Bill description: SB 1074 would specify that a county is not responsible for providing health coverage to individuals who have been recently released from jail.

Rating: +1

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

Under Idaho law, counties are responsible for paying for the food, clothing, housing, and medical care of inmates within county prisons. A recent decision from the Idaho Supreme Court held that a county may be financially responsible for medical care inmates receive even after they have left the custody of the county.

SB 1074 would specify that a county, and by extension the taxpayers of that county, would not be responsible to pay for medical care for any person who “is no longer committed to the county jail if the person has been released pursuant to a dismissal, bail, or any other court order of release, unless the release is a temporary release from the jail solely for the purpose of receiving medical care for an injury that occurred while committed in the county jail.”

(+1)

Update: This analysis was updated to include the amendments made to the bill on 3/7.