Idaho is one step closer to becoming at least the third state to prohibit its cities and counties from passing anti-discrimination ordinances.
House Republicans quickly signed off on House Bill 557 Thursday with a handful of them joining all nine Democrats in opposing it.
If passed by the Senate and signed into law by Gov. Brad Little, the measure would invalidate such ordinances in Idaho’s largest county, as well as at least 12 cities that prohibit discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Rep. Barbara Ehardt (R-Idaho Falls) ran for Idaho Falls City Council in 2013 when the community was considering its proposed ordinance. Ehardt said some supporters were disingenuous in their arguments.
“Because they wanted us to believe that somehow those of our friends who are LGBT would get kicked out of their housing or removed from their employment,” she said.
Instead, Ehardt said the ultimate goal of the campaign was to secure protections for public accommodations – think private businesses like the bakery in a well-publicized U.S. Supreme Court case from 2018 that found a similar Colorado law violated the store owner’s constitutional rights.
Rep. Clint Hostetler (R-Twin Falls) said gay and transgender people are using these local ordinances to push their views onto religious conservatives.
“This isn’t about acceptance, this is about dominance. And I just see this as setting the record straight,” said Hostetler. “We cannot abuse or impose the will of anything against our faith community.”
A handful of Republicans joined all nine Democrats in opposing the bill.
“I just feel like this bill is really using a sledgehammer to kill a fly,” said Rep. Mark Sauter (R-Sandpoint).
Sauter’s home city repealed its anti-discrimination ordinance in November after complaints about a transgender woman allegedly using the women’s facilities at the local YMCA.
City officials held several meetings and heard feedback that he said overwhelmingly opposed allowing trans people from using sex-segregated facilities.
“Local control is a pillar of our state and our communities and they did it right within a month,” Sauter said.
“Decentralization is the principle we live by. It’s the way of the West and it’s the Idaho way,” said Rep. Monica Church (D-Boise).
Further eroding the power of local governments, Church said, makes the state more vulnerable to concentrated power structures found in neighboring states, like Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle.
“This kind of law makes statists and communists salivate,” she said.
The bill now heads to a Senate committee for consideration.
Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio.
