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2022 Primary Election
Recap & Analysis
Statewide Elections Wrap-Up
On Tuesday, May 17, 2022, Idahoans cast their votes to determine what candidates will face off in this November’s General Election. At the top of the ticket (statewide offices), the establishment Republicans, or what some might refer to as traditional Republicans, won just about every race except for Idaho Attorney General. There were no contested races in the Democratic Primary. Currently, all statewide offices are held by Republicans, and I do not expect a realistic challenge in any of the statewide races in November, except for possibly the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Below are the results the key contested races.
Sitting Governor Brad Little easily defeated far-right challenger Janice McGeachin (the current Lieutenant Governor). Scott Bedke (the current Speaker of the House), defeated far-right challenger, Priscilla Giddings (a current member of the Idaho House of Representatives). Former State Board of Education Chair Debbie Critchfield defeated incumbent Sherri Ybarra for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Phil McGrane (current Ada County Clerk) defeated far right challenger Dorothy Moon (a current member of the House of Representatives) and finally, Raul Labrador (a far-right former U.S. Congressman), defeated incumbent Lawrence Wasden for Attorney General.
Legislative Wrap-Up
To put it bluntly, Tuesday’s Primary was a bloodbath for Republicans. 19 incumbent Republicans lost. These losses were primarily due to redistricting and the influx of new out-of-state voters who have relocated to Idaho. If I had to sum the primary up in a nutshell, it appears that the House of Representatives has become more moderate and the Senate has become more conservative. How far those chambers change will depend on who is Speaker in the House and Pro Tempore in the Senate. At this time, it is unclear who will win those top posts. Again, there were few contested races on the Democratic side of the legislative ticket. Below is a list of the 19 Republican incumbents who lost.
Sen. Jim Woodward Rep. Scott Syme Rep. Karey Hanks
Rep. Jim Addis Rep. Greg Chaney Rep. Ron Nate
Rep. Paul Amador Sen. Jeff Agenbroad Rep. Chad Christensen
Sen. Peter Riggs Sen. Steven Thayn
Sen. Carl Crabtree Rep. Gayann Demordaunt
Rep. Terry Gestrin Sen. Fred Martin
Sen. Jim Rice Rep. Greg Ferch
Rep. Ryan Kerby Sen. Jim Patrick
What Does it All Mean in the House
As I mentioned earlier, it appears the House has lost a significant number of far-right conservatives due to losses in the primary, retirement, or choosing to run for a statewide office or Senate seat. At this point, I think Representatives Mike Moyle (Current House Majority Leader) and Representative Jason Monks (Current House Assistant Majority Leader) are the front runners for Speaker. Both are very similar in their viewpoints, so whoever wins will probably appoint similar Committee Chairs, but you never know.
There will also be big changes at the Committee level. Seven of the 15 House Standing Committee Chairs will not be returning to the House. Even the returning Committee Chairs might not be chairing the same committees or any committee at all depending on who wins the Speaker race. In addition, the membership of the different committees will be dramatically reshuffled. It is important to note that House Health and Welfare Chairman Fred Wood retired and that at least four other members of the House Health and Welfare Committee will not return including, Representatives Marc Gibbs, Chad Christensen, Laurie Lickley, and Greg Ferch.
Both Minority Leader Ilana Rubel and Assistant Minority Leader Lauren Necochea of the Democratic leadership were reelected, so I do not much expect much change at the top of the House Democratic Caucus.
What Does it All Mean in the Senate
The Senate will be even more chaotic and will shift to the political right. While all four members of the Republican Leadership Team were reelected, more than half (19) of the Senate is gone due to retirement, choosing to run for statewide office, or losing in the Primary. I fully expect Senate Pro Tempore Chuck Winder to be challenged from the right. There is a strong possibility that the Republicans could have a completely different leadership team. There will be major changes with the Democrats as well because both the Minority Leader and Assistant Minority Leader retired.
Only three of the ten Committee Chairs will be returning. As such, there will be lots of reshuffling at both the Committee Chair and Committee Member levels. It is way too early to predict who will end up on what committee at this point in time. It is important to note that Senate Health and Welfare Chairman Fred Martin lost in the Primary and that at least four other members of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee will not return, including Senators Peter Riggs, Lee Heider, Christy Zito and Michelle Stennett.
Sine Die Report
2022 Legislative Session Overview
The 2022 Legislative Session began on January 10, 2022. As it is an election year, the Idaho Legislature completed its business in a more traditional timeframe – They adjourned Sine Die (Latin for without a day) on Thursday, March 31. As you may recall, the Legislature did not adjourn Sine Die in 2021 until mid-November – The longest session in Idaho history.
The 2002 Idaho Legislature spent the majority of the session debating on how to spend the state’s nearly $2 billion surplus. The Legislature also spent a significant portion of its time introducing and debating many culture war issues ranging from abortion, mask and vaccine mandates, transgender issues, and even locking up librarians.
Ultimately after much back and forth, the Governor and the Idaho Legislature settled on how to spend Idaho’s significant surplus. The majority of the money was spent on tax cuts, teacher pay increases, mental health, and many one-time infrastructure projects that included investments in roads, bridges, broadband, and filling up the state’s rainy-day funds to prepare for the next economic downturn.
General Health Care Wrap-Up
As always, there are many bills that are introduced and considered that deal with healthcare. Two of those bills indirectly impact the profession of Optometry.
House Bill 756, the Crisis Standards of Care Act, is a direct response to COVID-19 and basically guarantees Idaho patients certain rights while they are in the hospital during a crisis event. A crisis event can be anything from a pandemic, a plane crash, earthquake, etc. It charges the Department of Health and Welfare with the responsibility of limiting the duration and scope of operating in crisis standards of care and developing long-term capacity strategies to reasonably prepare for future surges in healthcare demand. HB 756 asserts that all existing patient rights shall be honored under crisis standards of care. It requires both the facility requesting crisis standards of care and the Department to make reports that include mitigation plans for limiting the scope and duration of crisis standards of care.
House Bill 778 makes some modifications to the Idaho Patient Act. In general, this bill further limits the actions that can be taken by healthcare providers to collect on medical bills from their patients. Specifically, HB 778 clarifies that the pursuit of overdrawn checks for the amount of the overdrawn check is not an extraordinary collection action, provides a faster timeline for adverse credit reporting in exchange for giving up the ability to pursue other extraordinary collection action, adjusts the timing and content of certain necessary patient communications as well as the burden of proof, before engaging in an extraordinary collection action against a patient. The legislation also provides intent language to further clarify that the limits on costs, fees, and attorney’s fees began with any extraordinary collection action commenced on or after January 1, 2021, regardless of when the goods or services were delivered to the patient.
Optometry Wrap-Up
For the most part, it was relatively quiet on the Optometry front. There were no bills introduced that specifically addressed the profession of Optometry. However, administrative rules for the profession of Optometry are in the middle of being reviewed and updated as part of Governor Little’s Zero Based Rules (ZBR) review process. As you may know, ZBR is process where the Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses reviews administrative rules for each of the licensing boards under its management. The Idaho Optometric Physicians (IOP) via myself and IOP Executive Director Lisa White have been engaged throughout this process, and we are closely working with IDOPL staff to ensure that the rules protect the public and make it easier for Idaho’s Optometrists to carry out their profession.
As always, it has been my pleasure to represent you at the Idaho Legislature. If you have any questions, or need additional information, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Lance Giles,
The Giles Group
lance.giles@thegilesgroup.net
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