Bill Description: House Bill 745 (H745) prohibits public employers from allowing taxpayer funds to promote government unions, with certain exceptions.

NOTE: House Bill 745 is similar to House Bill 601 from earlier in the 2026 legislative session, House Bill 98 from the 2025 legislative session, and House Bill 602 from the 2024 legislative session.

Rating: +3

Does it increase government spending (for objectionable purposes) or debt? Conversely, does it decrease government spending or debt?

Public sector unions seek to have the government serve its own interest at the expense of the common good. They lobby for increased government spending through teacher salaries, stem efforts to remove employees for malperformance, hinder government efficiency, and leverage their funds for political activism. It is improper for the government to subsidize activities that are directly opposed to the public interest and thus also improper to subsidize public sector unions. 

H745 acknowledges that “unlike private sector labor relations, collective bargaining between government entities and labor unions representing public employees is an inherently political process with significant implications for the size, cost, operations, transparency, and accountability of government.” In effect, government unions undermine the principle of popular sovereignty by diminishing the people’s control and influence over their government. H745 would help to restore that balance by declaring it the policy of the state that “special interests” must “be prevented from unduly influencing governmental action,”  that “governmental functions and policies reflect, to the maximum extent possible, the public interest,” and that “public funds and taxpayer-funded facilities, systems, and resources should not be used to preferentially aid or subsidize, directly or indirectly, the operations or advocacy of government unions.”

(+1)

To effectuate this purpose, H745 would stipulate that “no public employer, its agents, or representatives may use or authorize the use of taxpayer funds to promote government unions by:

1. Deducting dues, fees, assessments, fines, or contributions from the pay of a public employee on behalf of a government union or its affiliate;
2. Increasing a public employee's compensation with the intent that the additional compensation, or a part of it, be used to pay government union or affiliate dues, fees, assessments, fines, or contributions;
3. Providing more personal or contact information of a public employee to a government union or its affiliate than the public employer is re42 quired to disclose pursuant to chapter 1, title 74, Idaho Code, unless the public employer receives written authorization from the public employee to disclose additional information;
4. Requiring or coercing a public employee to meet, communicate, lis46 ten to, or otherwise interact with a government union or its affiliate;
5. Distributing communications or membership solicitations on behalf of a government union or its affiliate.”

(+1)

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

To ensure the bill’s provisions are enforced, H745 stipulates that a violation carries a civil penalty not to exceed two hundred and fifty dollars ($250), a willful violation carries a civil penalty not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500), and that an additional violation carries a civil penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500).

H745 also endows the attorney general or an appropriate county prosecutor the power “to investigate complaints” and “ensure the effective enforcement of this section.”

(+1)