​Hospital Property Tax Exemptions At Risk 

Why this matters: Removing property tax exemptions from nonprofit healthcare institutions is a dangerous precedent that puts our whole sector’s property tax exemptions at risk.
H0109 and H0110 are similar bills that limit the property that hospitals can claim as exempt. This type of legislation could encourage healthcare facilities to consolidate into centralized facilities which would further impact the lack of access to care experienced in rural areas of Idaho.

Residents of Idaho could also feel the financial impact as the cost would have to shift to consumers, disproportionately affecting low-middle-income Idahoans.  

Take Action Now: talking points when communicating to elected officials below

• Taxing medical services and thus raising the cost of healthcare in the counties would absolutely be passed on to patients in the form of higher bills and fewer charitable benefits.
  
  
• Nonprofits paying taxes would lead to providing less charitable care, thus hurting the people most in need of charity care.
  
  
• Charitable nonprofits earn their tax-exempt status every day by giving up profits, privacy, and politics. 
  
  
• Incentivizing hospitals to keep medical equipment in large hospitals for tax purposes will limit the care available to rural areas of Idaho. 

Both bills were introduced by Rep. Josh Tanner. However, HO110 moves the question of a hospital’s property tax exemption to county commissioners instead of a statewide decision that is outlined in H0109.

Why this matters: Financial impact to Idaho Nonprofits

We have our first piece of legislation for this session that we are opposing: House Bill 12 (HB12).
The proposed legislation would prohibit state agencies from sponsoring non-governmental organizations (i.e., nonprofits) without permission from the governor and would add a misdemeanor charge of misusing public funds for those who don’t abide by the new criteria.

HB12 was introduced by Rep. Jason Monks, has been printed and referred to the State Affairs Committee, and has had a fair amount of media coverage. 

According to the state’s website, Idaho has 180 state agencies that would be impacted by this legislation. Many of those agencies have a purpose that aligns with the goals of nonprofits throughout the state. We count on our state agency partners to expand our reach and amplify our missions. Adding extra layers of bureaucracy for state agencies to work with nonprofits would be detrimental to the work we do.  

We need you to act.  

• Do you receive sponsorships from a state agency? Please respond to this email ([email protected]) describing your partnership so we can compile examples to share with the legislature.  
  
  
• Contact the House State Affairs Committee ([email protected]) or your Representatives and let them know how this could impact your organization.  
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• Contact the state agencies you personally work with and ask how this bill would impact them.