It’s still unclear whose idea it was to end health district inspections of public pools, but House Bill 202, passed nearly unanimously by the Idaho House and Senate and signed into law by Gov. Brad Little, will put a halt to said inspections on July 1.
“I think if you ask most of the legislators, ‘Did you realize that you voted on this?’ My guess is they would probably say no. That's unfortunate, but I guess that's the way it goes,” said Russ Duke, director of Central District Health, which serves Ada, Boise, Elmore and Valley counties. “But yes, the rules become obsolete on July 1 and there will no longer be a public swimming pool inspection program in Idaho.”
A layperson could readily get overwhelmed when navigating all of the legalese in House Bill 202, a huge public health bill that included changes, deletions or confirmations of everything from juvenile justice to air quality.
But on page 18 – more specifically Section 56-1003, 3c, you’ll see the phrase, “The enforcement of minimum standards of health, safety, and sanitation for all public swimming pools within the state,” and it's completely crossed out. Simply put, health inspections of public pools are no longer part of Idaho code.
It's unclear if any public pool operators or municipalities saw this one coming. In fact, as health district administrators recently began to break the news to local lawmakers across the state, more than a few have been stunned at the change.
One of the sponsors of the bill, Sen. Julie VanOrden (R-Pocatello), told her fellow legislators in March, “Big swimming pools in communities really are not being built that much anymore.”
But that’s not entirely true. Public pools have, or are, being built or remodeled in Boise, Caldwell, Cascade, Orofino and in VanOrden’s own community, Pocatello. In fact, they’re on a growing list of popular public swimming pools across the Gem State.
It's one thing to wait for the Idaho Legislature to return in 2026 to possibly reconsider the legislation. But Duke is more interested in being proactive. For one, he’d like to see peers across the state to advocate for some new training, that might result in some uniform standards and inspections.
Additionally, he says, it might be time to include some of those same standards to private pools and even hot tubs. Just two summers ago, there was a bad outbreak of a potentially fatal disease in a hot tub at a Treasure Valley gym.
“We had an outbreak of Legionnaires disease which made a few people sick,” said Duke. "One person was in the ICU … I think it was for eight days.”
But again, Duke wants to focus on solutions, including the possibility of some municipalities crafting their own swimming pool standards.
For the record, there was one legislator out of the entire Idaho House and Senate that voted against House Bill 202 - Sen. Melissa Wintrow (D-Boise).
Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren
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