Last minute email from Wayne Hoffman cited to try to derail tanning bed bill

A last-minute email from Wayne Hoffman of the Idaho Freedom Foundation is being cited as a reason to derail the House’s debate this morning on HB 486a, Rep. John Rusche’s bill to ban minors from using tanning beds because of their high risk of deadly skin cancer. House Health & Welfare Chair Janice McGeachin, R-Idaho Falls, said she wants to bring the bill back to her committee to explore Hoffman’s allegations that dermatologists would profit from the bill. Hoffman testified at the committee hearing earlier, and the committee passed the bill despite his opposition.

Rusche, R-Lewiston, the House minority leader, “I find that bizarre and false. … How can decreasing the number of skin cancers and the number of skin cancer patients increase the number of dermatologists’ income?” Rusche objected to pulling the bill back to the committee, saying the move was highly unusual and “there are a lot of ways to kill a bill.”