'It just felt like a sneak attack'

BOISE — In an unusual committee hearing Thursday, a senator attempted to place a bill on Monday's agenda while the chair was absent. 

Shortly after Senate Health and Welfare Committee Vice Chair Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene, gaveled in on Thursday, Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld, R-Twin Falls, made a motion. 

She moved to put HB 138 — a bill that would create strict conditions for Medicaid expansion with the threat of a full repeal of the program — on Monday's agenda. She cited Medicaid's growing costs. 

"It is too important to be left in a drawer," Zuiderveld said. 

Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, seconded the motion. 

Sen. Brandon Shippy, R-New Plymouth, asked if that was something a committee member could do. Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, asked if the committee could go at ease to consult the rules. 

Wintrow later told the Idaho Press she asked Secretary of the Senate Jennifer Novak about the move. 

Novak confirmed to the Idaho Press that the motion was made out of order. 

The committee was at ease for about 10 minutes and then Committee Chair Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree, who had been absent at the begin of the beginning, entered the room and adjourned the meeting. 

The two bills on the agenda for Thursday were not heard. 

Lenney told the Idaho Press he didn't know the motion was going to happen that day, but knew there had been "talk about a motion." 

"It caught me a little bit off guard as well," he said. "I seconded the motion because I agreed with it." 

Traditionally, the committee chairs have control over the agenda. HB 138 last week passed the House in a 38-32 vote after a lengthy the debate, the Idaho Press previously reported. It was then sent to the Senate and awaited a hearing in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. 

Wintrow said in a phone interview she found Thursday's move "troubling." 

"It just felt like a sneak attack," Wintrow said. "It didn't feel very above-board." 

The bill would require the Department of Health and Welfare seek and obtain from the federal government 11 waivers — implementing policies such as work requirements, an enrollment cap, and a lifetime benefit limit. If the department failed to receive all the waivers by the July 2026 deadline, Medicaid expansion would be automatically repealed.  

This week, the same sponsor, Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d'Alene, introduced a new bill aimed at making changes to Medicaid. The bill had been called a "compromise," and would also require the department to seek a number of waivers from the federal government to make changes to the program, but it did not include an automatic repeal trigger.

VanOrden is a co-sponsor on the new Medicaid waiver bill, which is expected to have a hearing in House Health and Welfare on Monday. 

Zuiderveld could not be reached for comment by press time.