On Friday, a bipartisan bill to provide in-home caregivers property tax relief passed the House in a 51-14 vote.
Senate Bill 1259, sponsored by Sen. Melissa Wintrow (D-Boise), allows a person who owns a certified family home to qualify for the state’s property tax reduction program, known as the circuit breaker, by exempting the payment they receive from the state for caring for someone 24/7 in their home from the income counted toward their application. Last year, it died in the House by one vote. It now goes to Gov. Brad Little, who declared November as In-Home Caregiver Appreciation Month.
Wintrow said in order to keep people with disabilities out of institutions, Idaho is one of many states that allows someone to become licensed to care for a person in their home. The in-home caregiver is compensated, and receives an average of $54 per day from Medicaid. Currently, that money isn’t considered income by federal standards. Wintrow said it doesn’t make sense for the state of Idaho to be more onerous than the federal government, and the bill would change that policy.
Institutionalized nursing care costs $273 per day, or about $100,000 annually, according to the Division of Medicaid. Right now, roughly 3,000 Idaho residents receive in-home care in a certified family home. If all were institutionalized, that cost would be about $300 million per year.
Wintrow worked closely with a number of in-home caregivers and stakeholders, as well as Rep. Ben Adams (R-Nampa), who carried the bill in the House. It was supported by the AARP, the Idaho Caregivers Alliance, and the Idaho Council on Developmental Disabilities. She said the issue first came to her attention in 2020 at an annual caregiver’s conference by JoAnn Vasko, who owns a certified-family home and is a full-time, in-home caregiver for her son.
“That conversation with JoAnn led me to the state Tax Commission and the Department of Health and Welfare to learn the scope of the issue. And after a two-year push, we finally got it,” she said. “I’m honored to have worked with so many people to get to this point, and hope it’ll receive the governor’s signature, so we can give our in-home caregivers much-needed property tax relief. This approach saves a lot of money and keeps people in a home setting — the best of both worlds.”