After Legislature adjourns, Idaho governor has another week to act on final bills

Because the Idaho Legislature officially wrapped up work for the year last Thursday — instead of taking a break to await possible vetoes — Idaho Gov. Brad Little has more time to decide what to do with the final bills of the 2026 legislative session.

When the Legislature is still meeting, the governor has five days, besides Sundays, to act on bills passed by the Legislature. But since the Legislature adjourned for the year, that deadline jumps up to 10 days, under the Idaho Constitution. 

That means the governor has until 5 p.m. April 14 to decide what to do on the bills on his desk, Little’s press secretary Joan Varsek told the Idaho Capital Sun.

The pile includes more than three dozen bills, including several high-profile pieces of legislation, such as:

House Bill 822, which would require teachers and doctors to out transgender minors to their parents, or face lawsuits.

House Bill 913, which would adopt Medicaid expansion work requirements that were part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Idaho’s bill would require state health officials to verify work history for Medicaid enrollees over a period of three months — the longest “look back” time allowed under the federal law.

House Bill 516, a bill overhauled in amendments to ban school districts from “using public payroll systems to collect union dues, increasing teacher salaries to cover union dues, or giving teachers paid time off for union activities,” Idaho Education News reported. 

The governor has three options for bills: Sign them into law, veto them, or allow them to become law without his signature.