Hill said he had talked to the Senate committee chairmen about the idea and asked them to give him their feedback next week. Hill and Bedke don’t need legislative authorization to name one, and they don’t need to decide before the end of the session, which Hill said he expects to come March 24.

“We’re just trying to determine if there is a need to gather information,” he said.

Work groups, Hill said, are usually formed to study issues that require more data gathering or analysis. This, he said, is an issue where much of the information is already out there and many people know where they stand.

“A working group is not going to change people’s minds,” Hill said.

Emily Walton, a Capitol lobbyist and College of Western Idaho trustee who grew up in Declo and whose sister is gravely ill today because her parents denied her medical care as a child, said there should have been a hearing. Now, Walton said, she would rather see lawmakers create an interim committee, which has more power to recommend legislation than a work group, to study the issue.

“We’d rather have some people work on it who can actually get something done,” she said.