Idaho House committee holds constitutional amendment to limit special legislative sessions

Idaho Gov. Brad Little gives his State of the State speech in the House chambers of the State Capitol building on Jan. 8, 2024. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun)

A resolution that would’ve let Idaho voters decide whether special sessions of the Idaho Legislature should be limited to 20 days was halted in the Idaho Legislature.

The House State Affairs Committee on Monday held Senate Joint Resolution 104 in committee at the call of the committee chair on Monday, which could kill the legislation for the year. The resolution, if passed by Idaho voters and both chambers of the Idaho Legislature, would have limited special sessions of the Idaho Legislature to 20 days. Special sessions called by the Idaho governor are already limited to 20 days, per the Constitution.

In 2022, voters approved an amendment to the Idaho Constitution that allows the Idaho Legislature to call itself back into session upon a written request of 60% of the members of the Idaho House of Representatives and Idaho Senate. Previously, only Idaho’s governor had the power to call a special session of the Idaho Legislature. 

It’s not clear if the bill would advance this legislative session, which legislative leaders have said they hope to wrap up on Friday.

“There were a lot of questions in committee today,” House State Affairs Committee Chairman Brent Crane, R-Nampa, told the Idaho Capital Sun on Friday. “… So, we’ll see. We’re still in session, so anything can move as long as we’re here.” 

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee held the bill on a voice vote Monday. The Idaho Senate approved the resolution on a 25-10 vote in February.  

20-day limit was intended to be in original amendment, Idaho senator says

In a Senate State Affairs meeting earlier this year, Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, had said the amendment voters approved in 2022 should have included language limiting a special session called by the Idaho Legislature to 20 days, but it was overlooked by legislative drafters at the time, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. 

If two-thirds of the members of both the Idaho Senate and Idaho House had voted to approve the proposed amendment, it would have been put on November’s election for voters to decide. It would take a simple majority of Idaho voters to approve the amendment if it makes it to the November ballot.

Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, said in a House committee hearing on Monday that constitutional amendments ought to be really important, and he doesn’t see it as important enough. 

“I can’t imagine legislators wanting to stay more than 20 days anyway, in our part-time Legislature,” Gannon said.

Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, said she didn’t see why “we would give away any more of our authority.”

“It seems like we continually limit ourselves and how we can help the people,” Scott said. “The House and Senate are supposed to be the closest to the people. God forbid something crazy happen and we may need to be here — I don’t know. And then especially when I saw what happened during COVID, with one person taking control of the state because we weren’t in session,” Scott said

She said it would already be difficult to get 60% of lawmakers to call for a special session.

The committee didn’t vote on a motion by Scott to hold the bill in committee until April 15.

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