New law restricts cold remedy sales
Gov. Dirk Kempthorne signed into law a pair of bills on Tuesday, one to control the sale of ingredients used to make illegal methamphetamine and another that sets limits on when governments can take private property for public use.
In the future, cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine must be kept in locked display cases or areas where the public isn’t permitted.
In addition, the new law makes it illegal for people to buy more than nine grams of pseudoephedrine from a retailer in a month. That’s about 12 packages of Sudafed, a common over-the-counter cold medicine.
Buyers will also have to show a photo identification card issued by the state, such as a driver’s license. Violations are a misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum year in jail and $1,000 fine.
The eminent domain bill, sponsored by House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley, restricts uses of so-called “eminent domain” laws for private parties, urban renewal or economic development purposes.
The bill is a response to a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld a move by the city of New London, Conn., to condemn homes to allow a private development.
In Idaho, under the bill, property could only be condemned if it’s so dilapidated it endangers life or property. Properties would have to have “specifically identifiable conditions” that pose an actual risk to human health, transmission of disease, juvenile delinquency or criminal behavior.
“Through these two measures, we will better protect the citizens of Idaho,” Kempthorne said.
Reporting corpses made obligatory
The Idaho Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to punish people who don’t report dead bodies.
The bill, which passed the House 65-1 on March 13, closes a loophole exposed two years ago when the remains of a mother and daughter were found years after they’d died in a Rexburg trailer still occupied by the husband and father.
In that grisly June 19, 2004, discovery of the bodies of Lorraine Kaneko, 58, and her 33-year-old daughter, Laura Kaneko, the cause of their deaths was never determined.
Kenichi David Kaneko, 66, the occupant of the trailer, has never been charged. Authorities in Madison County say the case is still open.
After Gov. Dirk Kempthorne signs the bill, failure to notify a coroner of a dead body would be a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum year in jail and $1,000 fine.
If the body is so badly decomposed that medical experts can’t determine the cause of death, those who conceal it could face a felony charge, with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Before this bill, there was a requirement to report a body — but failure to do so carried no punishment.