Bill Description: House Bill 285 would create the crime of domestic terrorism and redefine the crime of terrorism in Idaho code.
Rating: -1
NOTE: House Bill 285 is related to House Bill 184, introduced earlier this session, and House Bill 623, introduced in the 2024 legislative session. Unlike those earlier bills, this bill would not link the definitions of terrorism and domestic terrorism to the federal government's "foreign terrorist organization" list.
Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
House Bill 285 would amend Section 18-8102, Idaho Code, to redefine "terrorism" and "terrorist." It also would create new definitions for "domestic terrorism" and "domestic terrorist" in Idaho law.
Under this new definition, "terrorism" would mean:
"Activities that
A "terrorist" would be defined as "a person who pleads guilty to or is found guilty of terrorism as defined in this section."
A similar definition would be applied to the newly created crime of "domestic terrorism." This crime would involve "Activities conducted within or that take effect within the geographical boundaries of the state of Idaho that:
A "domestic terrorist" would be defined as "a person who pleads guilty to or is found guilty of domestic terrorism as defined in this section."
It is unclear why the requirement that the crime "constitute a felony offense under Idaho law" applies only to domestic terrorism and not to terrorism more broadly, given that either crime would have to occur "within the geographical boundaries of the state of Idaho." The current definition of terrorism requires that the crime also be "a violation of Idaho criminal law," but that stipulation would be stricken by this bill.
Someone convicted of terrorism faces a penalty of up to life in prison and this bill would apply that penalty to domestic terrorism as well.
The bill would also modify several other sections of code to add references to the crime of domestic terrorism. It would add “domestic terrorism” to the list of crimes for which there is no statute of limitations.
Both the existing definition of terrorism and the new one created by this bill are subjective and could be applied to a range of crimes that fall short of the actions typically associated with terrorism. A "violent threat" intended to "influence" a "lawful activity" may be a crime. But defining it as terrorism and imposing a life sentence would be excessive.
By creating a new crime of "domestic terrorism" with similar deficiencies, House Bill 285 makes this problem worse.
Prior bills dealing with this subject have linked the definitions of terrorism and domestic terrorism to "activities that are done in cooperation with any foreign terrorist organization," and this requirement would serve to limit the misapplication of these crimes.
Unfortunately, those bills also incorporated 8 U.S.C. 1189 into Idaho Code by reference with no limits on future changes, effectively allowing the U.S. secretary of state to change Idaho law at any time by altering the list of "foreign terrorist organizations."
A better option to appropriately limit the scope of these crimes without subordinating Idaho law to changeable federal standards would be to require that the crimes of terrorism and domestic terrorism be committed "in cooperation with a foreign terrorist organization, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1189, as that code existed on January 1, 2025."
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