Bill Description: House Bill 723 (H723) overhauls oversight of children’s residential care facilities in Idaho by amending Chapter 12, Title 39, Idaho Code regarding the department’s quality of care oversight, establishing provisions for individualized service planning and documentation requirements for facilities, creating guidelines for critical incident reporting, and adding provisions for establishing a youth bill of rights in residential facilities.
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Does it create, expand, or enlarge any agency, board, program, function, or activity of government? Conversely, does it eliminate or curtail the size or scope of government?
House Bill 723 expands the functional authority of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare by mandating: more frequent inspections, interviews with children in facilities, formalized documentation review, compliance verification processes, and incident reporting requirements. However, this expansion of government may be justified because it is adding regulations on a government agency — the Department of Health and Welfare — to protect children in residential facilities.
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Does it directly or indirectly create or increase any taxes, fees, or other assessments? Conversely, does it eliminate or reduce any taxes, fees, or other assessments?
Though there is no fiscal note on H723, expanded oversight typically requires funding through appropriations or increased licensing fees. H723 mandates increased structural expansion of regulatory duties which require administrative staffing, review, record keeping, increased dialogue with parents and legal guardians; inspection activity, and the development of enforcement mechanisms.
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Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
H723 amends Chapter 12, Title 39 by adding a new section that would create provisions for the development of a youth bill of rights for residential care facilities. This includes broad language for outlining “rights” including, “The youth bill of rights shall include, at a minimum, rights related [to] Physical and emotional safety; (b) Access to medical and behavioral health care; (c) Communication and visitation with family, legal representatives, and advocates; (d) Privacy and confidentiality; (e) Participation in educational and recreational activities; (f) Freedom from abuse, neglect, and unreasonable restraints; Fair grievance and complaint processes without retaliation; and (h) Reporting of concerns or violations to the department.”
This sets a precedent of conflating inherent rights with government-granted privileges. Natural rights come from God and include the right to life, liberty, property, equality, and self-government, and governments are instituted to protect those rights. People have no inherent right to access medical or behavioral health care among any other government-given privileges. This section sets a potentially dangerous precedent regarding how rights are defined.
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