The text of Otter’s order includes language calling the law “a dramatic attempt to assert federal command and control over this country’s health care system.” It asserts that the measure constitutes an “infringement on Idahoans and the authority of the state under the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter signed legislation, preventing the state from enacting parts of the federal heatlh overhaul bill.
How much power do individual states have to block implementation of the new health care reform law?
A lot, if the governor of Idaho has his way.
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, a Republican, issued an executive order Wednesday prohibiting state agencies from implementing the controversial law, which is widely viewed as President Barack Obama’s top domestic accomplishment.
Otter’s order states that “no executive branch department, agency, institution or employee of the state shall establish or amend any program or promulgate any rule to implement any provisions” of the law.
Among other things, the order also bars state agencies from accepting federal funds tied to the implementation of the law.
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