More pieces of legislation were prepared for Idaho's 2025 session than in the last 30 years
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Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways
Members of the Idaho Senate work from the Senate floor on the morning of March 10, 2025, at the Idaho Capitol Building in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)
It has been at least 30 years since an Idaho legislative session has featured as many prepared pieces of legislation as the recent 2025 session at the State Capitol in Boise.
During the entire 2025 session, legislators and bill drafters prepared 1,378 pieces of legislation, according to the official Sine Die report compiled and published by the Idaho Legislative Services Office.
That's 140 more pieces of legislation than during the previous year's legislative session.
Idaho legislators had so many pieces of legislation prepared – including draft bills, memorials, resolutions and proclamations – that it is difficult to find online records of another session that featured more pieces of legislation.
According to an Idaho Capital Sun review of online legislative records and previous Sine Die reports that tracked the volume of legislation dating as far back as 1994, the 2025 session is the only time that more than 1,300 different pieces of legislation have been prepared in Idaho.
The 1994 session came close, with 1,265 pieces of prepared legislation, according to a table embedded in the 2003 Sine Die report.
Online legislative records only date back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, so documenting and comparing legislative trends prior to that time period becomes more difficult.
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Model legislation makes its way into Idaho
At any rate, the increase in legislation this session was so pronounced the House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, noticed it stood out before the session ended for the year April 4.
Idaho House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, speaks from the House floor on March 10, 2025, at the Idaho Capitol Building in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)
In an interview with the Sun in March, Rubel blamed some of the increase in the amount of legislation on an influx of out-of-state model legislation.
Model legislation, or form legislation, is where an organization or advocacy group writes a bill template that can be easily introduced in different states simply by making a few minor wording changes or localizing a bill, the Sun previously reported.
'A lot of this is being driven, frankly, by these out-of-state bill mills,' Rubel told the Sun in March.
Examples of form legislation that has appeared in Idaho and multiple states include bills restricting transgender athletes from participating in women's sports and the Texas-style immigration bill allowing local law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of people being investigated for a crime.
From the 1,378 proposed pieces of legislation that were prepared for legislative committees and legislators, 790 bills, proclamations, resolutions or memorials were officially introduced in 2025, Idaho Legislative Services Office staffers wrote in the Sine Die report.
In the end, 341 of those bills became law this year, and most will take effect July 1.
Idaho legislative sessions, by the numbers
Here is a closer look at the 2025 Idaho Legislative session, and how it compares to other recent sessions.
Length of session
2025: 89 days
2024: 94 days
2023: 88 days
2022: 81 days
2021: 311 days, longest legislative session in Idaho history
2020: 75 days
Number of pieces of legislation prepared for legislators or committees
2025: 1,378
2024: 1,234
2023: 1,155
2022: 1,046
2021: 1,226
2020: 1,,053
Source: 2025 Idaho Sine Die report
Idaho Sine Die report
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