After a long break, waiting for the engrossed bill, the House has voted 68-0 in favor of HB 301a, the amended version of the oil and gas regulation bill from Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale. “This has become a compromise bill,” Boyle told the House. She thanked stakeholders on all sides, House members and House Speaker Scott Bedke for their “help to make this an excellent bill.”

“This bill would protect private property rights, the endowment and the taxpayers,” Boyle said. “It will update our laws in accordance with the other Rocky Mountain states.”

Rep. Randy Armstrong, R-Inkom noted that the hearings on the bill were highly contentious.  “Are all parties OK with this at this point?” he asked. Boyle responded, “Yes. … Miracles do occur. … We came to final resolution last night.”

Before the House took up the bill but after it had reconvened, at 5:40 p.m., Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, said she thought there was still much to do to study the changes to the bill, and moved to adjourn the House until tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. – much later than it’s been convening lately, in the press of business at the end of the legislative session. The non-debatable motion was overwhelmingly defeated in a voice vote, and the debate on the bill started.

Giddings then debated the bill, saying she’s heard from people who were “very concerned about the language, the sloppiness, worrying that it conflicted with the Constitution.” She ran down a list of page-by-page, line-by-line objections to the bill. Among them: “No. 5, page 24, line 16, mentions an operator shall file all well test reports. There again, not a standard procedure,” she said. At the conclusion of her debate, Giddings said despite her concerns, she would vote in favor of the bill.

 Idaho is new to the oil and gas business, with its first development in southwestern Idaho now under way. HB 301a now moves to the Senate side; a Senate Resources Committee hearing is scheduled at 8 a.m.

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