Idaho Code § 50-329 (2026)

Franchise ordinances — Regulations. 

No ordinance granting a franchise in any city shall be passed on the day of its introduction, nor for thirty (30) days thereafter, nor until such ordinance shall have been published in at least one (1) issue of the official newspaper of the city; and after such publication, such proposed ordinance shall not thereafter and before its passage be amended in any particular wherein the amendment shall impose terms, conditions or privileges less favorable to the city than the proposed ordinance as published; but amendments favorable to the city may be made at any time and after publication; provided that an ordinance granting a franchise to lay a spur, railroad track or tracks connecting manufacturing plants, warehouses or other private property with a main railroad line, need not be published before the same is passed by the council. No franchise shall be created or granted by the city council otherwise than by ordinance, and the passage of any such ordinance shall require the affirmative vote of one-half (1/2) plus one (1) of the members of the full council. Franchises created or granted by the city council for electric, natural gas or water public utilities, as defined in chapter 1, title 61, Idaho Code, or to cooperative electrical associations, as defined in section 63-3501(a), Idaho Code, shall be for terms of not less than ten (10) years and not greater than fifty (50) years unless otherwise agreed to by the utility or cooperative electrical association. All publications of ordinances granting a franchise, both before and after passage, shall be made at the expense of the applicant or grantee. Where an ordinance granting a franchise is sought to be amended after the same has been in force, the provisions of this section as to publication, before final action upon such amendment, shall apply as in cases of proposed ordinances granting original franchises.