Idaho Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Idaho, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Could Idaho voters create a state-run electronic currency and 'private market exchange' through a 2010 ballot initiative?
The AG concluded the proposed Idaho-controlled currency system would likely violate the U.S. Constitution. The Coinage Clause and the prohibition on state-issued bills of credit reserve money creation…
What is a Certificate of Review, and what did the Idaho AG do with the 2002 ballot initiative to reinstate state term limits?
This is a Certificate of Review, the advisory review the Idaho AG must issue under Idaho Code § 34-1809 before a ballot initiative circulates. It concerns the 'Idaho State Term Limits Act of 2002.' A …
Could Idaho voters tighten state term limits through a 2002 ballot initiative without rerunning into the same constitutional problems that had hit the 1994 term-limits law?
The proposed amendments to Idaho Code 34-907 raised no new constitutional concerns beyond the existing law, but a 2000 district court ruling (Rudeen v. Cenarrusa) had invalidated the county-level port…
Could a 2002 Idaho initiative legalize tribal video gaming machines without running afoul of the Idaho Constitution's casino-gambling ban?
The proposed initiative tried to authorize video gaming machines on tribal lands, but the AG concluded the machines, as defined, would almost certainly be treated as 'slot machines' or simulations of …
Could Idaho require every candidate for public office to take the local high school exit exam and have the score published in the press?
The proposed initiative would have required candidates to take their school district's 'high school exiting standards test' and publish the score, but most Idaho districts had no such test, the First …
Could Idaho voters require cities to hold an election within a proposed annexation area before annexing it, with the city paying for the vote?
The proposed initiative would have repealed Idaho Code 50-222 and replaced it with new sections requiring cities to hold a hearing and an election in the unincorporated area before annexation, with th…
Could Idaho voters legalize 'small stakes' video bingo, keno, blackjack, and poker machines in liquor-licensed establishments by initiative?
No. The proposed Idaho Code 23-929 would have allowed up to five video bingo, keno, blackjack, draw poker, or 'reel' machines in liquor establishments. The AG concluded this was casino gambling barred…
Could Idaho voters limit municipal annexation by requiring approval from a majority of property owners in the area before a city annexes it?
The proposed initiative would have required 'favorable concurrence of the majority of affected property owners' before annexation. The AG concluded this conflicted with Idaho Code 50-222(1)'s forced a…
Could Idaho voters change the Fish and Game Commission to elected office and limit the vote to people holding a hunting or fishing license?
The proposed initiative would have replaced the seven appointed Fish and Game commissioners with four elected ones, two from each congressional district, with voting limited to electors holding a hunt…
Could Idaho voters resurrect the state prevailing-wage law (using Davis-Bacon county-seat rates for public works) that the Legislature had repealed in 1985?
The proposed initiative would have re-enacted the language of Idaho Code 44-1006, repealed in 1985, requiring public works contracts to specify minimum wage rates and fringe benefits set by the Depart…
Could Idaho voters raise the state minimum wage to $10 per hour and lower the training-wage age cutoff from 20 to 18, without running into federal preemption?
The proposed initiative would have raised Idaho's minimum wage to $10 per hour and the training wage to $7.50 per hour starting December 1, 2000, with the training wage's age cap dropping from 20 to 1…
Could Idaho voters ban the use of bait or dogs to hunt black bears, and codify a tougher penalty for violations?
The proposed initiative would have banned the use of bait year-round and the use of dogs from May 1 through August 31 to take black bears. The AG identified drafting concerns: an unintentional photogr…
Could Idaho voters use the initiative process to undo the 1997 Legislature's tightening of initiative procedures?
The proposed initiative would have repealed most of HB 265 (signed March 20, 1997), which had added time limits, geographic proportionality, signature-gatherer requirements, and judicial review provis…
Would changing 'shall' to 'may' in Idaho's teacher-negotiation statute actually let teachers pick their own bargaining representative?
The proposed initiative would have changed Idaho Code 33-1271 from 'shall' to 'may,' making it optional for school districts to enter negotiation agreements with teacher representatives. The AG saw no…
Could a 1995 Idaho ballot initiative raise the state minimum wage to $6.25 per hour by 2000, eliminate the tip credit, end overtime exemptions, and remove farmworkers, domestic workers, and minors from the minimum wage entirely?
Yes. The AG found no constitutional or statutory bar to any of the four changes. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act has a savings clause (29 U.S.C. § 218) that expressly lets states enact more gener…
Could Idaho voters pass a 1995 initiative giving parents a $500 income tax credit for each child not attending public school, and would that survive the U.S. and Idaho constitutions' bans on aiding religious schools?
Probably yes, with revisions. The proposed credit went directly to parents and depended on individual parental choice, which Mueller v. Allen treated favorably under the federal Establishment Clause. …
Could Idaho voters pass a 1995 initiative that banned anti-discrimination protections for gay people, blocked public funds from speech that 'endorsed' homosexual behavior, restricted what teachers and libraries could say or shelve, and would any of those restrictions survive the First Amendment?
The minority-status provision was awaiting U.S. Supreme Court resolution in Romer v. Evans. The public-funding ban was vulnerable under Rosenberger; the public-school provision was vulnerable as viewp…
Could Idaho voters pass a 1995 initiative that banned all abortions after 13 weeks of pregnancy, given the U.S. Supreme Court's 1992 Casey decision?
No, not as drafted. The proposed initiative would have banned previability abortions (abortions before the fetus could survive outside the womb), which Casey clearly forbade. Viability ranges from abo…
If a 1995 ballot initiative changed one word in Idaho's school-bargaining statute (from 'shall' to 'may'), would Idaho teachers actually get to choose their own bargaining representatives?
Probably not. The proposed initiative changed § 33-1271 to make district-level negotiation optional, but did not touch § 33-1273, which made the local education organization the 'exclusive' bargaining…
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Attorney general opinions in Idaho are written by the Idaho Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.