CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE, TRESPASS BILL (HB 167) – OPPOSE

Link to bill: https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2023/legislation/H0167/

Summary of Legislation

The bill would change Idaho’s signage laws and put thousands of gun owners in jeopardy. Additionally, the bill would target organizations like the ISAA and could potentially bankrupt us if it is determined that we encouraged someone to trespass because the fine for doing so is $100,000.

• The ISAA typically gets involved in bills where there is a direct relation to firearms. Some critics argued that HB 167 doesn’t contain the word gun, so why does the ISAA care? The issue is that some bills, while not intended to directly go after gun owners, can still impact us and we reserve the right to speak out on those issues as well.
• One of our primary concerns with this bill is that it will give signs the force of law in Idaho. Under current Idaho law, verbal notification must be given in order for a trespass to take place. HB 167 says that signs are sufficient notice themselves. This means that a store with a “No Guns or You are Trespassing” type sign, could simply call the cops on you without verbal notification. This would be a drastic change to Idaho law and place thousands of gun owners in jeopardy of violating a law unintentionally.

The second issue the ISAA had with the bill is that it allows for a fine of $100,000 if an organization’s communication encouraged someone to do “critical infrastructure trespass.” The bill was very vague and there are many instances were we can see an anti-gun judge or prosecutor using the wording of the bill to target gun owners.