OPINION: When laws become real, part III
The Legislature can pass hundreds of bills in a session. Most never make the evening news, and few Idahoans have time to read the Idaho Code for fun. But those laws can still find their way into our neighborhoods, water supply and elections.
This is Part 3 of my look at laws passed during the 2026 legislative session that took effect July 1.
S1352 — Starter Home Subdivisions
Housing affordability is a hot button issue across Idaho, and Senate Bill 1352 tries to address part of it by making it easier to build smaller, less expensive single-family homes.
The law applies to cities with populations over 5,000 and says they cannot prohibit “starter home subdivisions” on residentially zoned land. Cities must allow smaller lots, narrower lots, smaller setbacks and densities of at least 12 homes per acre, with exceptions for infrastructure, environmental conditions and property configuration. Building, fire, water, sewer and environmental requirements still apply.
Smaller lots may mean more affordable homes. But there is another question: How much authority should Boise have over local zoning? S1352 passed the House 36-34. Housing affordability matters. So does local control.
H0895 — Data Centers and Idaho Water
Data centers are becoming a larger part of the economy as artificial intelligence increases demand for computing power. All those servers generate heat, and cooling them can require enormous amounts of water.
House Bill 895 says data centers beginning construction after July 1 cannot consume water for cooling unless it comes from a municipal, water district, or water-and-sewer district system.
The Legislature cited Idaho’s limited water resources and the need to protect existing uses, including agriculture and industry. This is one of those laws that may seem far removed from daily life until a major development wants water from the same aquifer communities and farmers depend upon.
S1431 — Monitoring Idaho’s Water
Water appears again in Senate Bill 1431, a budget bill for the Idaho Department of Water Resources. It transfers $716,000 for aquifer monitoring, measurement and modeling and restores $390,000 removed during the state’s 5% base-budget reduction. That includes funding for stream gauging and personnel working on the Northern Idaho Adjudication and Bear River Basin Adjudication.
“Adjudication” is not a word that makes people race to keep reading, but the process determines who has legal rights to Idaho’s water and how much. In a growing state, that matters. You cannot responsibly manage a resource you are not accurately measuring.
H0930 — Keeping Campaign Money Separate
House Bill 930 changes how candidates and political committees handle campaign money. Campaigns must maintain a separate checking account, contributions and expenditures cannot be commingled with other funds, and candidates lending more than $1,000 to their own campaigns must put that money into the campaign account. Campaign funds may be placed in CDs, money-market or similar cash-equivalent accounts, but not stocks or other equity investments.
That may sound like housekeeping, but voters should be able to follow campaign money and know where it went. H0930 passed the House 36-34 and the Senate 19-14.
Four bills. Housing. Water. Growth. Campaign accountability.
None came with a ribbon cutting on July 1. Most Idahoans probably did not notice when they took effect. But that is the point of this series. Passing a bill is only the beginning. The more important question is what happens when it becomes part of our lives.
Read the bills. Look at the votes. Decide for yourself whether your legislators got it right.
That’s how representative government is supposed to work. That’s the Idaho way.
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Becky Funk is a member of North Idaho Republicans and former Legislative District 4 Republican Chair.