Bill Description: Senate Bill 1342 would protect the right of someone living in a single-family dwelling to have up to four hens. HOAs and local governments would still be allowed to enforce “reasonable regulations”.
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NOTE: Senate Bill 1342 is related to Senate Bill 1026 (2026) and House Bill 404 (2026), but Senate Bill 1342 is a better bill because it does not limit its protections based on lot size.
Does it give government any new, additional, or expanded power to prohibit, restrict, or regulate activities in the free market? Conversely, does it eliminate or reduce government intervention in the market?
Senate Bill 1342 would create Chapter 41, Title 25, Idaho Code, titled the “The Household Egg Production and Food Security Act.” The bill includes intent language stating, in part, “Many Idaho residents who live in single-family residences are currently prohibited from producing eggs for household consumption due to local ordinances or restrictions,” and “eggs are a basic food staple, and household egg production supports food security, self-reliance, and family resilience.”
The bill says, “Notwithstanding any ordinance, resolution, rule, covenant, condition, or restriction to the contrary, an owner or occupant of a single-family residence may keep up to four (4) hens for household egg production.”
HOAs and political subdivisions would be free to allow additional hens and even to “expressly” allow roosters if they so choose, though roosters would be otherwise prohibited.
While HOAs and political subdivisions couldn’t outright prohibit someone living in a single-family dwelling from having up to four hens, they could still adopt or enforce “reasonable regulations related to sanitation, enclosure, location, noise, odor, pest control, or nuisance prevention.” They could also limit or prohibit “household egg production at multifamily dwellings.” These regulations could not go so far as to “prohibit the household egg production” authorized under this law, however.
The bill says the eggs produced by these hens “may be sold, bartered, or exchanged, provided such sales comply with applicable Idaho food safety and cottage food laws governing small-scale, home-based food production.”
Placing limits on HOA restrictions can have both pros and cons, depending on how the HOA functions and how responsive (or unresponsive) it may be to the property owners it governs. Restricting the ability of local governments to limit property rights is a positive step.
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