The House Health & Welfare Committee has convened to reconsider HB 486, the bill to ban minors from using tanning beds, after the measure earlier passed the committee, and then committee Chairman Janice McGeachin, R-Idaho Falls, pulled it from the House floor in mid-debate because of concerns raised by lobbyist Wayne Hoffman of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, who contended dermatologists are pushing the bill for their own profit, a contention the bill's sponsor, Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, a physician, called "absurd." The committee heard from Rusche today that there are some proposed amendments, and McGeachin said she'd invited a dermatologist, via telephone, to present some information to the committee, but the panel won't be taking any public testimony today.

As committee members shuffled through a stack of handouts, including the amendments and a packet from Rusche, some Hoffman had a page distribute his own handout to the committee, and members questioned where it came from. Hoffman said he'd submitted the handout without realizing McGeachin wasn't going to take testimony today.

Hoffman testified against the bill at its earlier committee hearing, contending lawmakers next would fine parents who let their kids outside without sunscreen; the committee passed the bill despite his concerns.