Steve Berch

Voted for Senate Bill 1294, which requires every Idaho newborn to be screened for hearing loss. A baby born in a hospital or birthing facility must be screened before going home. A baby born elsewhere must be screened, or referred for screening, within twenty-one days of birth. The screening must use a physiologic method approved by Idaho Educational Services for the Deaf and the Blind, such as otoacoustic emissions or automated auditory brainstem response. A failed screening must be reported to that agency within seven days so follow-up can begin, and other results monthly. The requirement lasts only while federal funding for it continues. The Idaho House passed it 37-32, and it became law.

March 26, 2026Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 929, which lets an insured patient pay cash and still get credit toward their deductible. An insurer may not stop a doctor or hospital from offering a patient the provider's discounted cash price. A patient may choose to pay out of pocket for a covered service. If the patient negotiates a price below what the plan would have allowed and pays it themselves, the insurer must count the whole amount toward the deductible and the yearly out-of-pocket maximum. That credit applies where the service is covered by the plan, is medically necessary, and the patient sends the insurer the required paperwork. The rule starts at the beginning of 2027. The Idaho House passed it 49-21, and it became law.

March 20, 2026Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 930, which tightens how campaign money must be held in Idaho. A candidate's campaign or a political committee that files reports must keep at least one checking account, and all money it receives must go into that account. Campaign funds must be kept apart from every other account and may not be mixed with them. They may be held only in certificates of deposit, money market accounts, or similar cash accounts, and may not be put into stocks or other equity investments. A candidate who lends their campaign more than one thousand dollars of their own money must move it into the campaign account. The treasurer keeps the duty to record every contribution and expense within seven days, becomes the official contact for the Secretary of State, and is responsible for filing the reports. The Idaho House passed it 36-34, and it became law.

March 20, 2026Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 253, which treats public records requests from people outside Idaho differently from requests by residents. The act defines a resident as a person living in Idaho for at least thirty continuous days, and makes every requester declare under oath whether they are one. An agency must answer a resident within three working days, but has thirty days to answer someone who is not a resident. The free first two hours of staff time and first one hundred pages now apply only to residents. So does the fee waiver for a request that would significantly help the public understand government. An agency may set a separate fee schedule for people who are not residents, limited only by its actual cost. The Idaho House passed it 45-24, and it became law.

April 3, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 398, which rewrites Idaho's lobbying rules and moves them into the state's open government chapter. The act repeals the lobbying sections of the campaign finance law and creates a lobbying disclosure chapter whose stated purpose is transparency. It widens what counts as lobbying. The definition now covers indirect lobbying, meaning paid efforts to get the public to contact lawmakers through email, texting, social media, billboards, or door-to-door work. It also covers contacts with executive branch officials about rulemaking, rate setting, buying, contracts, bids, and bond issues, not only about legislation. A group talking with its own members is not lobbying. The Idaho House passed it 54-14, and it became law.

March 25, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 667, which ends Idaho's non-domiciled commercial driver's license program. That program let Idaho issue a commercial learner's permit or commercial driver's license to someone living in a foreign country, or in another state that could not issue one. The act repeals the statute that allowed it, removes the definition from the code, and strikes the references in the licensing law. A commercial driver in Idaho must now qualify through the ordinary route open to residents. The Idaho House passed it 46-21, and it became law.

March 3, 2026Opposes Immigration

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 1139, which narrows the felony bar on becoming a police officer in Idaho. The Peace Officer Standards and Training Council had to reject any applicant convicted of a felony. The act limits that automatic bar to the serious felonies listed in section 18-310(2) of Idaho Code, or comparable offenses from another state. For any other felony the council now has discretion to certify the applicant. It may also reject an applicant whose felony was set aside, expunged, pardoned, dismissed, or reduced to a misdemeanor. The council keeps its existing discretion to reject an applicant convicted of a misdemeanor. The Idaho House passed it 49-15, and it became law.

March 19, 2025Opposes Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 187, which sets out what people on felony probation and parole must be told and must agree to. A judge placing someone on felony probation must explain the conditions, the penalties for breaking them, and the rewards for following them. The act then writes into law that a person released on parole gives up their Fourth Amendment protection against warrantless searches. Officers may search that person, their home, their vehicle, and their phone or other devices at any hour, with or without cause. A parolee must sign an acceptance of those terms, and someone who refuses cannot be released on parole. Officers may not search solely to harass. The Idaho House passed it 47-18, and it became law.

February 24, 2025Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 1352, which requires Idaho cities to allow small starter home subdivisions. A starter home subdivision is a development of at least four acres of detached single-family houses on compact lots of no more than one thousand five hundred square feet each. The act applies only to cities with more than ten thousand residents. Such a city may not ban them from a residential zone, and by February 2027 it must change its comprehensive plan and zoning rules to permit them, except in historic districts and on historic properties. Cities may not demand lots larger than the compact size, front or rear setbacks over fifteen feet, side setbacks over five feet, lot fronts over thirty feet, or lot depths over seventy feet, unless the land or the infrastructure makes that impossible. They also may not charge higher permit, impact, or utility connection fees than for other single-family subdivisions. The Idaho House passed it 36-34, and it became law.

March 26, 2026Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 1354, which requires Idaho cities to allow accessory dwelling units. An accessory dwelling unit is a self-contained home with its own kitchen, sleeping area, and bathroom on the same lot as a single-family house. It may be inside the house, attached to it, or standing separately, but not a camper, a motorhome, or a home on wheels. The act applies only to cities with more than ten thousand residents. Such a city may not ban them from a residential zone, and by February 2027 it must change its plan and zoning rules to allow one internal or one detached unit per lot, except in historic districts. Cities generally may not require extra off-street parking for the unit, and may not charge higher impact or utility connection fees than for other single-family homes. The act also rewrites the rule barring homeowner associations from banning these units. The Idaho House passed it 47-23, and it became law.

March 26, 2026Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 776, which speeds up child protection checks on babies in risky homes. When a mandatory reporter contacts the Department of Health and Welfare about a child under one year old, the department must check within twelve hours whether a listed risk factor applies to the caregiver. The risk factors are an entry in the child protection central registry within the past ten years, a conviction for injury to a child, an earlier termination of parental rights, or a baby born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. If a risk factor is confirmed, the department must open its highest priority response and write a full safety assessment. That assessment must cover the caregiver's compliance with any court-ordered conditions and the child's living environment. The Idaho House passed it 49-18, and it became law.

March 18, 2026Supports Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 723, which adds oversight to licensed children's residential care facilities in Idaho. The Department of Health and Welfare gains a quality of care oversight and inspection duty over these facilities. Each child must have an individual service plan, and the act sets out what that planning must cover. A youth bill of rights is written into law for children living in a licensed facility. Facilities must report critical incidents to the department, and the act sets licensing and documentation requirements they must meet. The Idaho House passed it 42-25, and it became law.

March 3, 2026Supports Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 245, which raises the age limit for extended foster care in Idaho. A court could order extended foster care for a young adult up to age twenty-one. The act raises that limit to twenty-three, and makes the same change to continued care and to transitional living. It also lets the Department of Health and Welfare set separate licensing standards for relatives who take in a child. That sits alongside the department's existing power to speed up a relative placement or waive a licensing standard. The act ends the health board's duty to write rules for relative foster care and voids the department's current foster care licensing rules. The Idaho House passed it 53-17, and it became law.

February 25, 2025Supports Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 1288, which creates a state fund to help schools pay for very expensive special education. A high-needs student is one whose individual education program costs a school more than thirty thousand dollars a year, after Medicaid and other funding is counted. The fund reimburses school districts and independent charter schools for eligible costs above that line. Eligible costs are those tied directly to the education program, such as nursing, interpreting, speech therapy, occupational and physical therapy, personal care, specialized equipment, and extended school year services. Ordinary classroom costs, basic supplies, and standard transportation do not count. The law gives rural districts and rural charter schools their own place in the arrangement. The Idaho House passed it 49-21, and it became law.

March 24, 2026Supports Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 849, which raises pay for career technical education teachers in Idaho. Teacher pay runs on a career ladder, and a teacher normally starts at the bottom and moves a cell a year. The act credits industry experience for a teacher holding an occupational specialist certificate. Two or three years in a related industry starts them where a teacher with one year of service sits, and eight or more years starts them at the four-year point. Career technical teachers already on the lowest rung must have their placement updated if the new rule puts them higher. The act also sets out how those teachers move up once they reach the professional rung. The same credit applies to a teacher returning to an Idaho public school, not only to a new one. The Idaho House passed it 43-25, and it became law.

March 10, 2026Supports Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 1069, which changes how Idaho trains teachers to teach reading. The state Department of Education used to owe districts and schools professional development on literacy instruction. The act replaces that with a duty to train every teacher and elementary administrator who works with children from kindergarten through grade three, spread over several years and paid for only if the legislature funds it. The training must be based on the science of reading and must include coaching on the job. It must cover reading data, the statewide reading test, and the state literacy plan. The act also broadens the reporting on the intervention program to cover public charter schools alongside districts. The Idaho House passed it 40-30, and it became law.

March 11, 2025Supports Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 810, which adds a residency test for Idaho legislators. A candidate for the House or Senate already had to be twenty-one, a United States citizen, and a registered voter in the district for the year before the general election. The act adds that the candidate must also have kept a fixed home inside the district boundaries for that same year. Registering to vote at an address in the district is no longer enough on its own. The requirement takes effect at the start of 2027, so it applies to the 2028 election cycle. The Idaho House passed it 38-28, and it became law.

March 30, 2026Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 35, which requires stronger login security across Idaho state government. The legislature, the courts, the elected constitutional officers, and their staffs must all use multifactor identification. That means a second proof of identity beyond a password. It is required for any access, from the office or remotely, to email accounts, cloud storage, web applications, networks, databases, and servers. The act also puts the Office of Information Technology Services in charge of directing, rather than merely recommending, how state agencies buy and install telecommunications equipment, and tells it to see that cybersecurity best practices are put in place. The Idaho House passed it 54-16, and it became law.

January 27, 2025Supports Data Privacy

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 187, which sets out what people on felony probation and parole must be told and must agree to. A judge placing someone on felony probation must explain the conditions, the penalties for breaking them, and the rewards for following them. The act then writes into law that a person released on parole gives up their Fourth Amendment protection against warrantless searches. Officers may search that person, their home, their vehicle, and their phone or other devices at any hour, with or without cause. A parolee must sign an acceptance of those terms, and someone who refuses cannot be released on parole. Officers may not search solely to harass. The Idaho House passed it 47-18, and it became law.

February 24, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 562, which gives Idaho policyholders more warning before insurance ends. An insurer cancelling a property or casualty policy for most reasons had to give thirty days' notice. The act raises that to sixty days. An insurer that will not renew a policy had to give forty-five days' notice before the expiry date. That also becomes sixty days. If the nonrenewal notice goes out late, cover now continues for sixty days after it is sent rather than forty-five, with the extra premium charged pro rata. The change takes effect at the start of 2027. The Idaho House passed it 51-17, and it became law.

March 5, 2026Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 1183, which limits when an electric utility can be held responsible for a wildfire. A utility regulated by the state must file a wildfire mitigation plan with the Public Utilities Commission for approval. If the utility reasonably followed an approved plan, a court must presume it was not negligent, and the person suing has to overcome that presumption. Those lawsuits become the only civil remedy against the utility for anything tied to an approved plan. The act also lets a utility enter private land or a right of way to clear plants or do fire work when the owner refuses access or does not answer within thirty days. The utility cannot be sued over that entry unless it acted willfully or recklessly and caused substantial damage. The Idaho House passed it 46-23, and it became law.

March 27, 2025Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 136, which makes hospitals and clinics report what they earn from a federal discount drug program. The 340B program lets certain providers buy drugs at a deep discount, and they may keep the difference when a patient's insurer pays the ordinary price. Every year by April 1, a participating provider must report to the state what it paid for those drugs and what it was paid for them. The report must also cover what it paid contract pharmacies, how many claims were involved, and how it used the savings, including any spent on charity care. The figures must be broken out by commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare payers. Each provider's own report stays confidential, and the state controller publishes only a combined total each November. The Idaho House passed it 52-18, and it became law.

March 26, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 294, which raises the civil penalties Idaho can impose for breaking its pipeline safety laws. The old law capped the penalty at two thousand dollars a day for each violation, with a limit of two hundred thousand dollars for a related series of violations. The act deletes both caps. In their place it sets the penalty at the federal maximum under 49 CFR 190.223 at the time of the violation, which is far higher. The penalty reaches anyone who breaks, or helps someone break, Idaho's pipeline safety and gas transportation laws or a Public Utilities Commission order or rule under them. The Idaho House passed it 44-26, and it became law.

March 3, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 516, which bars Idaho school districts from using public money to support teachers unions. Districts may no longer deduct union dues from teachers' pay, give a union more teacher contact information than public records law requires unless the teacher agrees in writing, or send out union messages. Teachers may still use their own personal leave for union work, but on-duty union representation is paid only if the union repays the district. Violations carry civil fines of up to $2,500. The Idaho House passed it 43-24, and it became law.

April 2, 2026

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 1300, which moves three agency director jobs under the governor. The Fish and Game Commission chose the director of the Department of Fish and Game, and boards chose the directors of the Transportation Department and of Parks and Recreation. Under the act the governor appoints all three, and each serves at the governor's pleasure. The three posts are added to the list of offices the governor fills under the state vacancy statute. The commissions and boards keep their other duties, but no longer pick or hold the director. The Idaho House passed it 41-29, and it became law.

March 24, 2026

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 752, which makes it a crime to use a restroom or changing room meant for the opposite sex. Knowingly entering one in a government building or a place of public accommodation is a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in county jail. A second conviction within five years is a felony carrying up to five years in state prison. The act lists exceptions, including cleaning or maintenance work, giving medical or law enforcement help, aid during a disaster, coaching at an athletic event, and accompanying someone who needs assistance. A person may also use a single-user room or, in dire need, the only room reasonably available. Sex here means biological sex. The Idaho House passed it 54-15, and it became law.

March 16, 2026

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 583, which narrows what cities and counties may do about short-term rentals. Idaho already barred a local government from banning short-term rentals outright. The act extends that to any type of short-term rental, closing the gap where a city banned one kind while allowing another. It also narrows the grounds for local rules. A city or county could regulate to protect public health, safety, and general welfare and to protect the character of residential neighborhoods. The act keeps public health and safety as the grounds but drops general welfare and neighborhood character. It also adds a new limit: a local rule may not put any restriction or duty on a short-term rental that it does not put on an ordinary house. It also limits the tax collection duties a state or local government may place on a short-term rental marketplace. The Idaho House passed it 54-16, and it became law.

February 12, 2026

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 1210, the Idaho Medical Freedom Act, which bars almost every medical requirement in the state. Idaho law already banned Covid vaccine mandates. The act replaces that with a ban covering any medical intervention, meaning any procedure, treatment, device, drug, injection, or medication used to diagnose, prevent, or cure disease or to change how a person's body works. A business may not refuse service or make it a condition of a job, and a ticket seller may not turn away a ticket holder. A school at any level, from preschool through university, public or private, may not require one to attend or to work there. State and local government may not require one for a benefit, service, license, public building, transport, or job. Federal law, some foreign travel for work, and existing school immunization law are the exceptions. The Idaho House passed it 44-23, and it became law.

April 4, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 1198, which bans diversity, equity, and inclusion work at Idaho's public colleges and universities. A school may not run a diversity, equity, or inclusion office or employ an officer for that purpose. It may not require such training of students or staff, and may not require a course on those subjects for a degree. It may not run a bias reporting system that collects reports about protected student speech. The definition reaches programs that promote named concepts such as implicit bias, systemic racism, intersectionality, and gender theory. Work an attorney certifies as needed to obey a court order or a state or federal law is exempt. The attorney general may enforce the ban, and a student or employee may sue over a violation. The Idaho House passed it 52-17, and it became law.

April 3, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 180, which puts city and county decisions on broadband and cell equipment on a clock. A local government must approve, approve with changes, or deny a siting application within a set time. The limit runs from sixty days for a broadband permit to one hundred fifty days for a new tower that is not a small wireless facility. If the deadline passes, the application counts as approved, provided the applicant gave every required public notice and told the city or county the time had run out. A local government has ten business days to say an application is incomplete, and thirty days to ask a court to review a deemed approval. The act also rewrites the rules for attaching equipment to utility poles. The Idaho House passed it 48-20, and it became law.

April 3, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 1180, which sets rules for how Idaho agencies may use automated license plate readers. These devices photograph the plates of passing vehicles without the driver doing anything. An agency may use them for law enforcement, to study traffic flow, or both. For law enforcement the data may be used only to investigate a felony, a misdemeanor, or a traffic accident, or to look for a missing or endangered person. It may not be used to enforce ordinary traffic tickets. Only cleared staff may reach the data, every search must be logged, and each agency must audit those logs twice a year and train its users. Misuse can bring discipline, penalties, or prosecution. The act also requires a front license plate only on a vehicle that has a bracket for one. The Idaho House passed it 45-24, and it became law.

April 3, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 109, which seeks to stop food stamps from being spent on candy and soda. It orders the director of the Department of Health and Welfare to ask the United States Department of Agriculture for a waiver removing candy and soda from the list of foods the program covers. If the waiver is granted, the director must bar those purchases. If it is refused, the director must ask again every year until it is granted. Candy is defined as a sweetened confection, and does not include anything more than one tenth flour by weight or anything needing refrigeration. Soda is any sweetened nonalcoholic drink, and does not include drinks with milk, drinks more than half juice, or powders and concentrates. The Idaho House passed it 48-20, and it became law.

March 31, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 271, which makes it a crime to advertise a product or service that is illegal where it is offered. A person who willfully publishes a commercial advertisement in any medium in Idaho for such a product or service is guilty of a misdemeanor. The fine is five hundred dollars for each violation, and each day the advertisement stays up counts as a separate offense. A commercial advertisement is one that encourages consumers to engage with a product or service to benefit a business. Fines go ninety percent to the sheriff's office in the county where the violation happened and ten percent to that county's district court fund. The Idaho House passed it 50-20, and it became law.

March 31, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 135, which narrows who can receive public benefits in Idaho without proof of lawful presence. State and local agencies must already check that an applicant aged eighteen or older is lawfully present in the United States. The act removes several exemptions from that check. Immunizations and the testing and treatment of communicable diseases are no longer exempt. Neither is prenatal care, postnatal care in the first year after birth, or food assistance for a child under eighteen. The act narrows the exemption for community services such as soup kitchens and crisis counseling so that it covers short-term shelters. It keeps the exemption for emergency medical treatment and adds a general exemption where federal law requires one. The Idaho House passed it 46-22, and it became law.

March 17, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 290, which moves Idaho's school and daycare immunization requirements out of health board rules and into state law. The act lists the required vaccines in the statute itself, so the Board of Health and Welfare can no longer set or change that list by rule. It voids the department's current immunization rules and ends the Idaho Childhood Immunization Policy Commission. Parents keep the existing right to exempt a child on medical, religious, or other grounds by signed statement. The act adds a right for a student who has reached adulthood to exempt themselves at any school, including a college or university. It also makes daycare facilities exclude a child who is not in compliance, lets the department inspect them, and makes schools report immunization figures by grade each year. The Idaho House passed it 49-21, and it became law.

March 5, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 240, which sets free speech rules for Idaho's public colleges. The outdoor areas of a campus become open to speech for students, staff, and their invited guests, so a college may not confine protest to a designated free speech zone. A college may still set reasonable limits on time, place, and manner. Harassment is narrowed to speech so severe and pervasive that it denies a student equal access to education. A college may not set a security fee based on the views of a speaker. Colleges must teach students the policy and report on it, and a person whose rights are violated may sue. The Idaho House passed it 55-15, and it became law.

March 4, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 32, which bans mask mandates in Idaho. No state agency, county, city, school district, public health district, or other local body may require a person to wear a mask, face shield, or face covering to slow the spread of a contagious disease. No official may impose such a rule, and none may be set as a condition of entry, education, employment, or any other service. If a public body recommends a mask, it must say plainly that the advice is not a requirement. Hospitals and health care facilities are not covered by the ban, and neither are workplaces where protective gear is required for the job. The Idaho House passed it 52-16, and it became law.

January 29, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 7, which sets a minimum fine for possessing a small amount of marijuana. Idaho law already treats possession of three ounces or less as a misdemeanor. The act adds that a person eighteen or older convicted of that offense must be fined at least three hundred dollars. That fine comes on top of the jail time and other penalties the law already allows. Possession of more than three ounces stays a felony. The Idaho House passed it 54-14, and it became law.

January 21, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026