The District 30 Legislative Session Recap was held on April 22nd, 2025, at Dawn Enterprises at 280 Cedar Street, in Blackfoot, Idaho. Our honorable legislators, Senator Julie Van Orden, Representative David Cannon, and Representative Ben Fuhriman were present to report the achievements of the 2025 legislative session which adjourned on April 4th after 89 days at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. The District 30 Legislative Review was an opportunity for these legislators to report what they felt were the successes achieved during the legislative session. Senator Julie Van Orden was first to report. She mentioned that she has digital copies of The 2025 Sine Die Report, a summation of the 2025 Legislative Session. She volunteered to forward a copy of the report to any constituents who wished to receive a copy. The report and a complete listing of all legislation are also available at www.legislature.idaho.gov.
Senator Van Orden spoke about the progress that has been made on the water issues that Southeast Idaho is experiencing. One bill in particular that she mentioned was Senate Bill 1061 which requires the director of the department of water resources to issue any final order on water no later than December 1st prior to the year such order takes effect. This act comes into full force this year in July and should help farmers in determining their planting options.
Senator Van Orden also mentioned the important ongoing work she is doing with Medicaid Expansion as a member of the Health and Welfare Committee. She suggested that this work will likely be ongoing for several years before Idaho has a truly workable solution. She said much of her work has been in discussing solutions that can be implemented in the future, and she is open to hearing more of the conversation.
Representative David Cannon spoke about the tax relief he worked to provide for Idahoans. He referred to the extensive debate that took place regarding the grocery tax credit. While many Idahoans agree that there should be tax relief on the sales tax charged on groceries, there is heated debate about the form that tax relief should take. Some believe the state should not charge sales tax on groceries, while others are in favor of grocery sales tax relief being in the form of a tax credit; Idaho currently offers grocery sales tax relief in the form of a tax credit in the amount of $120 per person. As a member of the Revenue and Taxation Committee, Cannon was able to work to increase this tax credit to $155 per person. Idaho sales tax is currently 6%, which means a household of four would by refunded all the sales tax paid on $10,000 worth of groceries.
Representative Cannon also worked to see House Bill 304 passed for property tax relief. This legislation provides an additional $100 million of property tax relief to Idahoans starting in 2025 and every year thereafter. $50 million of property tax relief will be provided through the School Facilities Fund and $50 million in Property tax relief will be provided in the Homeowner Property Tax Relief account. Both of these accounts were established in HB292 of the 2023 legislative session.
Representative Cannon reminded the audience that the State has had a budget surplus for several years. He believes that a budget surplus results in two options 1) give the money back to the people or 2) find a way to grow government bigger to spend the surplus. Representative Cannon supports smaller government and lower taxes.
Finally, Cannon brought up House Bill 93, which creates a $50 million dollar fund for educational choice. Parents are allowed to claim at tax credit for actual incurred expenditures of up to $5,000 per child. Parents should retain receipts in case they are audited by the Idaho Tax Commission. He emphasized that the $50 million is not being taken from the public school budget. [The public school budget remains at approximately $3 billion] and that the money for the tax credit is only about 1% the size of the public school budget and is being created from surplus funds. The tax credit acts as another form of tax relief for parents who choose to use nonpublic educational options who are paying out of pocket expenses for education.
As he concluded, Representative Cannon announced that as a result of this legislative session’s work to reduce the tax burden, Idahoans should see 453 million in tax relief.
Representative Ben Fuhriman said that he was very happy to see the legislation regarding wind energy conversion systems. He said that Jeff Ehlers wrote House Bill 146 to require the installation of light-mitigating technology systems on wind energy conversion systems. He said the requirement will only apply to cases of five or more turbines, and before the mitigating systems can be installed, the Federal Aviation Agency will be required to issue a permit. He said the law will go into effect over the next five years.
After each legislator had taken a turn, the public in attendance were given the opportunity to ask questions. A question was put forth about Idaho’s abortion law. Representative Cannon stated that the law had been put in place with the idea that it would only take effect if Roe v. Wade was overturned. None of the legislators thought they would ever see Roe v. Wade overturned, therefore, the law was likely not debated to the extent it could have been, and the legislature will likely revisit that law in the future. Representative Cannon also stated that a large number of Idahoans consider an unborn baby to be a vulnerable person that the government has the responsibility to protect.
Several attendees had further questions about House Bill 93. Senator Van Orden said that she had a preference to a different education bill that didn’t pass after HB 93 did pass. Representative Cannon spoke saying that he hoped that healthy competition could exist between public schools and private schools, micro-schools, and learning pods such that each pushed the others to be better. He works with the juvenile justice system, and he is keenly aware of shortcomings within our public schools. He is in favor of school choice and giving parents the accountability for their children. He acknowledges that the chances that the bill is perfect on the first draft is highly unlikely, but feels this is a good start.
Representative Ben Fuhriman offered a different perspective. He felt that instead of using the $50 million for tax relief, the $50 million should have been added to the public education fund. He also made the claim that the money could only be used on accredited private schools and could not be used by homeschools, microschools or learning pods because they were not accredited. However, the first page of the bill specifically states the funding actually is intended for private schools, microschools, and learning pods, and an option for schools (or even homeschools) to be unaccredited is given within the same section.
Representative David Cannon was also able to point out that parents can claim “qualified expenses” including tuition, tutoring, materials, books, testing, textbooks, and curricula. Cannon is also hopeful that creating this alternative school option will help relieve some of the public school use to allow the money in the public school fund to become more per student.