Committee advances bill requiring districted city councils from Caldwell to Coeur d'Alene

BOISE — Eleven cities from across the state would shift from constituents voting for each of their city council members to only the council members in their district under a new bill advanced by the House State Affairs Committee on Thursday. 

House Bill 720, authored by Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, revises House Bill 413, which passed in 2020 and required cities with populations over 100,000 to divide themselves into districts for city council elections. While the previous bill affected some of the largest cities in Idaho, including Boise, Nampa and Meridian, Alfieri's bill would apply to all cities with a population greater than 25,000.

While cities with populations under 100,000 can already establish these districts by ordinance, the bill would limit the ability to exercise this discretion to cities with populations under 25,000.

Alfieri said the 11 cities due to have their elections changed by the legislation are Caldwell, Coeur d’Alene, Eagle, Idaho Falls, Kuna, Lewiston, Moscow, Pocatello, Post Falls, Rexburg and Twin Falls. In each case, district boundaries would be decided by cities with reference to the U.S. Census Bureau’s decennial census.

The bill states that these districts must be established by cities at least 120 days before the general election.

Alfieri framed the bill as seeking to address an issue with at-large representation, in which city council members do not have to live in specific areas, and each resident of a city or town can vote for every council member in elections. Without requirements to have a representative from each area of a city, “you don’t actually have local representation,” Alfieri said.

Both committee members and individuals testifying on the bill voiced concerns that this change in elections could lead to logistical issues, particularly in Idaho cities heavily influenced by their college and university student populations.

Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, R-Idaho Falls, noted that Rexburg is one such city where the majority of the population is made up of college students, leaving open the possibility that a district drawn there is entirely made up of student housing.

“I worry a little bit that this is kind of infringing upon cities,” Mickelsen said. “… I have found even in legislative districts that have 55,000 people, there are not people that either have the time nor the means nor the opportunity to serve.”

Though offering support for Boise’s shift to council-member districts, Rep. Monica Church, D-Boise, cautioned that the change would come at a high cost to cities as they worked to implement district boundaries and retool their elections to accommodate it, as was the case for Boise.

“If this is to go through, it needs a fiscal note,” Church said, “and we need to recognize the expense that our local communities are going to have.”

Alfieri’s bill currently states that the change will have no fiscal impact because it does not result in an “additional expenditure of funds at the state or local level of government.” Alfieri said he thought the cost of implementing this change was in the city administration budgets. 

Jonathan Wheatley, deputy director for the Association of Idaho Cities, testified against the bill, saying it would create “complications” for cities at the local level, particularly in college towns. He referenced the recent adoption of districts in Pullman, Wash., the cross-border neighbor to Moscow, as a case study in this effort.

“Across the border in Pullman, they have implemented city council districts,” Wheatley said. "There they had elections in these districts where they couldn't find any individuals to run … so people are getting voted into these city council districts with 100 votes or less.”

Under existing law, Idaho city councils may divide themselves into districts if their constituents deem it appropriate. While a 100,000 threshold for district requirements is a good number, lowering this to 25,000 “just creates a lot of issues,” Wheatley said.

Lance Sayers, who serves as a policy analyst for the Association of Idaho Cities, spoke for himself as a Kuna resident. As a constituent of a community of just over 30,000, Sayers said he found it easy to reach all his city council candidates and engage with them, but acknowledged this may not be the case for cities with more than 100,000. 

“As a resident of Kuna,” Sayers said, “I love the fact that I had the chance to be able to vote for every member of my city council."

Committee chairman Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, said concerns arise when city councils are not divided into districts, as council members can concentrate in a certain area, leaving one part of a city to have its issues heard while others have less priority. 

Despite the concerns raised, the committee voted unanimously to send the bill to the House floor with a “do pass” recommendation.