Bill Description: Senate Bill 1299 would prohibit government from requiring digital ID or using it for extraneous purposes. 

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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?

Senate Bill 1299 would create Section 67-2364, Idaho Code, to prohibit government entities from requiring “any person to obtain, maintain, present, or use digital identification.” It would also say that they shall not “deny, delay, condition, or reduce any service, benefit, license, employment, education, or access based on a person's refusal or inability to use digital identification.”

It further clarifies that “physical, non-digital identification authorized under Idaho law shall remain valid for all governmental purposes.”

In cases where someone chooses to use digital ID, a government entity shall not “require a person to surrender, unlock, or relinquish control of a personal electronic device for identity verification.”

Furthermore, “presentation of digital identification shall not constitute consent to search or access any other contents of a device,” and “information incidentally observed on a device shall not be used to establish probable cause or justification for further search or seizure.”

It says digital ID “may be used only for immediate identity verification,” and government entities shall not “track individuals, retain identity data beyond a transaction, or use digital identification as a universal or shared credential across agencies.”

Finally, the bill provides enforcement mechanisms, allowing an aggrieved individual to seek declaratory or injunctive relief and to receive statutory damages of $500 – $2,500. The court could also impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 against the government entity. 

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