Idaho tanning laws for salon owners

What Idaho's tanning law covers

Idaho's tanning rule sits in the criminal code, in the same section as tattooing, branding and body piercing of minors: Idaho Code § 18-1523. House Bill 177 added tanning devices to it in 2015 (Session Laws 2015, chapter 91), effective July 1, 2015. A tanning device is equipment that emits radiation between 200 and 400 nanometers to tan the skin, such as sunlamps, booths and beds. Home units, physician-supervised phototherapy and spray or sunless equipment are excluded (§ 18-1523(1)(e)).

On September 29, 2026 we ran the Idaho Legislature's site search for "tanning". It returned two Idaho Code sections: § 18-1523 and a fish and game definition, § 36-202, that uses the word for tanning wildlife hides. We also downloaded all 369 chapters of the current Idaho Administrative Code (IDAPA) and searched their text. The only use of "tanning" was a sales tax rule on taxidermy supplies. So Idaho has no state license, inspection program or equipment rule for tanning salons. City, county and public health district rules are outside this page.

At the front desk

1. Check the date of birth before any UV session. Nobody may knowingly facilitate tanning device use by a minor under 14, and a parent's permission does not change that (§ 18-1523(2)).
2. For a client aged 14 to 17, get a parent's or legal guardian's written informed consent before the first session. The parent must sign it in front of you or one of your employees or agents (§ 18-1523(3)). A form signed at home and sent in with the teenager does not meet that wording.
3. Keep the signed consent. The statute sets no retention period, but it is your proof that consent came first.
4. The only exception is § 18-1523(4): it is not a violation for a physician to treat a minor's medical condition in the office with an FDA-approved device, or to facilitate a minor's tanning device use authorized by a physician's prescription. The wording is about what a physician may do, so check with your own counsel before tanning a minor on a prescription.
5. Spray and sunless booths are not tanning devices under § 18-1523(1)(e)(iii), so the age rules do not reach them.

A violation is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $500. A second violation within one year carries a fine of $500 to $1,000 (§ 18-1523(5)).

What the law leaves to you

Idaho sets no rule on adult warning statements, session gaps, eyewear, lamps, timers, record keeping or injury reports. Federal requirements for tanning products still apply; our FDA tanning bed rules guide covers them. Many salons use a signed warning statement as house policy anyway, and our tanning consent form guide covers what one usually contains.

What changed recently

Nothing since 2015. The section's history note lists only its 2004 enactment and the 2015 amendment. The Legislature's subject indexes for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 sessions have no tanning entry, while the 2015 index lists "Minors, restrictions on use of tanning devices" for House Bill 177.

How TanVision helps

TanVision's minimum age is 18 by default, and a session cannot start without a date of birth on file. Age is checked against the date of birth already on the client's record. With Minors and UV rooms at Yes, the default at Settings > Tanning rules, guardian consent on file lets a client under that age start a session in any room, UV included, with only a warning. So in Idaho the desk has to stop any client under 14 from using a UV bed itself: under Idaho law a parent's consent never makes them eligible. At No, check-in refuses UV rooms to every client under the minimum age, including the 14- to 17-year-olds Idaho allows with consent.

TanVision's consent forms let clients sign on their own phone or a tablet, and each signed record keeps the signature and the exact wording. For a 14- to 17-year-old, have the parent sign at the desk, in front of your staff. Scan ID fills a client's record from the barcode on their own driver's license or ID card; it does not check a parent's identity, so that is up to you. Each client record shows consent status, notes and recent visits, newest first. Compare other states on the tanning laws by state page.