JFAC approves three technical corrections to maintenance bills, including an FTP cap fix

The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Feb. 6 approved three technical corrections to maintenance bills the committee previously passed, including a corrected full‑time equivalent (FTE) cap for constitutional officers.

Committee staff said the edits were clerical or drafting fixes identified during the bill‑editing process. Jared Tetreault, deputy manager, Budget Division, Legislative Services, described a program‑transfer language change in the public schools budget to add the Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA) to the list of divisions exempted from program‑transfer limits. Alex Williamson, budget and policy analyst, Legislative Services, described a similar drafting correction moving a provision for the Millennium Income Fund to the correct appropriation section in the health and human services maintenance bill. Keith Bybee, Division Manager, Budget Policy Analysis, identified a typographical error in the constitutional officers’ FTE cap and presented corrected motion language.

The first two corrections (public schools/IDLA program‑transfer language and the Millennium Income Fund appropriation reference) were accepted by unanimous consent after staff explained the intended language and showed the replacement text on screen. For the constitutional officers FTE cap, the committee moved and conducted a roll call vote on corrected motion language to cap full‑time equivalent positions for constitutional officers at 431.9 FTE.

The roll call on the constitutional officers cap returned a unanimous committee vote as read by the clerk: 20 ayes, 0 nays, 0 absent/excused. The chair ordered the motion carried and noted it would carry a due‑pass recommendation to the floor.

Committee staff said the technical fixes will be incorporated into program maintenance budgets that will go forward with the maintenance bill package to the floor.

Staff and witnesses present for these items included Jared Tetreault (Deputy Manager, Budget Division, Legislative Services), Alex Williamson (Budget and Policy Analyst, Legislative Services), and Keith Bybee (Division Manager, Budget Policy Analysis). The chair announced the changes would be uploaded to the committee’s SharePoint and reflected in the final maintenance bill language.

Looking ahead, the committee directed staff to fold the corrected language into the maintenance packages before the bills proceed to floor consideration.