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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What did Idaho's AG say about the 2015 four-part marijuana initiative covering medical use, decriminalization, drug paraphernalia, and industrial hemp?
The AG's biggest concern was the single-subject rule. The petition bundled four distinct policy programs (medical marijuana legalization, possession decriminalization, paraphernalia decriminalization,…
What did Idaho's AG flag about the 2013 ballot initiative to overhaul state sales tax?
The petition was drafted against an outdated version of the sales tax statutes and missed 2011-2013 amendments. Other concerns included the irrelevance of a personal-property-tax change, definitional …
What did Idaho's AG say about the 2013 minimum wage ballot initiative?
The certificate of review described the initiative's proposed schedule (raising minimum wage to $9.80/hour by 2018 with annual CPI-W adjustments after) and noted parallel federal FLSA provisions for t…
What did Idaho's AG say about the February 2013 medical marijuana ballot initiative?
The AG identified the same federal preemption issues that defeat any state-only medical marijuana program, plus single-subject concerns under Idaho Const. art. III sec. 16 and several drafting fixes t…
What did Idaho's AG flag about the 2012 medical marijuana ballot initiative before it could go on the ballot?
The AG identified federal preemption (Controlled Substances Act, FHA, ADA, and Rehabilitation Act exclusions), a possible single-subject problem under Idaho Const. art. III sec. 16, internal cross-ref…
What did Idaho's AG flag about the 2012 ballot initiative to end Idaho's state liquor monopoly and privatize retail liquor sales?
The AG conducted the statutory review of the privatization petition under Idaho Code 34-1809 and noted issues for the petitioners' consideration. As with all certificates of review, the AG took no pos…
What did Idaho's AG say about the 2011 ballot initiative that would broaden the sales tax base to services and lower the rate to 5%?
The AG flagged a major unintended consequence: combining the proposed expansion of sales tax to real-property improvement contracts with existing exemptions for sales to government would completely ex…
What did Idaho's AG say about the 2011 ballot initiative making animal torture a felony?
The AG found the petitioner-supplied short and long ballot titles appropriate under Idaho Code 34-1809(2). The initiative amended the state's Cruelty to Animals chapter to add felony penalties for rep…
What did Idaho's AG certify about the 2011 referendum on Senate Bill 1110, the Luna Law on performance-based teacher pay?
The AG certified the referendum petition for form and style. S1110 had passed both houses, been signed into law, and was set to take effect in 2012, meeting the procedural requirements for referendum …
Could Idaho voters use a 2011 ballot initiative to broaden the state sales tax to services and lower the rate from 6 percent to 5 percent?
The AG identified drafting and constitutional issues with the proposed sales-tax restructuring: sourcing rules conflicted with existing law, the bill would have wholly exempted state and federal gover…
If Idaho voters had passed the 2010 medical marijuana initiative, would patients still face federal prosecution for possessing marijuana?
The AG flagged a critical limitation: even if Idaho legalized medical marijuana under state law, federal law would continue to apply. Patients would still face federal Controlled Substances Act prosec…
Could Idaho voters pass a 2010 initiative to nullify federal health insurance laws within the state?
The AG concluded the proposed Idaho Health Insurer Protection Act was likely unconstitutional. A state cannot declare federal laws null and void inside its borders. That power belongs to the federal c…
Could Idaho voters pass a 2010 ballot initiative letting jurors ignore judicial precedent and decide both the law and the facts in every case?
The AG flagged the Informed Jury Act initiative for separation-of-powers concerns under Idaho Const. art. V, sec. 13, Supremacy Clause concerns where the rule extended to federal law and federal court…
Could Idaho voters pass a 2010 ballot initiative letting county sheriffs block IRS enforcement of federal income tax laws?
The AG concluded the initiative would violate the Supremacy Clause and was likely void for vagueness. Idaho cannot block federal income tax enforcement, and sheriffs cannot decide which federal laws t…
Could Idaho voters pass a 2010 initiative banning state and federal greenhouse gas regulation inside Idaho?
The AG flagged three legal defects: the initiative conflicted with Governor Otter's Executive Order 2007-05 directing GHG reduction, conflicted with Idaho's Title V Clean Air Act permitting authority …
Could a 2010 Idaho ballot initiative withhold federal income tax revenue from the federal government?
The AG concluded the initiative would likely be struck down. The 16th Amendment gives Congress the power to lay and collect income taxes without apportionment among the states. No state law can withho…
Could a 2010 Idaho initiative bar Idaho from participating in the federal National Animal Identification System?
The AG flagged that the initiative was drafted with 'Missouri' substituted for 'Idaho' at three points (a copy-paste from another state's measure), would impair pre-existing federal-state cooperative …
Could a 2010 Idaho initiative require presidential candidates to file birth certificates with the Idaho Secretary of State to qualify for the ballot?
The AG concluded the initiative would be unconstitutional. States cannot add qualifications for federal officers beyond what the U.S. Constitution specifies. Powell v. McCormack and the Supremacy Clau…
Could a 2010 Idaho ballot initiative bar federal enforcement of health insurance mandates within Idaho?
The AG flagged the initiative's drafting ambiguities, the 'indirect effect' nullification clauses that left scope indefinable, signature-collection violations under § 34-1804, and noted that potential…
Could a 2010 Idaho initiative make midwifery licensure voluntary by removing the criminal penalty for unlicensed practice?
The AG noted a citation error (the petitioners cited § 54-5406 instead of the correct § 54-5506) and explained that eliminating the penalty for unlicensed practice would change Idaho's midwifery regul…
Could a 2010 Idaho ballot initiative bar local governments from joining ICLEI or U.N. bodies?
The AG noted the proposed prohibition on local government membership in ICLEI or U.N. bodies was permissible as a public-funds limitation, but flagged that removing AG prosecutorial discretion imprope…
Could a 2010 Idaho ballot initiative require local governments to pay landowners 120% of value plus costs whenever zoning rules change land use?
The AG raised concerns about drafting (better placed as separate statutory sections rather than a single new section), the conflict with constitutional police powers, federal preemption of provisions …
Could a 2010 Idaho ballot initiative bar federal deployment of the Idaho National Guard outside U.S. borders?
The AG concluded the initiative was unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution's Militia Clauses and federal statute give Congress authority to call National Guard units to active federal duty. The Idaho…
Could a 2010 Idaho ballot initiative bar all forced vaccination, criminalize coercion, and authorize lethal self-defense against vaccinators?
The AG flagged numerous conflicts: with Idaho minor consent statutes (§§ 39-3801, 39-4302), with the federal vaccine definition in 42 U.S.C. § 1396s, with Idaho's existing self-defense doctrine (the i…
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…
Could Idaho put a 'Signed TERM LIMITS pledge' or 'Broke TERM LIMITS pledge' legend next to a congressional candidate's name on the ballot, after the Supreme Court struck down state-imposed term limits on Congress?
The AG warned that ballot legends were on uncertain footing pending the Idaho Supreme Court's pending Simpson v. Cenarrusa decision, and that section 6's deemed-service rule risked colliding with U.S.…
Could a single Idaho ballot initiative both let counties opt out of term limits and impose a multi-year lobbying ban on former state legislators?
The AG warned the initiative likely violated Article 3, section 16's single-subject rule because county term limits and revolving-door lobbying restrictions are not 'necessary as ends and means to the…
Did Idaho need a 1997 ballot initiative requiring state, county, municipal, and school district candidates to pledge compliance with a 1994 term-limits act that already legally bound them?
The AG questioned the initiative's necessity because the 1994 Term Limits Act already bound state and local candidates regardless of whether they signed a pledge, and the proposed ballot legend faced …
Could a 1997 ballot initiative phase out Idaho's school maintenance-and-operation property tax levy without specifying how the lost revenue would be replaced?
The AG flagged that section 1 would phase the M&O levy down to zero by 2001 but only contained a non-binding 'should' that the legislature replace lost revenue from sales taxes, leaving school funding…
Could a 1997 Idaho ballot initiative ban the 'reburial' of plutonium and require written accident analyses for state air-quality permits, when the proposal lacked the basic structure of operative legislation?
The AG concluded the initiative was not implementable as written: it failed to designate any state agency to act, used pivotal terms like 'reburial' and 'this plutonium' without definition, and ran in…
Did a March 1997 redraft of the Idaho One Percent Initiative fix the implementability problems the AG had identified the year before?
No. The redraft acknowledged that 'enabling legislation' would be needed but left that to future legislatures, which the AG said could not be bound, so the proposal remained incapable of self-executio…
Was the 1996 Idaho One Percent Initiative capable of being implemented as written, and how would it have affected school funding, voter-approved bonds, urban renewal districts, and charter school districts?
No. The AG concluded the initiative could not be implemented because it imposed a 1% cap without giving any official the authority to enforce it, and warned of cascading conflicts with the property ta…
Could a 1996 Idaho ballot initiative require the Secretary of State to print 'DISREGARDED VOTERS' INSTRUCTIONS ON TERM LIMITS' next to the names of legislators and members of Congress who failed to support a federal term-limits amendment?
The AG warned the initiative would likely be unconstitutional under the First Amendment, Equal Protection Clause, and Idaho right-of-suffrage provisions because it puts the state in the role of endors…
Could a 1996 Idaho ballot initiative require legislative and voter approval of any agreement to receive additional radioactive waste in Idaho, and could it retroactively invalidate the October 1995 INEL settlement agreement among the Governor, Attorney General, the Department of Energy, and the Navy?
Probably not. The AG flagged that the proposed referendum-style approval mechanism conflicted with how the Idaho Constitution uses the referendum (as a 'veto' rather than a confirming vote), and the 1…
Could a 1995 Idaho ballot initiative recognize private 'volunteer militia organizations' as part of the state militia and shield them from legislative regulation, gubernatorial oversight, and adjutant general control?
No. The Idaho Constitution gives the legislature authority to regulate the militia (Article 14, section 2), the governor command-in-chief authority (Article 4, section 4), and authority over commissio…
Could a 1995 Idaho ballot initiative cut the sales tax rate from 5% to 3% by amending Idaho Code § 63-3619 alone, while leaving the 5% use tax in place?
No, that approach would discriminate against out-of-state sellers in violation of the Commerce Clause. Local retailers would collect 3%, out-of-state retailers (and use-tax remitters) would still owe …
Could a 1995 Idaho ballot initiative successfully exempt food, water, and clothing from Idaho sales tax by amending Idaho Code § 63-3619?
The AG flagged that amending the sales-tax statute alone would leave the use tax in place, undercutting the petitioners' goal. The petitioners should add a new exemption section under § 63-3622 and de…
Could a 1995 Idaho ballot initiative criminalize all abortions performed once a fetal heartbeat or brain stem activity could be detected, with mandatory capital punishment for any violation?
No. The proposal would have outlawed many previability abortions in violation of the 'undue burden' standard from Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and the initiative process cannot amend either the U.S. o…
Is Idaho's proposed One Percent Initiative (a 1992 ballot measure to cap property taxes at 1% of market value) workable, and if not, can it still be put on the ballot?
The AG concluded that the One Percent Initiative had multiple fatal flaws (impossible-to-implement two-thirds-of-qualified-electors threshold, undefined 'special taxes,' no apportionment mechanism, co…
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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.