BOISE — A bill that would classify rats as an invasive species moved one step closer to becoming law after advancing out of a Senate committee and heading to the Senate floor.
Democratic Rep. John Gannon and Republican Sen. Tammy Nichols introduced Senate Bill 1445, which would authorize local governments to take reasonable action to control and contain the growing Norway, roof and wild rat population, according to the bill’s notes.
RELATED | 'I've never seen something that big': Boise neighbors finding rats in their backyards
Gannon said the proposal differs from the recent “Rodents of Unusual Size Act,” Senate Bill 1271, because it gives local governments the authority to act on the problem, but does not mandate them to do so.
“This differs in that basically we are empowering, and the word empower is used there, the state is empowering the local governments,” Gannon said.
Some senators raised concerns about whether the bill could eventually cost the state. As currently written, however, the bill does not include a direct appropriation.
"I don't think it would carry over to next year, that would require the state to do it because it's not specified in this law,” Ada County Commissioner Ryan Davidson said.
Davidson said that without funding attached to the bill, the county’s first step would likely be creating a website and app where residents could report rat captures and map where the animals are being found.
"And then that would give us and our city partners an idea of where the problem is and how to attack it directly,” Davidson said.
Davidson also addressed concerns from private exterminator companies, some of which opposed the previous bill because they feared government involvement would hurt their business. He said the county instead wants to partner with local pest control companies.
“We have no intention of competing with private industry. We want to empower local pest control companies to help us solve this problem,” Davidson said. “What we want to do is contract all the groundwork out to local pest control companies.”
Residents also testified in support of the bill, describing how rats have affected their neighborhoods and homes.
Nancy Daniels, who lives on the Depot Bench, said rats have become a growing problem in her neighborhood. She said residents have hired exterminators, but there are still areas where the pests are difficult to reach.
RELATED | 'I've never seen something that big': Boise neighbors finding rats in their backyards
“We have a lot of irrigation canals. We have places in between our neighborhoods, our houses where we can't get to,” Daniels said. “Please help us with a top-down approach. They are here. They're not going away, but we really need help to make this something that we can manage together.”
Jane Rowling, who created the “Rats in Eagle and Beyond” group on Nextdoor, said the issue has become widespread. The group now has about 1,200 members.
Rowling said she understands cities may not have immediate funding to address the problem, but she wants residents to keep pressuring local leaders to find a solution.
“I personally have spent almost $30,000 on modifications to my yard and on an extreme makeover of my crawl space due to rat damage,” Rowling said. “I think we're at a point where we're at a kind of maybe at a tipping point where if we don't get action on this very quickly, we might be in New York City.”
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
