BOISE, ID – An Idaho Republican lawmaker tweaked his bill that aims to punish the city of Boise for flying the LGBTQ+ pride flag.

In a new version of the bill, Rep. Ted Hill, an Eagle Republican, proposed closing a workaround to the Legislature’s recent law that banned state and local government entities from flying flags that aren’t on the Legislature’s pre-approved list, which largely includes official flags of domestic government or the U.S. military.

Hill’s latest bill, House Bill 561, would ban flying Idaho city or county flags that became official in 2023 or later. In May 2025, after the Legislature passed a law restricting flag displays on government property, Boise City Council voted to make the LGBTQ+ pride flag and the organ donor flag as official city flags.

The bill would also add a $2,000 daily fine, per offending flag, to the flag ban law from last year, which lacked an enforcement process.

“There was no way to enforce it, so there has to be a response to that,” Hill told lawmakers. “And that’s what this bill is about, specifically insubordinate government officials. … It sets a tone of anarchy.”

Temporary parades or assemblies on government property would be exempt from the flag display ban.

But pressed by lawmakers on whether the bill could prevent government entities from flying flags made for local events or even for America’s 250th anniversary celebration upcoming in July, Hill said his bill could prevent some of those displays — but called it “collateral damage.”

“This is a compromise. There is some collateral damage, and they’re insignificant,” Hill said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. Let’s focus on what the objective is here: Unity under that flag and the American flag is the key.”

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee on Thursday introduced Hill’s latest version of the bill, which clears the way for a full hearing with public testimony in committee. The committee’s two Democrats and Republican Rep. Erin Bingham, of Idaho Falls, opposed it.

On Monday, the committee introduced an earlier version of the bill but cut language Hill had proposed that would’ve banned cities and counties from flying any of their official flags.

Hill’s bill would make several other tweaks to the Idaho’s flag ban law, including:

• A definition for governmental property, where the bill restricts flag displays. Government property includes “land owned and maintained by the governmental entity, including buildings, adjoining land, parks, roads and boulevards.”
• Tweaks to language in the original law that allows government entities to display flags of other countries on special occasions. The new change would not allow displaying flags for “countries with which the United States is engaged in hostile action.” Hill’s latest bill would not create a broader exception for flying the Basque autonomous community flag, unlike the version of his bill introduced earlier this week.
• Tweaks to language in the original law that allowed official flags of Idaho colleges or universities to be displayed by state and local government entities. Under the new bill, such flags could only be displayed if a single flag was designated as the college or university’s official flag. The new bill would repeal language in the previous law that allowed official flags of public schools.

The bill would allow Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador to enforce the law through lawsuits to stop cities from flying certain flags and to seek civil court fines. The bill would take immediate effect if signed into law, through an emergency clause.

To become law, Idaho bills must pass the House and Senate, and avoid the governor’s veto.

This story first appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.