Bill Description: House Bill 694 would make some elements of the State Board of Health and Welfare’s list of deceased Idahoans public so it can be checked against the voter rolls. 

Rating: +1

Analyst Note: House Bill 694 is similar to House Bill 659, but this new bill explicitly excludes the date of birth from the records available to the public. 

Does it in any way restrict public access to information related to government activity or otherwise compromise government transparency or accountability? Conversely, does it increase public access to information related to government activity or increase government transparency or accountability?

Under current law, a candidate or other interested party has no way of verifying which registered voters have died. 

House Bill 659 would amend sections 34-433 and 39-270, Idaho Code, to make the list of Idahoans who have died available through a public records request. The State Board of Health and Welfare compiles this list for the Secretary of State and updates it monthly.

The version of the list provided to the Secretary of State contains the decedent's date of birth, but that information is explicitly excluded from the version available as a public record. 

Allowing the public access to this information would increase government transparency and could improve the accuracy and integrity of Idaho's voter rolls, but excluding the date of birth may make it more difficult to definitively validate the identities of those who should be removed from the voter rolls.

(+1)