Marco Erickson — Votes aye during the roll call vote.
Lori McCann — Moved to send House Bill 724 to the floor with a do pass recommendation.
Lori McCann — Representative Lori McCann spoke in support of the main motion and against the substitute motion. She said the hearing demonstrated why the bill is needed, emphasized that children in foster care have inalienable rights, and argued that legislators are the gatekeepers responsible for writing the law and policy while the department carries out implementation. She concluded by reiterating that she would support the motion but not the substitute.
Lori McCann — Voted no on the roll call.
Lori McCann — Representative McCann argues that the bill process is missing input from field experts and providers, expressing disappointment that they were not brought in earlier. He says providers believe additional savings could be found if they were allowed to negotiate directly with lawmakers and the department, and he asks whether they could be invited to the table going forward to help identify savings and improve the process.
Lori McCann — Asked whether additional audits would be easy to satisfy using payroll records and existing documentation.
Lori McCann — Offered to stand for questions and then made a motion.
Lori McCann — Moved to hold House Bill 759 in committee until March 11th, time certain, and began explaining the reason.
Lori McCann — Argued for delaying the bill briefly to improve the language with sponsors, the department, and providers.
Lori McCann — Said the bill should be redrafted with a group to address concerns and reiterated the motion.
Lori McCann — Asks to speak to the substitute motion and says it is ill-advised.
Lori McCann — Votes no.
Dr. Kylie Billingsley — Dr. Kylie Billingsley, a licensed child psychologist, neuropsychological evaluator, and Idaho foster parent, testified in support of the bill. She argued that children have fundamental rights to safety and protection from abuse, and that judges need the full picture of a child’s history, prior allegations, professional recommendations, and safety concerns to make better decisions in foster care cases. She emphasized the serious, sometimes lifelong or fatal consequences of unsafe placements and urged the committee to support the bill.
Mandy Brown — Mandy Brown was announced as the next virtual witness, but when called she was not responding.
Monique Breyer — Identified as the next in-person witness.
Monique Perry / Monique Breyer — Testified as an adoptive mother describing a medically fragile child and concerns about visitation worsening his condition.
Monique Perry — Monique Perry described how her child’s health worsened after court-ordered visitation began, including malnourishment, dehydration, failure to thrive, severe asthma flare-ups, and repeated hospitalizations for acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. She said she reported her concerns to the social worker and guardian ad litem and was told to keep documenting. Over time, she gathered extensive evidence, including letters from doctors and video of asthma attacks after visitation, before the court finally suspended visits for 30 days. She added that the child was still seriously ill and emphasized that children should not have to wait for a year of proof before action is taken to protect them.
Monique Perry — The witness described working as a nanny for Monique Perry’s three foster children, helping care for them and take them to appointments. The witness also said they observed changes in the children’s health and emotional well-being while in Monique Perry’s care, and noted that Monique Perry loved the children and found it difficult to see them suffer after visits.
Linda Wright — Identified as the next witness.
Lindsay Wright / Linda Wright — Introduced testimony summarizing two anonymous stories about severe abuse and repeated child welfare involvement.
Lindsay Wright — Lindsay Wright described a child welfare case marked by severe abuse and neglect, including an infant entering foster care with a broken arm and methamphetamine in his system, more than 20 child protection reports involving the mother, and a prolonged foster care history that led to a plan for termination of parental rights. She argued that reunification decisions can go wrong when judges do not have the full history of abuse reports, prior removals, psychological evaluations, and patterns across siblings, and concluded that HB 724 would help ensure judges have the complete picture needed to protect children from dangerous environments.
Misty Cook — Misty Cook is introduced as the next witness and then identifies herself, explaining that she is representing a current foster family that could not attend the meeting.
Isabel Cook — The chair called the next witness, Isabel Cook.
Isabella Cook — Testified that she represented herself and described caring for Monique Perry's foster children.
Rachel Darnell — The chair called the next witness, Rachel Darnell.
Rachel Darnall — Introduced herself as the person reading testimony on behalf of a former foster youth.
Julie Ravenholt — Former foster youth whose story was read into the record; said she aged out in 2025.
Jeremy Rudolph — The chair called Jeremy Rudolph as the next witness.
Megan Egbert — Spoke against the substitute motion and said she sees no problems with the bill's wording.
Megan Egbert — Argued the bill is narrowly written and that foster children should have the listed safety-related rights.
Megan Egbert — Said the rights already exist in the Constitution and questioned whether the state should be the only entity with rights in foster care cases.
Megan Egbert — Listed basic necessities as rights that should be protected for children in foster care and said no one else can guarantee them.
Megan Egbert — Said she supports the original motion but not the substitute motion.
Megan Egbert — Questioned where the 'Bill of Rights' language was coming from and whether that was the bill's intent.
Megan Egbert — Pressed Wheeler on whether the bill was creating a bill of rights.
Megan Egbert — Sought clarification and distinguished statutory rights from constitutional rights.
Megan Egbert — Clarified that the bill is intended to create statutory safety rights, not a constitutional bill of rights.
Megan Egbert — Voted no.
Megan Egbert — Votes no.
Tanya Burgoyne — Representative Tanya Burgoyne first sought clarification on the bill’s visitation-rights provisions, asking who holds the rights, how the department or state would exercise authority to limit, restrict, suspend, or deny visitation by court order, and whether the child would have any say in the process. Later in the meeting, she was recorded as voting yes on the roll call.
Tanya Burgoyne — Votes no; likely a transcription error for Burgoyne.
Brian Lenney — Representative Brian Lenney is referenced in the transcript (with a likely misspelling of his name), and the subsequent mention records his vote as 'No.'
Jordan Redman — Voted no on the roll call.
Jordan Redman — Refers to Nick Wyatt as a constituent and notes he submitted written testimony.
Jordan Redman — Representative Redman asked whether the witness had a handout and clarified the witness's recommendation as adding accountability and consistency.
Jordan Redman — Representative Redman sought clarification on how mandated spending would affect a provider’s ability to absorb rising costs such as liability insurance and cost-of-living increases. He then followed up by referencing the witness’s concern that providers could be required to spend the same amount even if they are paid less than the rate study amount, reinforcing the issue of whether the spending requirement leaves room to cover real cost increases.
Jordan Redman — The speaker echoes Representative Redmond's concern about targeting vulnerable people.
Jordan Redman — Votes yes during the roll call vote.
Josh Keyser — Representative Kaler asks whether JFAC has guaranteed that the $21.8 million Medicaid budget reduction tied to the bill’s savings will actually be reduced, and follows up by asking whether the funding is expected to return later in an enhancement bill.
Josh Keyser — Says the bill lacks actual rate reduction and real cost savings.