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2021 Idaho legislative session
General information
Session start:    January 11, 2021 Session end:    November 17, 2021
Leadership
Senate President Janice McGeachin (R) House Speaker Scott Bedke (R) Majority Leader Senate:Kelly Anthon (R) House:Mike Moyle (R) Minority Leader Senate:Michelle Stennett (D) House:Ilana Rubel (D)
Elections
Next Election:   November 8, 2022 Last Election:   November 3, 2020
Previous legislative sessions
2020 •2019 •2018
Other 2021 legislative sessions
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In 2021, theIdaho State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 11, 2021, and adjourn on May 12, 2021. The House reconvened on November 15, 2021, and adjourned on November 17, 2021.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the2020 elections. Republicans won a 28-7 majority in theSenate and a 58-12 majority in theHouse. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republicanstate government trifecta. At the start of the 2021 session, Idaho was one of 16 state legislatures where Republicans had aveto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

Redistricting is the process by which states draw new Congressional and state legislative districts following the U.S. Census. Officials sent data from the 2020 U.S. Census to states in early 2021 to begin the process of redistricting. As of the 2020 census, Idaho was one of four states where an independent commission was responsible for redistricting.

Leadership in 2021

Idaho State Senate

• Senate president:Janice McGeachin (R)
• Majority leader:Kelly Anthon (R)
• Minority leader:Michelle Stennett (D)

Idaho House of Representatives

• Speaker of the House:Scott Bedke (R)
• Majority leader:Mike Moyle (R)
• Minority leader:Ilana Rubel (D)

Selection of speaker

Rep.Wendy Horman (R) announced she would challenge Rep.Scott Bedke (R) for the house speaker position ahead of the 2020 legislative session. Bedke had served as house speaker since 2013.^[1] The Republican caucus held a vote for the house speaker position on December 2.^[1] An official vote was held on the house floor to elect a speaker of the house the following day.^[1] Bedke was re-elected to another term as house speaker.^[2]

Partisan control in 2021

See also:State government trifectas

Idaho was one of 22 Republicanstate government trifectas at the start of 2021 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas,click here.

Idaho was also one of 16 state legislatures where Republicans had aveto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called aveto-proof majority or, sometimes, asupermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures,click here.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of theIdaho State Legislature in the 2021 legislative session.

Idaho State Senate

Idaho House of Representatives

Regular session

The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2021 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2021. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

Redistricting

See also:Redistricting in Idaho after the 2020 census

Redistricting is the process of enacting new district boundaries for elected offices, particularly for offices in theU.S. House of Representatives andstate legislatures.

To learn more about the redistricting process in Idaho after the 2020 census,click here.

Standing legislative committees

See also:Standing committee andList of committees in Idaho state government

Astanding committee of astate legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

At the beginning of the 2021 legislative session, there were27 standing committees in Idaho's state government, including3 joint legislative committees,10 state Senate committees, and14 state House committees.

Joint legislative committees

• Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, Idaho State Legislature
• Joint Legislative Oversight Committee, Idaho State Legislature
• Joint Millennium Fund Committee, Idaho State Legislature

Senate committees

• Agricultural Affairs
• Commerce and Human Resources Committee
• Education
• Finance
• Health and Welfare
• Judiciary and Rules
• Local Government and Taxation
• Resources and Environment
• State Affairs
• Transportation

House committees

• Agricultural Affairs
• Appropriations
• Business
• Commerce and Human Resources
• Education
• Environment, Energy and Technology
• Health and Welfare
• Judiciary, Rules and Administration
• Local Government
• Resources and Conservation
• Revenue and Taxation
• State Affairs
• Transportation and Defense
• Ways and Means

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process forreferring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states,initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are alsomany other types of statewide measures.

The methods by which the Idaho Constitution can be amended:

See also:Article XX of the Idaho Constitution andLaws governing ballot measures in Idaho

Article XX of theIdaho Constitution establishes two ways in which the constitution can be amended, either vialegislatively referred constitutional amendments orconstitutional conventions. Idaho does not feature the power ofcitizen initiative forinitiated constitutional amendments.

Legislature

See also:Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

A two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required during one legislative session for theIdaho State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 47 votes in theIdaho House of Representatives and 24 votes in theIdaho State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

Convention

See also:Convention-referred constitutional amendment

According toArticle XX of theIdaho Constitution, a constitutional convention can be called if two-thirds of the members of each house of theIdaho State Legislature vote to place before the people a question as to whether the people want to call a convention. If a majority of all the voters voting at the election vote for a convention, the legislature must arrange to have a convention.

Historical partisan control

The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Idaho.

Historical Senate control

From 1992 to 2020, the Idaho State Senate was controlled by the Republican Party for most of the time period from 1900 to 2020. The table below shows the partisan history of the Idaho State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2020. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin'sParty Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

The Idaho State Senate was mostly in Republican hands from 1900 to 2020. Democrats would occasionally gain control of the chamber, but it was usually not for more than a few election cycles. Most of their years in control occurred during the years associated with the Great Depression and World War II. The last year a Democratic majority was elected was in 1958. Republicans took control in 1960 and held it through the 2020 elections (although the chamber was split 21-21 following the 1990 election).

Starting in 1994, Republicans began to win large majorities in the chamber. They controlled 30 of the 35 seats by 1996 and increased their advantage to 32-3 by the 2000 elections. However, Democrats won seven seats in the 2002 elections, and, following that, the chamber stayed at 28-7 following most elections from 2000 to 2020. Republicans increased their majority to 29 seats in 2012 and 2016. These were the only two years that deviated from the 28-7 split from 2002 to 2020.

Historical House control

From 1992 to 2020, the Idaho House of Representatives was controlled by the Republican Party, the same as it had been since 1960. The table below shows the partisan history of the Idaho House of Representatives following every general election from 1992 to 2020. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin'sParty Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

The Idaho House of Representatives was mostly in Republican hands from 1900 to 2020. It only flipped to Democratic control four times. Two of the flips to Democratic control occurred in years associated with the Great Depression and World War II. In 1960, Republicans won back control of the House after losing it in 1958 and maintained a majority through the 2020 elections.

From 1992 to 2020, Republicans expanded their advantage over Democrats. From 1992 to 2000, they made steady gains and secured 61 seats following the 2000 election. Democrats made up some ground in 2002 when they picked up seven seats, but they then lost three of those seats in the 2004 elections. After the 2006 elections, Democrats held 19 seats, which was the most they had held since the 1992 elections. However, Republicans took back many of the seats in the elections from 2010 to 2020, holding a 58-12 majority at the end of the period. The chamber's Republican gains from 2010 to 2016 were in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency ofBarack Obama (D). From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experiencedlosses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats altogether.

See also

Elections	Idaho State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
Idaho State Senate elections, 2020 Idaho House of Representatives elections, 2020	Idaho State Legislature Idaho House of Representatives Idaho State Senate Governor of Idaho Idaho Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2020 State legislative special elections, 2020 State legislative elections, 2018 State legislative elections, 2016	State government trifectas State government triplexes Veto overrides in state legislatures State executives State courts Ballot measures The State Legislative Decade

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Idaho State Legislature homepage

Footnotes