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JFAC divides on Office of Energy and Mineral Resources’ Home Energy Rebates and Speed Council funding; votes yield no final committee consensus
Summary
Committee members disagreed over whether to accept a federal Home Energy Rebates program appropriation and whether to add a governor-backed "Speed Council" funded from the general fund. Several substitute motions and roll-call votes produced mixed results; the committee did not reach a final, unanimous passage to clear all items to the floor.
Committee debate on the Office of Energy and Mineral Resources’ FY2026 requests produced split votes on two linked items: administration of a federal Home Energy Rebates program and a proposed, general-fund-supported Speed Council to coordinate permitting for large infrastructure projects.
Kellen McGurkin, a budget analyst with the Legislative Services Office, presented the agency package and the governor’s initiative. McGurkin said the agency requested federal appropriation authority to administer the Home Energy Rebates Program created by the Inflation Reduction Act, totaling roughly $24.58 million (about $20 million in direct rebates to households and roughly $4 million for third-party implementation and operational costs) and four limited-service full-time positions to run the program through its duration. McGurkin also described a governor-recommended Speed Council that would require one full-time position and approximately $481,000 from the general fund in FY2026 for council operations and a public-facing project-tracking dashboard.
Senator Woodward moved funding the Speed Council (1.0 FTP and $481,000 general fund). Senator Ward Engelking later offered an amended substitute motion that added the Home Energy Rebates program (four FTPs and $24,579,900 federal funds) and the personnel fund shift; she argued the rebates return federal dollars directly to Idaho households and included an “exit strategy” so state funds would not be used if federal rules later compelled program elimination.
The committee conducted a series of roll-call votes on an amended substitute motion, a substitute motion and then the original motions. Members recorded several tied and split tallies across the House and Senate delegations, and multiple motions failed to secure the necessary majority across both chambers within the committee. At one point the amended substitute motion failed with a cumulative committee tally of 9 ayes, 10 nays and 1 absent; later substitute and original motions also failed to obtain an affirmative majority on both sides. Committee discussion included argument that unused federal funds would be redistributed to other states if Idaho declined the program and cautions from members about using state resources for initiatives without clear House and Senate majorities.
Because motions repeatedly failed to obtain a majority in both the House and the Senate delegations present in committee, the committee did not adopt a final recommendation on the full package; the chair indicated unresolved motions would be handled in follow-up committee work and referred some items back to their originating chamber for further consideration. No general-fund appropriation for the Speed Council was enacted by the committee on Wednesday.
