The House has voted 44-23 in favor of HB 590, legislation from Rep. Marc Gibbs, R-Grace, that would let county commissioners in any county take over the issuing of permits for residential septic systems from their local health district. Several House members questioned why the Legislature would want to let counties "opt out" of their public health district's sewage rules. Gibbs said the counties would have to enact their own rules and would become responsible for inspections of septic systems. Others said they'd heard the bill won't advance in the Senate, but said that wasn't a good reason to support it.

"Literally the system that we currently have throughout many parts of Idaho is broken," Gibbs told the House. "There are three different pieces of legislation that are going to come before this body, another one yet today, probably, that have an effect on this situation. Sometimes the best rules come from closer to home. I don't think anyone by supporting this legislation are, by a county opting out, in any way is minimizing the stringent requirements for clean water and those kinds of things. That is not the intent of this legislation, that is not the intent of the counties who support this legislation." The bill now moves to the Senate.

---

---