Health and Welfare Committee, Idaho House of Representatives
The Health and Welfare Committee is a standing committee of the Idaho House of Representatives.
Per the House Rules, Idaho House of Representatives committees are assigned by the Speaker of the House. The number of members on each committee is fixed in the order of appointment.[1] Committees are assigned at the start of each term.[2] Quorum is not defined in the rules.
See rules: House Rules
Membership
2025-2026 legislative session
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House Health and Welfare Committee, 2025-2026 |
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|---|---|---|
| Democratic members (2) | Republican members (13) | Third-party members(0) |
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2023-2024 legislative session
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House Health and Welfare Committee, 2023-2024 |
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|---|---|---|
| Democratic members (3) | Republican members (10) | Third-party members(0) |
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2021-2022 legislative session
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House Health and Welfare Committee, 2021-2022 |
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|---|---|---|
| Democratic members (2) | Republican members (10) | Third-party members(0) |
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Muffy Davis (D) left this committee on December 31, 2021. [Source]
2019-2020 legislative session
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House Health and Welfare Committee, 2019-2020 |
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|---|---|---|
| Democratic members (3) | Republican members (9) | Third-party members(0) |
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John Green (R) left this committee on January 16, 2020.
2017 legislative session
The following table describes committee membership at the beginning of the 2017 legislative session.
| Health and Welfare Members, 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic members (2) | Republican members (11) | |||
| • Susan Chew | • Fred Wood, Chair | |||
| • Ilana Rubel | • Kelley Packer, Vice chair | |||
| • Brandon Hixon | ||||
| • Christy Perry | ||||
| • John Vander Woude | ||||
| • Eric Redman | ||||
| • Marc Gibbs | ||||
| • Megan C. Blanksma | ||||
| • Karey Hanks | ||||
| • Mike Kingsley | ||||
| • Bryan N. Zollinger | ||||
2015 legislative session
The following table describes committee membership at the beginning of the 2015 legislative session.
| Health and Welfare Members, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic members (2) | Republican members (9) | |||
| • John Rusche | • Fred Wood, Chair | |||
| • Sue Chew | • Kelley Packer, Vice chair | |||
| • Brandon Hixon | ||||
| • Christy Perry | ||||
| • Paul Romrell | ||||
| • John Vander Woude | ||||
| • Merrill Beyeler | ||||
| • Eric Redman | ||||
| • Caroline Nilsson Troy | ||||
2013-2014
The following table describes committee membership at the beginning of the 2013 legislative session.
| Health and Welfare Committee Members, 2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic members (2) | Republican members (9) | |||
| • John Rusche | • Fred Wood, Chair | |||
| • Susan Chew | • Christy Perry, Vice chair | |||
| • Douglas A. Hancey Jr. | ||||
| • Frank N. Henderson | ||||
| • Brandon Hixon | ||||
| • Luke Malek | ||||
| • Ed Morse | ||||
| • Paul Romrell | ||||
| • John Vander Woude | ||||
2011-2012
The following table describes committee membership for the 2011 legislative session.
| Health and Welfare Committee Members, 2011 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic members (2) | Republican members (8) | |||
| • John Rusche | • Janice McGeachin, Chair | |||
| • Susan Chew | • Carlos Bilbao, Vice chair | |||
| • Ken Roberts | ||||
| • Paul Shepherd | ||||
| • Fred Wood | ||||
| • Jim Guthrie | ||||
| • Thomas Loertscher | ||||
| • Steven Thayn | ||||
2009-2010
The following table describes committee membership for the 2009 legislative session.
| Health and Welfare Committee Members, 2009 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic members (4) | Republican members (12) | |||
| • George Sayler | • Sharon Block, Chair | |||
| • John Rusche | • Milton Nielsen, Vice chair | |||
| • Susan Chew | • Paul Shepherd | |||
| • Branden J. Durst | • Judy Boyle | |||
| • Steven Thayn | ||||
| • Lynn Luker | ||||
| • Fred Wood | ||||
| • Jim Marriott | ||||
| • Marc Gibbs | ||||
| • Thomas Loertscher | ||||
| • Janice McGeachin | ||||
| • Jeffrey Thompson | ||||
News
2010
Asset test suspension
In 2008, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R) suspended the asset test, an examination of the hard assets owned by a person who applies for federal food stamps. Prior to the suspension, people who owned more than $2,000 worth of travel trailers, ATVs, boats, and other items, were deemed ineligible to receive federal food stamps. The suspension was confirmed by the House Health and Welfare Committee in 2010. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare suspended the test for an additional year after Otter's original suspension ended in May of 2010. After department officials confirmed that the asset test limit hadn't been adjusted in at least 24 years, Rep. Tom Loertscher (R) and several other Republican lawmakers suggested the test be adjusted for inflation, rather than removing it altogether.[3] In 2011, the Legislature raised the asset test limit to $5,000.[4]
Katie Beckett program
In 2008, the House Health and Welfare Committee directed the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to search for ways to reduce expenditures for the state's Medicaid program. In 2010, the department proposed imposing a voluntary cost-sharing agreement on parents of children who receive Medicaid services through the Katie Beckett program, a Medicaid program that provides benefits to families above the Medicaid income limit with children at home who have long-term disabilities.[5] The Health and Welfare Committee approved the proposal. At the time, the state had 2,150 children on the program, which accounted for more than $37 million of the state's Medicaid budget. In the first month of billing, Idaho took in $13,454.[6]
Adoption order
The Health and Welfare Committee approved a bill sponsored by Rep. Sharon Block (R) that set the order in which children in state custody are placed in foster care to prioritize family members for placement. The bill dictated that close family members of children requiring foster care be placed first on the list for placement consideration followed by more distant relatives and, finally, unrelated foster care parents. The bill also allowed the department to waive licensing requirements for qualified relatives if they were deemed safe through background checks. If the waiver applied, a relative could take custody of the child or children while going through the licensing process.[7]
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Idaho State Legislature, "House Rules," accessed Feb. 20, 2021
- ↑ Information submitted by Brenda Barker via email to a Ballotpedia staffer on January 21, 2014.
- ↑ Idaho Reporter, "GOP lawmakers willing to examine adjusting asset test for food stamps," June 25, 2010
- ↑ StateImpact, "Idaho’s Growing Food Stamp Enrollment: Greater Need or Broader Eligibility?" Dec. 1, 2011
- ↑ Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, "About the Katie Beckett Program," accessed Feb. 23, 2021
- ↑ Idaho Freedom Foundation, "Health and Welfare sees more dollars coming in from children's Medicaid program," July 26, 2010
- ↑ Idaho Freedome Foundation, "Plan setting priority for child placement in foster care clears House," March 5, 2010
