Idaho legislators preparing to elect leadership teams, make committee assignments

The Idaho State Capitol building in Boise on March 23, 2021. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun)

Idaho legislators will return to the Idaho State Capitol in Boise in December to elect party leadership teams, appoint committee chairpersons and make committee assignments for each of the 105 legislators.

The leadership elections and committee assignments will go a long way to shaping the policy discussions and debates that will unfold during the upcoming 2025 legislative session.

Organizational sessions take place every two years, following a general election.

Events begin Dec. 2 with a new legislator orientation program that runs through Dec. 4 at the Idaho State Capitol for 18 newly elected legislators. The orientation program will cover topics like parliamentary procedure, legislative processes and rules, bill drafting, public records laws and more.

On Dec. 4, Republicans and Democrats from the Idaho House of Representatives and Idaho Senate will meet privately to elect their caucus leadership teams. This year, there are two Republican leadership positions to fill in the Idaho Senate after outgoing Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, was defeated in the May primary election and former Assistant Majority Leader Abby Lee, R-Fruitland, declined to seek re-election and resigned July 1.

House Democrats will also elect a new House assistant minority leader to succeed outgoing Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise, who did not run for re-election this year.

Leadership elections are not public meetings and additional leadership challenges may be launched. Additionally elections to fill known leadership vacancies, such as the Senate president pro tem’s post, may trigger other leadership races downstream. 

After leadership elections, all legislators will participate in a legislative organizational session Dec. 5 and Dec. 6, where legislative leaders will appoint committee chairpersons and then make committee assignments for all legislators.

On Thursday, existing legislative leaders also unveiled their proposed key dates and deadlines for the 2025 legislative session. The 2025 session starts Jan. 6 with Gov. Brad Little’s State of the State address. The proposed calendar legislative leaders reviewed Thursday also set a March 12 deadline for the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee to complete setting the fiscal year 2026 budget and a March 21 target date to adjourn the 2025 legislative session.

The deadlines are not binding, but serve as guidelines to encourage wrapping up the upcoming legislative session by the 75th day.

“You know we all try to push it faster and like to get done faster but we will try – especially on the House side – to keep to that agenda and those deadlines and those dates,” House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, said Thursday. 

Based on unofficial election results from this week, legislative leaders are expecting 18 completely new legislators to join the ranks and be sworn in in December. The 18 rookie legislators will join four legislators who were appointed after the previous election and then went on to win election this year for the first time. There are also three former legislators who were elected again this year and 80 incumbent legislators who were re-elected this week.