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 an Idaho ballot initiative declare federal statutes unenforceable in Idaho if they don't cite a specific enumerated power of Congress?
No. The AG concluded the proposed nullification initiative was clearly unconstitutional. The Supremacy Clause makes federal law binding on state judges, and the authority to declare federal laws uncon…
Could an Idaho ballot initiative exempt Idaho-made firearms, accessories, and ammunition from federal regulation?
No. The AG concluded the proposed Idaho Firearms Freedom Act was clearly unconstitutional. Federal regulation of firearms reaches intrastate manufacture under the Commerce Clause, the Supremacy Clause…
What did the Idaho AG say about the 2010 'Idaho Right to Protection Act' ballot initiative on self-defense, gun tracking, and home privacy?
The AG concluded the proposed initiative had no clear legal goal: it would be placed in the criminal code but defined no crime and set no punishment, its self-defense language redundantly tracked exis…
Could an Idaho ballot initiative require federal officers to obtain the county sheriff's written permission before making any arrest, search, or seizure in Idaho?
No. The AG concluded the initiative was clearly unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause: a state cannot condition federal law-enforcement activity on a county sheriff's permission, criminalize fed…
Could Idaho exempt in-state nutritional and therapeutic products from federal regulation through the Health Supplements and Therapeutics Protection Act ballot initiative?
No. The AG concluded the proposed initiative would conflict with the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other federal drug statutes, would be preempted under the Supremacy Clause, and that limit…
What did the Idaho AG say about a 2010 ballot initiative listing veterinary procedures (ear cropping, debarking, docking, Caesarian sections) as animal cruelty?
The AG concluded the proposed amendment fit the existing animal-cruelty statutory scheme but flagged drafting problems: a citation error pointing to the wrong subsection, undefined technical veterinar…
Did the Idaho AG approve a 2009 ballot initiative to ban dog ear cropping by anyone other than a licensed veterinarian?
The AG issued an advisory Certificate of Review flagging serious drafting problems in the initiative: it would have created two conflicting penalties in the same statute, used an ambiguous mix of misd…
Did the Idaho AG approve a 2009 ballot initiative establishing a permanent-absentee-voter list for Idaho elections?
Largely yes. The AG concluded the proposed addition to Idaho Code § 34-1002 (creating permanent absentee-voter status for any registered elector who applied in writing) raised no significant legal iss…
Could a 2009 Idaho ballot initiative amend the Idaho Constitution to allow elective Bible curriculum in public schools?
No, not by the route the petitioner chose. The AG concluded that under Idaho Const. art. XX, § 1, the only way to amend the Idaho Constitution is through a two-thirds vote of each house of the legisla…
Could a 2008 Idaho ballot initiative require all debts, fines, taxes, and contracts to be paid only in gold or silver coin?
No. The AG concluded the 'Jubilee Initiative' was preempted by federal law. Article I, § 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, not the states, the exclusive power to determine what is legal tende…
Did the Idaho AG approve a 2008 ballot initiative banning new coal and nuclear power plants in Idaho without statewide voter approval?
Mixed. The AG noted the coal-plant ban was effectively redundant because Idaho's existing zero-mercury rule (IDAPA 58.01.01.199) already prohibited new coal-fired generation. The nuclear provisions ra…
Did the Idaho AG approve the 2007 'Public Employee Accountability Act' ballot initiative that aimed to strip judicial immunity and force grand juries on demand?
No. The AG concluded most provisions of the initiative would likely be struck down: it bundled multiple subjects in violation of Idaho Const. art. III, § 16; usurped the district court's exclusive con…
What did Idaho's AG say about Ron Gillett's third 2006 wolf-removal ballot initiative, this one aimed at the 2008 ballot?
This was Ron Gillett's third 2006 wolf-removal initiative, substantively identical to the March 9 version. Wasden cleared it on single-subject grounds (a single subject of wolf regulation), confirmed …
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2006 ballot initiative that would have amended Idaho's eminent domain and regulatory-takings statutes after Kelo?
The AG flagged a potential single-subject issue (eminent domain and regulatory takings might or might not be sufficiently related), a conflict with House Bill 555 which had just created a new Idaho Co…
What did Idaho's AG say about Ron Gillett's revised 2006 wolf-removal ballot initiative, after the AG flagged single-subject problems with the original?
Petitioner Ron Gillett refiled the wolf-removal initiative on March 7, 2006, after the AG's March 3 Certificate flagged single-subject problems. The revised version dropped the Office of Species Conse…
What did Idaho's AG say about Ron Gillett's 2006 ballot initiative to 'remove' gray wolves from Idaho?
The AG concluded the initiative's caption was misleading because state law cannot remove federally protected gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act, and that the proposal's combination of wolf-m…
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2006 ballot initiative to expand the Idaho Open Meeting Law and increase the fines for violations?
The AG flagged that the initiative used informal language instead of strikethroughs and underscores, cited the wrong subsection for the penalty (§ 67-2347(1) instead of (2)), and proposed minimum fine…
What did Idaho's AG say about the Idaho Education Association's 2006 initiative to raise the sales tax to 6% and dedicate the proceeds to K-12 public schools?
The AG flagged inconsistencies in the proposal's text (multiple definitions of permitted uses), the lack of a self-executing appropriation under Art. 7 § 13, ambiguous language on charter schools and …
What did Idaho's AG say about the proposed 'Residential Property Tax Relief and Bonding Act' that would have capped property tax at 1% and required a two-thirds vote for state revenue increases?
The AG flagged multiple constitutional and operational defects: the 1% cap had no implementation mechanism (echoing prior 1978, 1991, and 1996 AG opinions on similar proposals), the value-base distinc…
What was wrong with the longer 'Tax Accountability' property tax initiative filed in August 2005, the second '1%' tax cap proposal of that year?
The AG concluded the 6,500-line initiative was unimplementable as written. Three sections set conflicting one-percent caps with three different definitions of 'market value'; the value-base distinctio…
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2005 ballot initiative to amend Idaho Code § 49-445 (motor vehicle registration)?
The AG cleared the proposed initiative as raising no significant legal issues. Initiative legislation is on equal footing with bicameral-passed legislation and so can amend a statute. The certificate …
What did Idaho's AG say about the 'Idaho Judicial Accountability Act of 2006' ballot initiative, the second JAIL-style judicial-accountability proposal aimed at Idaho?
The AG concluded the proposal would create the 'Idaho Judicial Accountability Commission' as a fourth branch of government, independent of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, which is p…
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2004 ballot initiative to repeal Idaho's Right to Work law?
The AG cleared the initiative as raising no significant legal issues. Initiative legislation is on equal footing with bicameral legislation and so can repeal a statute. The substantive policy question…
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2004 ballot initiative that would have required Idaho's Legislature to call for a federal constitutional convention to define marriage?
The AG concluded the proposal was less a law than a mandate that the Legislature act, and that it was likely unconstitutional because it would limit the Legislature's plenary authority over its own ru…
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2004 ballot initiative to authorize 'video lottery terminals' at horse-racing facilities in counties with population under 100,000?
The AG concluded the proposal was unconstitutional in two ways: (1) the 'video lottery terminals' it would authorize are slot machines under Idaho Const. art. III, § 20 and Idaho Code § 18-3801, just …
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2003 ballot initiative requiring all Idaho schools to be funded above the bottom 5% of school districts nationwide?
The AG concluded the proposal was likely unconstitutional. It mandated school funding 'at a per pupil level greater than that of the lowest five percent (5%) of public school districts in the entire U…
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2003 ballot initiative to repeal Idaho's Right to Work law?
The AG cleared the proposed initiative as raising no significant legal issues. Initiative legislation is on equal footing with bicameral-passed legislation and so can repeal a statute. The substantive…
What did Idaho's AG say about the original 2003 'Idaho Judicial Accountability Act of 2004' ballot initiative?
The AG concluded the proposal would create the 'Idaho Judicial Accountability Commission' as a fourth branch of government, independent of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, which is p…
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2003 ballot initiative to allow Idaho's 'resort counties' to impose a local sales tax for property tax relief?
The AG concluded the proposal's definition of 'resort county' (population over 17,000 plus deriving a major portion of economic well-being from tourism) was sufficiently inclusive to avoid the local-o…
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2003 initiative to exempt food from Idaho sales tax by referring to the federal food stamp eligibility list?
The AG flagged that defining 'food products' by reference to 7 C.F.R. § 271.2 'as it presently reads, or as it may be amended to read in the future' would unconstitutionally delegate Idaho's legislati…
What did Idaho's AG say about the 2003 ballot initiative to restructure the Idaho Fish and Game Commission, the second such proposal in two years?
This was a substantively similar refiling of the February 2002 Fish and Game Commission restructuring initiative. The AG's review focused on the same drafting concerns: how the proposed Citizen Wildli…
What did Idaho's AG say about the original 'Idaho Judicial Accountability Act of 2004' ballot initiative filed in January 2003?
The AG concluded the proposal would violate the separation of powers doctrine. It sought to eliminate judicial immunity, create a Special Grand Jury to review any decision in any court, abolish the Ju…
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 …
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2002 ballot initiative to restructure the Idaho Fish and Game Commission?
The AG's review focused on technical drafting questions for a proposal to reduce the Fish and Game Commission from seven to five members, eliminate the party-affiliation restriction, eliminate at-plea…
What did Idaho's AG say about the original 2002 J.A.I.L. (Judicial Accountability Initiative Law) ballot initiative?
The AG concluded each of the proposal's four substantive elements (eliminating judicial immunity, creating a Special Grand Jury for judges, adding judge-removal procedures, and Grand Jury implementati…
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…
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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.