Bill Description: House Bill 882 would give county governments expanded authority to regulate landfills and trash haulers.

Rating: -2

NOTE: House Bill 882 is similar to House Bill 143 (2025). 

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?

In Idaho, some landfills are privately owned, and some are involved in controversies or legal disputes. 

House Bill 882 would amend sections 31-4401A and 31-4402, Idaho Code, to give county governments significantly more authority to regulate landfills and to control how and when they are used.

The bill would add a new term, "flow control," to the law and define it as "any method or system under which a governmental entity, by ordinance, regulation, or other official directive, compels solid waste haulers to process or dispose of waste at a designated facility."

It would then grant counties broad authority to "enact flow control measures" for a range of reasons. These would include a desire "to protect public investment in solid waste facilities and systems, to reduce county liabilities, to avoid the creation of publicly funded assets that cannot be fully utilized, to ensure waste management is facilitated in an environmentally compliant manner, and to promote public health."

The bill goes on to set forth the studies that must be conducted and the information they must contain. 

This bill is designed to grant government greater authority to regulate landfills and trash haulers, a measure that could favor certain facilities over others. 

(-1)

Does it violate the principles of federalism by increasing federal authority, yielding to federal blandishments, or incorporating changeable federal laws into Idaho statutes or rules? Examples include citing federal code without noting as it is written on a certain date, using state resources to enforce federal law, and refusing to support and uphold the Tenth Amendment. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the principles of federalism?

In addition to expanding government regulation, House Bill 882 gives undue weight to unspecified federal regulations, calling for a "compliance verification assessment" to verify that "waste generated within the county is not sent to facilities that are noncompliant with federal, state, or local regulations."

It is not the proper role of local governments to enforce federal laws and regulations, and it is especially troubling when state law broadly requires compliance with unspecified federal regulations, including those that may not exist yet. 

(-1)