Looking Ahead to 2025
As we head toward November, we are in campaign season, where meeting with Legislators is much more difficult, and determining what the Legislature will look like in January 2025 is a daunting task. We know we are going to see significant shakeups in the various committees in both the House and Senate, as well as having a new Senate ProTempore and potential leadership changes that could have a sizable impact on what and how legislation moves forward.
Despite the changes, we are moving forward with our policy priorities, working to build support from a variety of partners and legislative champions. One of our leading efforts will be continuing our work to secure more funding for tobacco control and prevention, as well as a package of tobacco and nicotine control priorities, which provides a more robust tobacco retail licensing and enforcement structure, creates a smokefree indoor air standards statewide, and would increase tobacco and nicotine taxes including electronic and new and emerging products in statute. We’ll also be pushing hard to continue Medicaid expansion and funding, as we expect a considerable and well funded effort to repeal Medicaid expansion, and leadership in the House potentially building committees to support the repeal. We will also be continuing conversations to educate legislators on Cardiac Emergency Response Plans (CERPs), and helping connect the dots between state and federal funded nutrition programs, improved health, and increased overall socioeconomic security. We’ll also continue the fight to secure line-item funding in the transportation budget for the Child Pedestrian Safety Program, which helps cities and towns across the state build infrastructure for more walkable, bikeable, and active communities.
We face a variety of obstacles heading into the election in November, and as we see the ramifications in the 2025 Legislature, and many Legislators are expecting one of the most challenging sessions in years. But we will continue to find ways to grow our efforts, develop unique partnerships, and provide the information to help move our policy priorities forward to improve the health of all Idahoans.