Looking Ahead to the 2023 Idaho Legislative Session

We want to start by saying thank you to our advocates and volunteers for the support they’ve provided over the past year. We are so grateful for all our volunteers!

Now that elections are over, and the Idaho Legislature has gone through an organizational session to determine leadership positions and committee assignments, we are eagerly anticipating the beginning of the 2023 Idaho Legislative Session in January. With almost 50% turnover in the Legislature, we predict the first few weeks of traditional rules review process may take slightly longer due to the learning curve for new legislators. However, we will be jumping in quickly to provide education to the entire body on our priority issues. At the top of our list is Postpartum Medicaid Expansion, increasing the length of time postpartum coverage eligibility is available from 60 days to 12 months, and improving the income eligibility requirements. We will also likely be defending Medicaid Expansion, as the review process is required by statute this year to determine the program continuation.  We are also working with our coalition partners across the state to help provide high quality, affordable early childcare education opportunities. We will continue to support the investment in Child Pedestrian Safety within our transportation infrastructure and hope to see increased funding again in FY24. We also have an almost entirely new Joint Millennium Fund Committee that we will be working to educate on all our tobacco related policy issues, from tobacco taxes and tobacco retail licensure, to smokefree cities and prevention, education, and cessation funding.

We have a wide range of issues we continue to move forward, and with a lot of new Legislators and all the changes that have taken place, we are eager to see what we can accomplish! With your help, we are excited for the progress we can make to improve the health for communities and individuals across Idaho. If you have a particular area of interest you’d like to provide support for, please reach out to Grace Henscheid at [email protected]. And again, thank you for your continued and enthusiastic efforts on behalf of the American Heart Association in Idaho!