Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org.
BOISE, ID – Gov. Brad Little has more than a week to act on an anti-teachers’ union bill that raced through the Legislature in three days.
Lawmakers sent the heavily rewritten House Bill 516 to Little’s desk Thursday, the 81st and final day of the 2026 session. Because the Legislature has adjourned for the year, Little has additional time to mull over HB 516.
Post-adjournment, governors have 10 days to act on legislation, Sundays excluded. That means Little has until until 5 p.m. on April 14 to sign or veto HB 516, or allow it to become law without his signature.
Little has not vetoed a single bill this year.
HB 516 was one of the last bills addressed by this year’s Legislature; the House passed it Thursday afternoon. It passed both houses only after an extensive overhaul.
The House originally passed HB 516 as a bill limiting LGBTQ+ instruction in the classroom. The Senate last week stripped HB 516 down to its bill number, replacing the old wording with language prohibiting taxpayer support of teachers’ unions. This total rewrite is known by the Statehouse metaphor of “radiator capping” — as in, taking a single part from one car, and attaching it to a second vehicle.
As now written, HB 516 forbids school districts from using public payroll systems to collect union dues, increasing teacher salaries to cover union dues, or giving teachers paid time off for union activities. The bill also includes civil penalties — of up to $1,500 for a first offense and $2,500 for a repeat violation.
As Little’s HB 516 deadline nears, he will undoubtedly face heavy lobbying.
The Freedom Foundation, a Washington state-based group that has pushed for Idaho union restrictions for years, is urging Little to sign the amended bill. Supporters also include two conservative groups that are fixtures at the Statehouse — the Idaho Family Policy Center and the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which is unaffiliated with the Washington-based Freedom Foundation.
The state’s largest teachers’ union, the Idaho Education Association, is urging members to call Little to push for a veto. The grassroots group Reclaim Idaho is also rallying its members against HB 516.
As of Friday, Little’s office had received 207 emails on HB 516, almost equally divided between supporters and opponents, spokeswoman Joan Vargas said late Monday. The office had received 939 phone calls on the bill, with 566 requesting Little veto the bill, and 373 requesting that he sign it.
If Little vetoes HB 516, it wouldn’t be without precedent.
In March, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed a similar union bill, also promoted by Washington’s Freedom Foundation.
“I am frustrated with the increasing trend of out-of-state interests foisting out-of-state solutions on Wyoming,” wrote Gordon, who is, like Little, a Republican. “With alarming regularity, these think-tanks-for-hire use our legislative process to enact solutions to problems we do not have.”
Little will likely get the last word on HB 516.
Because the Legislature adjourned for the year — instead of going into a short recess — lawmakers would be unable to reconvene and override a veto. But the rewritten HB 516 fell short of two-thirds support in both the House and the Senate, suggesting a veto would survive a legislative challenge anyway.
