JFAC advances transportation funding package and energy agency budget shifts

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on the floor advanced multiple Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) budget measures and approved a budget adjustment for the Office of Energy and Mineral Resources, voting to send the measures to the full Senate and House floors.

The committee approved supplemental federal reimbursements for local public transportation jurisdictions, reappropriation authority and capital maintenance funding for ITD programs, and a $275 million general-fund transfer to dedicated highway funds. The panel also approved a requested intra-agency shift for the Office of Energy and Mineral Resources and asked staff to prepare limited reporting language to consider whether certain energy-assistance grants could be moved between agencies.

The approvals included: a multi-part reappropriation for ITD transportation services and aeronautics programs, additional dedicated-fund replacement and IT hardware for the Division of Motor Vehicles, two supplemental federal reimbursements for local transit and metropolitan planning organizations, an FY2026 operations package for ITD highway operations including new equipment and public-transit funding, several construction and right-of-way funding actions (including reappropriation authority up to $300 million), and a $275 million transfer from the general fund to dedicated highway funds split between strategic initiatives and local distribution accounts. The committee also approved an agency-requested shift of $48,000 between dedicated funds for the Office of Energy and Mineral Resources and added federal funding authority to administer the Home Energy Rebate program.

"The budget is before…