Bill Description: Senate Bill 1397 would give the Idaho Public Utilities Commission authority over privately owned wastewater utilities.

Rating: -6

Does it create, expand, or enlarge any agency, board, program, function, or activity of government? Conversely, does it eliminate or curtail the size or scope of government?

Senate Bill 1397 would create several new sections within Chapter 1, Title 61, Idaho Code, to redefine privately owned wastewater utilities in order to bring them under the total control of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. This is a significant expansion of the role of the commission.

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Does it transfer a function of the private sector to the government? Examples include government ownership or control of any providers of goods or services, such as the land board’s purchase of a self-storage facility, mandatory emissions testing, or pre-kindergarten. Conversely, does it eliminate a function of government or return a function of government to the private sector?

There may be no other bill that better exemplifies this metric point than the regulatory takeover of privately owned wastewater utilities by a government commission. 

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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?

Currently, privately owned wastewater utilities operate within a market framework. Under this bill, the market framework would be replaced by expansive government control of rates and contracts.

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Does it increase barriers to entry into the market? Examples include occupational licensure, the minimum wage, and restrictions on home businesses. Conversely, does it remove barriers to entry into the market?

By bringing privately owned wastewater utilities under the dominion of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, this law would effectively prohibit new entrants into the market without the express approval of government. 

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Does it violate the principle of equal protection under the law? Examples include laws that discriminate or differentiate based on age, gender, or religion or which apply laws, regulations, rules, or penalties differently based on such characteristics. Conversely, does it restore or protect the principle of equal protection under the law?

Under this bill, “a wastewater corporation serving a wastewater system with fewer than one hundred (100) wastewater service connections that are actively flowing or in which the customer pays a fee for standby, ready-to-serve, or capacity reservation purposes shall not be considered a wastewater corporation and shall be exempt from regulation as a public utility.”

This creates a double standard where small, privately owned wastewater utilities are allowed to continue operating, but growth beyond an arbitrary threshold will result in total government control. 

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Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States 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 US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?

Both the U.S. and Idaho Constitutions protect the right to acquire, hold, and dispose of property. The bill effectively devalues property, contracts, and other resources by redefining private businesses and their assets as “public utilities.” 

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