Legislative Watch

Bill to require study of Idaho maternal deaths signed into law

On Monday morning, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 399 into law, authorizing the Board of Medicine— the state agency in charge of regulating physicians and surgeons— to collect and review information related to maternal deaths in Idaho. The bill also requires the board to provide the Legislature with an annual report on numbers of instances of maternal mortality.

The bill is set to take effect on July 1.

The legislation came after the Idaho Legislature allowed the state’s maternal mortality review committee to expire in July. The review committee previously functioned to identify, review, and analyze maternal deaths in Idaho while also offering recommendations to address those deaths.

The maternal mortality review committee’s final report used data from 2021, and it showed that Idaho’s maternal mortality rate nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021. The report also found that most Idaho maternal deaths in 2021 could have been prevented if the individuals had received better education, possessed a deeper understanding of health issues, had improved access to health care and financial resources, and addressed mental health conditions.

But the committee’s expiration made Idaho the only U.S. state without a maternal mortality review committee. Since then, there has been no publicly available data on Idaho maternal mortality rates. 

House Bill 399 was sponsored by Rep. Megan Blanksma, R-Hammett, and it had support from several doctors, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. The bill passed the House of Representatives in a 52-17 vote, and a 25-10 vote in the Senate with opposition only coming from Republicans in both chambers. No Democrats voted in opposition to
the bill. 

Bill preventing governments from regulating knives advances

A bill preventing cities, counties and other local units of government from regulating knives is advancing to the Idaho Senate floor after a hearing Monday morning.

In the Senate State Affairs Committee, Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene presented an amended version of House Bill 620, which would enact a state right preemption law that will prevent political subdivisions in the state from regulating the possession, sale, transfer or manufacturing of knives.

Political subdivisions include any city, county, municipal corporation, health district or irrigation district.

“It’s important to realize that knives are arms protected by the Second Amendment, and if we are protecting firearms, we should do the same by protecting knives that are carried all day by many of our constituents,” Redman said. 

The bill would include exceptions for schools, courthouses, law enforcement facilities, places of involuntary confinement such as jails or prisons, and political subdivisions that are regulated by child care
as well.

Todd Rathner — representing Knife Rights, a national organization of knife collectors, owners and manufacturers — helped craft the bill. Rathner said there are 14 other states with similar legislation. 

According to the Knife Rights website, the organization passed its first knife law preemption bill in Arizona in 2010. Since then, it has worked to pass preemption bills in Alaska, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

“Folks carry knives every day for all types of reasons whether it is for work in a kitchen or a factory or for recreational reasons, such as hunting, camping or hiking,” Rathner said. “Your constituents should never have to question whether the tool they carry every day is legal to carry when they cross some arbitrary political boundary.”

The bill would allow for private contractors to maintain a no-weapon security protocol.  Redman said that the bill would not interfere with units of government that contract private services, to which Andrew Luther, the general manager of the Ford Idaho Center, said he is “thrilled”
to hear.

Though the Ford Idaho Center is owned by the city of Nampa, Luther said it works with private companies to host concerts, basketball tournaments and trade shows that require no weapons of any type. 

“That’s a very critical component to keeping the financial viability on behalf of the Nampa taxpayer,” Luther said.

The bill passed the House of Representatives earlier this month in a 56-13 vote. After Monday’s hearing, the bill would need to pass the Idaho Senate to move forward to Idaho Gov. Little’s desk where he can sign it into law, let it become law without his signature or veto it.