Idaho - February 2022

Page 14 • RN Idaho February, March, April 2022
ADVOCACY IN ACTION
Idaho Legislative Issues Impacting Nurses in 2022
Michael McGrane, MSN, RN
Benn Brocksome
Randall Hudspeth, PhD, APRN-CNP
The first week of the Sixty-Sixth Idaho
Legislature’s Second Regular Session began on
January 10, 2022, with the traditional State of the
State Address from Governor Little in the House
Chambers on Monday afternoon. He specifically
called out healthcare workers as having gone
above and beyond the call of duty in managing the
complexities of the COVID pandemic. His office
contacted the Idaho Center for Nursing seeking
three nurses to represent the profession during
his speech. They joined the three physicians. The
nurses who represented the profession are Julie
Yerba, RN, from Saint Alphonsus Nampa, Diane
Nichols, RN, from St. Luke’s Boise, and Kylie Jo
Sanders, RN, from the intensive care unit at Saint
Alphonsus Boise.
Committees have resumed and begun organizing
and making plans for rules and legislation that will
be introduced during the session. Overall, the 2022
session is officially underway, and the tone of the
building is far more “normal” than 2021. Hopefully
the traditions of civility and statesmanship that have
returned will hold for the duration of the session.
The first few days of the session included
workplace sensitivity training for legislators and
staff, Economic Outlook Committee meetings
and Change in Employee Compensation (CEC)
Committee meetings as the State’s decision makers
grapple with a massive budget surplus and an influx
of federal funds. It is important to note that the
Governor’s budget forecast recommendations for
fiscal years 2022 and 2023 were adopted by the
Economic Outlook Committee and later forwarded
with a “Do Pass” recommendation to the Joint
Finance & Appropriations Committee (JFAC). This
set the tone and parameters for the budget debates
and other funding requests from legislators and the
Governor’s Division of Financial Management for the
session.
Governor Little and his staff have moved quickly
from the State of the State Address to outlining
the budget and Idaho’s successes to the JFAC
and procuring support from legislators on many of
their goals. These range from tax cuts to education
spending and investments, to critical funding for
infrastructure including broadband, water, roads and
bridges, to making continued investments in law
enforcement, behavioral health, and other priorities.
There is much to accomplish and many policy
debates to be had in the weeks ahead.
The first bill printed this year was in the House
Revenue and Taxation Committee. House Bill 436
has many of the same mechanisms as the income
tax cut bill from last session. Chairman Harris
sponsored and introduced this bill and noted the
Level Up Your Career
Apply today for an MN in Nursing
Education or an MN in Health Systems and
Organizational Leadership
https://son.ohsu.edu/mn
(866) 223-1811
proginfo@ohsu.edu
success of their efforts last year and the need to do
more for Idahoans this year, including hundreds of
millions of dollars in tax cuts and rebates.
This year, chairmen have the prerogative to offer
virtual testimony, and some committed to doing so
to allow residents from across the state, as well as
technical experts, to participate without the cost of
travel. The health and safety of participants remains
a concern as several legislators contracted COVID
early in the session. COVID testing remains available
to those who work in the capitol and remote and
virtual participation remains an option to ensure
everyone can see and hear what is happening even
if they are not in the building.
With elections for all legislators and statewide
officials, and reapportionment for all legislative
districts looming, legislators are preparing to tackle
a vast number of projects and polices that they
believe can be supported while still cutting taxes
and regulations for Idaho residents and businesses.
Hopefully this session will be remembered as one of
the more successful sessions, on the heels of the
longest and most contentious session of last year.
Nursing is well represented at the Idaho
Legislature. The ANA-Idaho and the Nurse Leaders
of Idaho share two lobbyists and their legislative
committees are cross populated. The Nurse
Practitioners of Idaho and the Idaho Association of
Nurse Anesthetists have separate lobbyists making
a total of 4 nursing lobbyists at the Capitol who are
linked to the nursing professions. The associations
that they represent are all linked to each other as
affiliates of the Idaho Center for Nursing. Thus, we
can say that we are well represented.
Nursing specific legislation that is upcoming and
that will generate interest amongst nurses are (1)
the rule changes at the Board of Nursing proposed
by the Division of Occupational and Professional
Licensing, and (2) the Rural Nurse Loan Repayment
(RNLR) program that is supported by ANA-Idaho
and NLI. The purpose of the RNLR is to form a
legal mechanism whereby nurses who complete
their education programs and go work in a rural
area, as defined in the statute, will be able to seek
funds towards academic loan repayments. This
legislation resulted from a Healthcare Transformation
Council of Idaho (HTCI) task force that was chaired
by Randy Hudspeth and Carolyn Hansen, CNO at
Bingham Memorial Hospital in Blackfoot. It focused
on how to get more nurses to seek employment
in rural Idaho. The average nurse academic debt
upon graduation is near $26,000. A nurse could
receive funds to pay this entire loan within 2 years
of employment as a nurse in a rural setting. Nursing
has gathered support for this legislation from the
nursing membership organizations, Idaho Hospital
Association, Idaho Healthcare Association, Rural
Health, and the HTCI.
The Idaho Board of Nursing has requested
support for a rule change specific to advisory
committees. They would like to re-structure the
existing advisory committees from regularly
scheduled ongoing meetings to an as needed and
more specifically focused groups. In discussions
about the intended outcome of these rule changes,
the nursing associations are supportive and believe
that this will be both cost and time saving while
maintaining the ability to have workgroups to
address specific issues.
Nurses will have the opportunity to meet with
legislators and also with Governor Little at the
Capitol on Thursday, February 17 from 0815 until
noon. The general Nurses’ Day at the Capitol will be
held in the rotunda lobby and also allow nurses and
students to listen to the House and Senate session
from the Gallery seating section. Registration is
required for this event and is available on both the
ANAI and NLI websites.
Policy Update:
HB 436 – Income Taxes House Revenue and
Taxation Committee. HB 436 makes several changes to
Idaho State Code in an effort to cut taxes. First it takes the
income tax brackets from five down to four. It also lowers
each brackets rate to 1%, 3%, $4.5%, and 6% starting
January 1, 2022. This results in an estimated $250 million
in ongoing income tax relief.
This bill also uses $94 million in funds amassed from
online sales tax to provide a one-time sales tax rebate for
all Idahoans who file an income tax return, regardless of
whether they owe or not. The State will return the greater
amount of either 12% of personal income tax from 2020
or $75 for each taxpayer and dependent. The sales tax
rebate for all Idahoans is estimated to be a total of $350
million statewide and one time. This bill is sponsored by
House Revenue and Taxation Committee Chairman
Steve Harris (R-21) and Co-Sponsored by House Majority
Leader Mike Moyle (R-14), Senate Local Government
and Taxation Committee Chairman Jim Rice (R-10), and
Senator C. Scott Grow (R-14). This bill is expected to get
a lot of attention and move quickly early in the legislative
session and progress through both chambers at a rapid
pace and ahead of many other large policy discussions.
Religious Exemption to the Child Protection Act
A renewed effort to repeal the religious exemption
to the Child Protection Act is being promoted by The
Campaign to Protect Idaho Kids. The religious exemption
allows parents to deny life-saving medical care to their
children in preference to faith healing. Representative
John Gannon of Boise is proposing legislation to remove
the religious exemption from law. Several efforts over the
past five years have repeatedly stalled without a bill being
heard.
2021 Oral Health Workforce Assessment Report
In January, the Department of Health and Welfare Oral
Health Program, released the 2021 Oral Health Workforce
Assessment. Here is a link to the report.
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/healthandwelfare.
idaho.gov/health-wellness/healthy-infants-children/oralhealth__;!!DzKa6zecyZU!Bfr_s-AgFPe8nUREJjSPhiCmyp
aEe91CaBfkfmYlAjKMpj3BXrD1_cCiRFBxKD_wTPolrqw$
Once on the website, select the “Oral Health
Workforce Assessment 2021” on the lower right hand
column.
Rules Making
There is a link for the Index of Proposed Rules for rules
seeking legislative approval. Current Proposed Rules |
adminrules.idaho.gov Committees in both the House and
Senate are assigned rules to approve. As a reminder, if
rules pass either the House or the Senate, they are set to
go into effect.
Here is a list of rules that may be of interest to nurses.
The Board of Nursing is now under the Division of
Occupational and Professional Licenses (DOPL). This
year, many rules require reauthorization to become or
remain effective.
IDAPA 16 – DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH AND WELFARE
• 16-0000-2000F – Omnibus Rulemaking
Reauthorizing Agency Fee Chapters
• 16-0307-2001 – Home Health Agencies
• 16-0309-2002 – Medicaid Basic Plan Benefits
o 16-0309-2004
• 16-0310-2002 – Medicaid Enhanced Plan Benefits
• 16-0321-2001 – Developmental Disabilities
Agencies (DDA)
• 16-0417-2001 – Residential Habilitation Agencies
IDAPA 24 – DIVISION OF OCCUPATIONAL
AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSES
Board of Nursing
• 24-3401-2000F – Omnibus Rulemaking
Reauthorizing Agency Fee Chapter