Committee backs ITS modernization funding and directs survey of executive-branch IT resources

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee advanced a package of enhancements and a statutory language item for the Office of Information Technology Services (ITS), the state’s central IT management agency.

Kellen McGurkin and other analysts summarized ITS’s FY2025 supplemental—$81,700 one-time general fund to purchase temporary office equipment for employees transferring into ITS—and FY2026 enhancements that included office space, security hardware, emergency connectivity, IT infrastructure, a ServiceNow project management tool, and funding to complete the consolidation of personnel from Idaho State Police and the Department of Juvenile Corrections. The agency’s governor-recommended package added approximately $4 million more for IT hardware replacement than agency requests from other state agencies.

Representative Petzke moved the FY2026 package, which included 22 full-time equivalent positions to support the consolidation and a total funding package that combined general and dedicated funds. The committee approved the motion and then accepted on the record language directing ITS and the Division of Financial Management to “survey all executive branch agency IT resources, services, and equipment and provide a report to the legislature with recommendations on increasing cost efficiencies and information technology equipment and services.”

Analysts and members noted the agency’s ongoing IT modernization initiative and the timing of transfers of personnel; committee members discussed potential future requests as additional personnel move into ITS. The motion passed and the directing language was accepted by unanimous consent; the motion was forwarded with a due-pass recommendation.