Bill
H 339
Requires monthly data feeds and broad data checks to keep voter rolls accurate, including death, residence, citizenship, and criminal records from multiple sources.
Status and timing
- Enacted and signed by the Governor April 3, 2025. Session Law Chapter 276. Effective date: July 1, 2025. The bill includes emergency language in its text.
- Original statute section 34-433 (monthly correction from reported deaths) is repealed and replaced with a new, broader Section 34-433, Idaho Code.
Purpose / intent
- States the Legislature’s intent that only eligible citizens may vote and that the Secretary of State (SoS) must maintain the accuracy and integrity of Idaho’s statewide voter registration system. For that purpose the SoS is authorized to request, receive, and use specified data from state and federal sources and third parties.
Key provisions (major requirements and authorities)
- Mandatory monthly data feeds to the SoS (on or about the 25th of each month) from:
- Department of Health & Welfare: listing of residents who died during the preceding month and related identifying data (legal name, DOB, county, address, and where available age, SSN, driver’s license and citizenship/immigration numbers).
- Department of Transportation: driver’s license and state ID address changes and new issuances, including photographs and digital signatures, plus related identifying data.
- Department of Correction: lists of offenders in custody with names, DOBs, conviction status, probation/parole data, former counties/addresses and other identifying data.
- Additional SoS requests:
- Annually (by Dec. 31) — Tax Commission records (names, DOBs, addresses, SSNs, driver’s license numbers, citizenship status, homestead exemption records); Tax Commission must comply within 30 days.
- Biannually (by Feb. 1 and July 31) — federal data relevant to voter list integrity (examples enumerated include SAVE database info from DHS, death records, citizenship verifications, criminal conviction records).
- Monthly — Social Security Administration data, including Help America Vote verification data.
- At the SoS’s discretion, request additional federal, state, local or third‑party data (other states, commercial providers); Idaho entities must comply within 30 days.
- Interstate cooperation and commercial contracts:
- SoS may enter compacts with other states to compare voter lists and identify duplicate registrations across states.
- SoS may contract with commercial data providers/credit agencies to assist verification and auditing, but an amendment prohibits dissemination of sensitive personal data to those providers.
- Data protection and retention (Senate amendment):
- SoS must process registration data in a secured cloud system using cryptography consistent with federal standards.
- Verification requests must be processed on a dedicated secured system with access/activity logging.
- Data used for verification retained for 30 days or until processed.
- Pre-election verification:
- (Partial text) Requires the SoS to review and verify new registrations received since the prior statewide election no later than 90 days before a statewide election (verification against SAVE and other sources is specified in the bill).
Privacy and disclosure
- Sensitive personal data (e.g., SSNs, driver’s license numbers, DOBs) must be protected from public disclosure as provided by Idaho public records law (Title 74, chapter 1). The amendment explicitly bars sharing sensitive personal data with commercial vendors.
Who is affected
- Registered and prospective voters (data about eligibility, citizenship, residency, death, incarceration, duplicate registration).
- State agencies required to supply records (Health & Welfare, Transportation, Correction, Tax Commission).
- Secretary of State’s office (new data processing, verification responsibilities; ability to contract with third parties and enter compacts).
- Federal agencies and third‑party data providers as sources of verification data.
Fiscal impact
- Fiscal note: estimated $2,500 annually to the Secretary of State’s Office for access to SSA and DHS databases. These costs are to be absorbed within the Secretary of State’s current budget and are not expected to impact the general fund.
Potential impacts and considerations
- Aims to identify deceased persons, out‑of‑state registrants, noncitizens, incarcerated persons, and duplicate registrations through regular automated matching.
- Raises operational requirements for the SoS (processing, secure storage, data-matching workflows).
- Privacy, security and legal compliance considerations given the volume and sensitivity of data shared; the bill contains protections and logging/retention limits but also broad authority to request data from many sources.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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