Idaho Legislature: Ask Legislators to VOTE NO on H0301 - State procurement (posted 02/28/25)

• Bill: legislature.idaho.gov/s…

• Contact Legislators: emailidaho.com

(Check the linked page or use My Bill Tracker for the bill’s current status.)

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H0301 is a long, complicated, expensive and potentially problematic update to the State Procurement Act. While it imposes some good guardrails for state procurement of property, it does so at significant cost: Four FTP positions requiring $483,044 for salary and benefits provided by the General Fund.

It also would allow the governor to declare an emergency so a state agency could acquire property valued from $250K to $1M after a statutory deadline had passed. Creating a high threshold for requiring an agency to prepare a proposal and allowing agencies to bypass deadlines reduces government transparency and enables the governor to bypass the legislature for large purchase of new or replacement property.

Some details:

• Section 67-3502, Idaho Code, already requires state agencies that intend to acquire property to prepare a report by Nov. 15 each year for the governor and Legislature.

• H0301 amends this code to require this reporting only if the intended property is estimated to cost $250,000 or more. Thus, state agencies could spend a great deal of money under $250K without having to prepare reports. (Similar to CA Penal Code Section 459.5 that considers shoplifting of merchandise under $950 a misdemeanor, and rarely gets prosecuted.)

• Allows for multiple award contracts, allowing two or more bidders to furnish the same or similar property.

There’s more, but the eyes glaze over. The biggest negatives are removing requirements to report on purchases below $250K, allowing the governor to declare emergencies due to missed reporting deadlines, and requiring four new full time employees to administer these changes.

Related:

• Idaho Freedom Foundation (-3): idahofreedom.org/house-…

• California Penal Code [CPC] §459.5(a) – Shoplifting: