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Department of Labor seeks $7.33 million in dedicated spending authority to sustain unemployment insurance operations
Summary
The Idaho Department of Labor told the committee it needs an estimated $7.33 million in dedicated-fund spending authority to maintain unemployment insurance operations as federal grant funding declines, and lawmakers asked for staffing and fund-balance detail.
The Idaho Department of Labor told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee it is requesting $7,330,000 in dedicated-fund spending authority for FY26 to sustain unemployment insurance (UI) operations as federal pandemic-era grants decline.
The request and why it matters: Director Janie Rivera explained the UI program is a federal-state partnership that has relied on larger federal grants during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. With federal grant amounts down, the department is seeking authority to draw additional dedicated funds to maintain core operations, staffing and adjudication capacity.
The nut graf: The department asked for a mix of ongoing spending authority and a transfer to offset federal declines; lawmakers pressed for detail on the planned use of staff and the size and solvency of the UI trust fund. Agency officials said Idaho’s UI trust fund remains solvent and that the requested increase will not require general-fund support.
What the department told the committee Director Rivera described the request as an increase in dedicated-fund spending authority, not general-fund support. “This is an increase in dedicated fund spending authority request, not general,” she said, and added the department does not plan to ask the Legislature for general-fund support for UI operations.
Rivera explained the department increased staff during the pandemic by more than 100 positions to handle the spike in claims and that those federal dollars have since declined through attrition and program changes. The $7.33 million figure represents the department’s estimate of the additional dedicated-fund authority needed so current operations can continue while federal funding levels remain uncertain.
Trust fund, transfers and contingency options Analysts showed a consolidated-fund chart and described a proposed $4,868,600 cash transfer from the unemployment penalty and interest fund back into a continuously appropriated employment security fund to correct a prior overcounting and to adjust fund balances. The department described its UI trust fund as “very healthy.” Director Rivera said Idaho can cover major downturns under current projections and noted statutory tax-rate mechanisms and reserve targets designed to weather recessions.
Rivera described contingency options if the trust fund were ever exhausted: borrowing from the federal government or issuing bonds, as other states have done during deep downturns. “We have a very solvent trust fund and no need for significant tax increases,” she said, while cautioning that federal grant levels are not guaranteed and that the department does not receive firm federal projections until the federal budget is finalized.
Lawmakers’ requests for further detail Senators and representatives asked for a breakdown of how salary savings and unfilled positions have been used, how many staff constitute the department’s baseline versus recession surge staffing, and how the requested $7.33 million would be spent by category (personnel, operating, trustee/benefit payments). Rivera said the department would provide more specific numbers on baseline staff levels, the number and type of positions added in the pandemic, and post-pandemic staffing needs. Representative Handy and others requested an informational fact sheet on benefit duration and the statutory formula for employer tax rates.
Process and oversight The department said the 7.33 million request would use dedicated funds that historically have grown because the agency did not need to spend them while federal grants covered operations. The committee was told the request is intended to stabilize staffing and operations through the budget cycle, rather than to create a permanent new general-fund entitlement. Rivera said the department will follow up with detailed staffing and expenditure numbers for the committee’s review.
Ending The Department of Labor committed to supply the committee with a staffing breakdown, detailed spending plans for the requested dedicated-fund authority and a fact sheet summarizing UI benefit duration and employer tax calculations.
