Kathryn Larson has lived in Sagle for over a decade. She’s an artist and treasurer at Sandpoint ArtWorks Gallery, manages communications for CAL and Bizarre Bazaar, helps with CREC, and tries to do good in the community.
In her spare time, she consults with Inland Northwest businesses. She ran for the state legislature in 2024.
By Kathryn Larson
Our Idaho legislative session has begun. Buckle up.
Last year, over 1000 bills written, 789 bills published, about 350 were voted on, 322 became law … in less than 90 days.
That doesn’t include time spent in daily committees, caucus meetings, answering calls and emails from advocacy groups, and reading hundreds of pages of legal text to understand those bills.
Legislators are paid $25K per year, have full-time jobs, and lack staff. Those bills cost real money plus a lot of time for a lot of people. We might balance the budget just by cutting the number of bills allowed.
Two kinds of bills get introduced. Those written by Idahoans to address Idaho problems. These address issues such as rural school financing problems and state redistricting rules that affect financing of local services and infrastructure.
Most bills are “model bills” written by lobbyists. They are handed to legislators with ready-made, cut and paste language from other states, and persuasive talking points, by the special interest groups in Boise.
The Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) is one of the most powerful of these. They broker the wishes of other groups, provide the platform for republican central committees, offer the “carrot” of high ratings on the Freedom Index for obedience, and the “stick” of expensive primary challenges for pushback.
In 2024, we saw this firsthand in District 1 with a primary cost of over a half million dollars.
This “model” system has gotten so blatant in Idaho that legislators are pressured to sign loyalty pledges. Bills can be controlled by stacking a committee with loyalists to kill or advance bills under the direction of the IFF. This is how power is wielded to control our legislature.
Voters have power once the election is decided – usually in the primary. There are good, hardworking legislators in Idaho … more than a few. But, while this system rules, sessions are a brutal and rigged mixmaster that punishes thoughtfulness and rewards obedience.
These bills address a full range of subjects following a disturbing pattern.
Power shifts from local to state and costs move down onto the shoulders of local taxpayers. We have less control, higher local taxes, and fewer services.
In 2026, one bill to be introduced requires local elections – sewer, hospital, etc. – to publish the party affiliation of candidates. Partisanship in the sewers? Does it matter how the people writing grants to offset additional taxes and ensuring water quality vote? Should selection criteria be loyalty or civic responsibility?
Other model bills would eliminate our citizen’s initiative, sell off public assets, undermine local health districts, and limit local elections.
Our lawmakers could spend their time working for us. Idaho was awarded $930 million to improve rural healthcare, though obedient IFF lawmakers are pushing to refuse the money. Our legislature, unburdened by the swamp of model bills, might prioritize the use of these funds for long-term benefit for Idaho. Let’s pilot programs for healthcare innovation, build a sustainable pipeline to recruit clinicians, rollout mobile care units, or explore innovative funding. Idaho could fritter the money away or help build a national healthcare playbook.
This system rewards bill volume, ideological loyalty, and shortcuts; not careful analysis, coalition building, and problem-solving. Limit the number of bills. Require real due diligence before printing. Publish the bill’s author. Give 48-hour public notice for hearings.
Idaho has talent or grit. Just not good governance. We don’t need bill-cranking contests. Hold lawmakers accountable to constituents not scorecards. We deserve that.
Show up and pay attention. Say no to special interests. Recognize that a failing score on the Freedom Index is a badge of honor.