Idaho
From the 50 State Visitor Guide :
Idaho Code 2022 §§18-8301 through 18-8414. I.D.A.P.A. §11.10.03.000 through 11.10.03.012.
Registration Triggers and Deadlines:
Two working days for initial registration and updates. Transient registrants must report location every 7 days. §§18-8307, 18-8308.
Statutes do not address registration requirements for visitors. However, “any person who enters this state … and makes an application for an identification card or a [drivers] license in this state” is presumed to be establishing a residence. §18-8306(4). Sheriff will notify you of the 2 day obligation to register (see above).
Rolfe survey indicates that visits of 7 days or more require registration.
Temporary volunteers or employees: Must register if in state for more than ten consecutive days, or for an aggregate period of 30 days in a calendar year. If “employment involves counseling, coaching, teaching, supervising or working with minors in any way,” must register “regardless of the period of employment.” §18-8303(6).
Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:
May not reside or loiter within 500 ft. of school, and may not reside within more than one person also required to register, with certain exceptions. §§18-8331, 18-8332.
Presence restriction: Day cares, unless picking up or dropping off one’s own children. §18-8327.
Duration & updates:
Lifetime. Petition to remove – 10 yrs. Sexually Violent Persons must update every 3 months. All others update annually. §18-8307.
Per Rolfe Survey, Visiting Registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED.
Most recent visits: August & September 2023
I have read through Idaho’s statutes several times and still have a number of questions about it, but calling the Idaho SOR office proved useless because all you get is an outgoing message that says they only answer questions from attorneys. Therefore in discussing the number of days you can be in this state or what restrictions might apply to you while visiting I need to err on the side of caution.
For example, Idaho Statutes do not address registration requirements for visitors. However, “transient registrants” must report location every 7 days (§§18-8307, 18-8308) and I notice that the Rolfe Survey claims visits of 7 days or more require registration. Putting those two things together I conclude that if you’re in state for 7 days or more that would automatically make you a “transient registrant” and you have to register … so just be gone by the end of Day 6.
Do partial days count? I don’t know and they won’t answer that question, so your safest bet is to assume they do. However, Idaho Statutes sets no maximum number of days per calendar month or year, and they won’t answer that question either, so I my assumption is that return visits are okay.
First pass through Idaho
These are the assumptions I felt safe in making on my 2023 Pacific Northwest Tour, when I passed through Idaho twice. My first pass consisted of three consecutive partial days, well within the state’s limit. On Day 1 I entered from Montana on U.S. 2 and took a look at Bonner’s Ferry (where I had lunch), Sandpoint and Kootenai before returning to Montana. And I must say I was not impressed.
On Day 2 I entered Idaho again from Montana again late in the afternoon, this time on I-90, on my way to my reserved campsite at Hepburn State Park. Nice place. The next morning I got back on I-90 and headed west into Washington State. As brief as each of those partial day forays into Idaho were, they were consecutive and they all counted.
Second pass through Idaho
My second pass through Idaho consisted of four consecutive partial days, again well within what I infer to be the state’s limit. These two visits were separated by 12 calendar days and were in two different months (Aug & Sept) so according to the assumptions I made above I was fine.
My first partial day of my second pass through Idaho was not planned in advance. I had been in Oregon and decided to go take a look at Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, and the most logical way to get back from there to my reserved motel room in Ontario OR was SR 71 and US 95 in Idaho. And you may say Oh Please! How can that little short cut even count?! But my job here isn’t to comment on the utter stupidity of any state’s registry laws, it’s to explain how I navigated those laws so you can too.
On Day 2 of this pass I entered Idaho from Ontario OR early in the morning, made a loop up US 95 and down State Road 55. My original plan was to find a campground somewhere in Boise National Forest, but that was the day I changed my mind and decided to go back to Ontario and scope it out as a possible future base camp for Pacific Northwest travel (see the Pacific Northwest Tour Overview and my Oregon blog entry). So yes I spent most of the day in Idaho but still a partial day.
Sawtooth National Recreation Area and Craters of the Moon National Monument
Day 3 was my most extensive travel day in Idaho. Entering from Ontario again, Sawtooth National Recreation Area was magnificent and my only regret is that I couldn’t devote any more time to it. Maybe next time!
I wanted to return to a place I’d been to years ago – Craters of the Moon National Monument. Like Lava Beds National Monument only bigger (see California), it consists of vast lava beds (laid down only 2000 years ago) and twisted formations. I walked the Devil’s Orchard Nature Trail, drove the park loop road to see Inferno Cone and Big Sink Overlook. It’s like a dream world.
From there I headed east late in the afternoon on my way to find a campground somewhere east of Idaho Falls. Ririe Lake Recreation Area fit the bill nicely and had showers too. This was the only night I slept in Idaho on my second pass. The next morning, my fourth consecutive partial day, I grabbed some breakfast at a convenience store and headed over the Tetons into Wyoming.
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