A spokesman for Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden says the state’s top lawyer will start reviewing the new federal health care legislation after it is signed by President Barack Obama.

“Until it’s signed, it could change,” said Bob Cooper, Wasden’s press secretary.  “You don’t know what’s in it, so there’s really nothing you can do until you have a final bill.”  The recently-approved Idaho Health Freedom Act requires the attorney general to sue the federal government if the feds try to impose a mandate to buy health insurance.  The mandate to buy insurance that’s part of the federal health care legislation would start in 2013, according to the New York Times.  The Washington Post is reporting that Obama will sign the legislation into law on Tuesday. The House of Representatives approved the legislation Sunday, with both Idaho representatives voting no.

The Idaho Health Freedom Act, which compels Wasden to take legal action, doesn’t become effective until July.  Cooper said the attorney general has the authority to start a lawsuit before then, but couldn’t give a timeline of the state’s legal action.  “We have to make sure, before we bring any lawsuit, that the lawsuit has merit,” Cooper told IdahoReporter.com.

Read Gov. Butch Otter’s response to the passage of federal health care legislation here, and watch video of Otter signing the Idaho Health Freedom Act here.