BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Legislature is expected to return to the Statehouse on Monday, Nov. 15 to take potential action against the Biden Administration's vaccine mandate, which requires all federal workers and private employers with 100 or more employees to require vaccines or weekly COVID-19 testing.
Idaho Republicans are prepared to return to take on the mandates, but Idaho House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel (D-Boise) is unsure if lawmakers should return early.
"It's never a good idea to be passing major legislation in 72 hours or less," Rubel said. "You know, there's a reason why during session, it takes a good month or so."
Rubel said it's important for lawmakers to have ample time when passing legislation in order to give legislators time to read through bills, seek legal analysis if needed and to give the public time to weigh in.
"None of that is going to be possible with this session," she said. "So things are going to get rammed through at lightning speed, probably without adequate legal analysis and without adequate opportunity for the public and business and the business community and whatnot to weigh in."
Following the longest legislative session in Idaho history, all 70 members of Idaho's House of Representatives left the Statehouse without officially adjourning in May. Instead, lawmakers took a recess and left the door open to come back without having to be called back by the governor for a special session.
Rather than returning to the Statehouse next week, Rubel said lawmakers should wait to return until January when they were originally scheduled to come back.
"We're going to be back in less than two months. And then we'll be back for real during the normal proper procedure where we'll have committee set up and everybody will be there," she explained. "The public will have an adequate opportunity to vent things. And I see no reason why we go in with our hair on fire, passing things in record time when we could do it in due course and in a more proper manner."
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