Idaho Bills

Amends and adds to existing law to establish the position of administrator of invasive species policy; to revise the duties of the director of the Idaho Department of Agriculture; to authorize the director to apply for search warrants under certain conditions, to provide that certain check stations may have extended operating hours; to provide penalties for any person failing to stop at a check station; to provide that the director shall pursue federal government partnerships and funding; to provide that the director under certain conditions shall enter into cooperative agreements; and to provide for formal memoranda of agreement with certain entities.

Stating findings of the Legislature and encouraging western states and the federal government to establish cooperative and coordinated efforts with the State of Idaho to prevent, to whatever extent possible, through efforts including inspections, decontamination policies, enforcement of invasive species laws and rapid response protocols, further spread of the mussels, and containment where established, until such time as viable tools for eradication are discovered.

Stating findings of the Legislature and urging Congress to appropriate funds to protect the Pacific Northwest against invasive mussels.

A House Joint Memorial requesting the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Interior, The President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Congress, and the Idaho Congressional Delegation in the Congress of the United States to appropriate $8 million in federal matching funding of the authorized $20 million for FY 2018 to the four Northwest States of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, according to the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN), which includes the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 (WRDA), for the purpose of combating the immediate threat of invasive quagga and zebra mussels to the Pacific Northwest region. Quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugenis) and zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are aquatic invasive species that cause irreparable ecological damage to waters in the United States, and, until recently, the Pacific Northwest region remained one of the only regions in North America without invasive quagga and zebra mussels. In November 2016, invasive mussel larvae were detected in Montana within 50 miles of the Columbia River Basin. Further spread of these invasive mussels will have a devastating and far-reaching impact on the economic and environmental wellbeing of Idaho and the entire region. The $8 million in federal matching funding would be used to enhance funds already allocated by Idaho for watercraft inspection and decontamination stations with the purpose of protecting the Columbia River Basin against invasive mussels.