Idaho Legislature’s DOGE panel to work on repealing state laws, wading through public input

Originally published Aug. 25 on IdahoCapitalSun.com.

The Idaho Legislature’s new interim government efficiency committee is gearing up to identify more cuts to state government.

At its second meeting Monday, the DOGE Task Force — made up of state lawmakers, and named for the federal Department of Government Efficiency previously led by billionaire Elon Musk  — paved more of a roadmap for its work. 

The task force plans to review state laws to repeal, based on feedback from agencies required under a new state law to clean up state laws. The panel also plans to look into hundreds of tips from the public on government inefficiencies submitted to its online portal, which the task force announced a month ago at its first meeting. 

And Idaho’s DOGE panel might also explore cutting Medicaid expansion. 

After years of the Legislature not acting to fix a health insurance assistance gap, in 2018 nearly 61% of Idaho voters approved Medicaid expansion through a ballot initiative. But since then, Republican state lawmakers have complained about the program’s high costs.

Sen. Todd Lakey, a Nampa Republican who co-chairs the DOGE Task Force, asked if the panel should try to seek information about repealing or scaling back Medicaid expansion.

“I think jumping into that area would be good again,” replied Rep. Josh Tanner, an Eagle Republican. “… You are talking about able-bodied working adults living off of a socialistic system.”

In April, Idaho Republican legislative leaders announced the DOGE Task Force after a bill to create the panel stalled in the Legislature.

Should Medicaid expansion be repealed or reduced? Idaho’s DOGE might look into that.

The DOGE panel didn’t discuss how Idaho Gov. Brad Little recently ordered nearly all state agencies to cut spending by 3% this year, a rarely used budget move to require mid-year cuts not ordered by the Legislature. 

But next year, the Legislature might consider more cuts to state government — potentially even extending the governor’s temporary cuts, Tanner told the Sun in an interview Monday. 

“If we can continue to do these hold backs, as the economy gets better, we’d like to see the money go back into taxpayers’ pockets,” he said. 

Instead of fully repealing Medicaid expansion, one potential cut could be capping costs at a set amount, Tanner said. 

“There’s a lot of different things that we can continually look at. ... This may not be the perfect solution, but this is a really good solution for the state to help with cost containment aspects,” Tanner told the Sun. 

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare on Friday announced 4% cuts to Medicaid provider reimbursement rates, Idaho Reports reported. 

Idaho DOGE to review ideas for Idaho Code Clean Up Act

Under the Idaho Code Clean Up Act, passed into law this year through House Bill 14, state agencies must review state laws to identify any parts that are “outdated,” obsolete” or “unnecessary.”

By Sept. 1, state agencies must report that information to the Idaho Legislative Services Office. 

The office’s goal is to provide the DOGE task force with weekly summaries of state agencies’ submissions, and the office’s assessment of how risky it is to repeal parts of or entire sections of state law, Legislative Services Office Principal Research Analyst Alex Penny told the panel. 

Then the DOGE task force could review suggestions for repeals, which could lead to efforts to repeal laws in the Legislature next year.

The DOGE task force plans to meet again on Sept. 29 and Oct. 23.