ada County Highway Commission (2025)
Summary: HB 326 attempts to shift the balance of power away from Highway District voters, giving the Governor and County Commission power to appoint commissioners.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Dead
Issue Areas: Air quality, Elections, Public Safety, Transportation
SB 1089: Shrinking Idaho’s tire piles (2025)
Summary: Senate Bill 1089 seeks to encourage the recycling and utilization of waste tires in Idaho.
ICL's position: Support
Current Bill Status: Returned to Committee
Issue Areas: Clean Water, Counties, Private Land, Public Safety, Sustainability, Water Quality
SB 1140: Roads Designed Only For Cars (2025)
Summary: Senate Bill 1140 seeks to restrict transportation funding for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other safety improvements.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Law
Issue Areas: Air quality, Public Safety, Transportation
SB 1144: Restricting funding for pedestrian and road safety (2025)
Summary: Senate Bill 1144 would limit funding for pedestrians, cyclists, and road safety.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: To Governor
Issue Areas: Air quality, Public Safety, Transportation
SB 1115: Safer more efficient highways (2025)
Summary: Senate Bill 1115 requires a study to determine how the Idaho state highway system could be improved to facilitate safer and more efficient highway linkages in Idaho.
ICL's position: Review
Current Bill Status: Returned to Committee
Issue Areas: Public Lands, Transportation
HB 317: Bankrupting wind projects (2025)
Summary: HB 317 would effectively block wind energy in the state, penalizing wind energy developers with a $25,000/foot excise tax, charging over $9.8 million for each average-sized windmill.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Dead
Issue Areas: Clean Energy, Energy, Public Safety, Wildfire
HB 303: Pesticide and Agricultural Immunity (2025)
Summary: HB 303 would provide sweeping legal immunity to manufacturers of pesticides, Genetically Modified foods, agricultural chemicals, and other potentially dangerous products.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Dead
Issue Areas: Agriculture, Clean Air, Clean Water, Pesticides, Public Safety, Water Quality
HB 302: Delaying wildlife and lamprey transplants (2025)
Summary: HB 302 would make it harder for wildlife managers to relocate wildlife, lamprey, and parachuting beavers in Idaho.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Dead
Issue Areas: Counties, Fish and Wildlife, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Salmon and Steelhead, Wildlife
HB 148: Paying Private Legal Fees with Public Dollars (2025)
Summary: HB 148 requires the Constitutional Defense Council to consider requests for Idaho taxpayers to cover private legal fees.
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Law
Issue Areas: Grazing, Livestock, Public Lands, Stockwater, Water, Water Rights
HB 226: Mines and Mining (2025)
Summary: HB 226 seeks to stabilize the Idaho Abandoned Mine Fund, and to ensure long-term solvency of the fund.
ICL's position: Support
Current Bill Status: Law
Issue Areas: Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Idaho Department of Lands, Mining, Private Land, Public Land, Public Safety, Water Quality
SB 1062: Planning and Zoning and State Lands (2025)
Summary: SB 1062 would require commercial leases on state lands to comply with local planning and zoning requirements.
ICL's position: Support
Current Bill Status: Dead
Issue Areas: Public Lands