JFAC approves $270,000 supplemental, advances $18.3 million Fish and Game budget package including Idaho Power settlement

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on an undisclosed meeting date approved a $270,000 one-time supplemental appropriation to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to cover costs already incurred in 2024 to address damage at the Boise River Wildlife Management Area caused by the Valley Fire. The committee also approved a broader fiscal year 2026 package of enhancements that includes dedicated and federal funds and incorporates an $800,000 conveyance from Idaho Power for habitat rehabilitation.

The $270,000 supplemental motion, moved by Vice Chair Woodford and seconded by Representative Manwaring, passed on recorded voice votes in both chambers and was carried forward with a due-pass recommendation. Janet Jessup, budget and policy analyst with Legislative Services, told the committee the supplemental was requested to fund work already completed in calendar year 2024 related to Valley Fire damage.

Why it matters: the department’s statutory mission, cited in committee materials as code section 36 1 0 3, is to “preserve, protect, perpetuate, and manage Idaho's wildlife.” Committee members said the supplemental responds to immediate habitat needs after a wildfire that burned roughly 9,900 acres last summer.

Committee debate then turned to the Department’s FY2026 enhancement package. The package included requests for software and licensing updates to the agency’s license-and-sales system, the final year of the Albany Falls mitigation project, increased costs for recreational access leases, phase 2 of a website overhaul, hatchery trailers and regional-office remodels, remote connectivity improvements for hatcheries, and a line item reflecting the Idaho Power settlement for Valley Fire rehabilitation.

Jessup told members the Idaho Power settlement will convey $800,000 to the department for FY2026 to continue rehabilitation work that began last fall. She said the Valley Fire burned approximately 9,900 acres and that the settlement funds are intended to restore wildlife habitat damaged by the fire.

Senator Woodward moved the FY2026 enhancement bundle, which the committee recorded as adding $11,017,400 from dedicated funds and $7,287,600 from federal funds for a combined $18,305,000 and related position and operating changes. The motion was seconded by Representative Manwaring and carried in committee; recorded chamber-level tallies reported by the committee clerk show the motion passed in the Senate and the House panels (Senate: 7 ayes, 3 nays; House: 8 ayes, 1 nay, 1 absent/excused), and the chair announced the motion will go forward with a due-pass recommendation.

The committee also approved two reappropriation language items the agency requested to allow multiyear projects and to make the balance of the depredation fund available as reimbursements come due. Committee language makes the fiscal year 2025 appropriations for specified projects available to use in fiscal year 2026, and preserves timing and reimbursement authority for depredation fund balances.

Janet Jessup and other staff answered members’ questions about the department’s federal-funding mix; Jessup said the department’s federal funds come largely from contractual relationships (for example, Bonneville Power Administration reimbursements), and from federal distributions such as the Dingell-Johnson and Pittman-Robertson excise tax revenues that fund fisheries and wildlife programs.

Looking ahead: the department’s FY2026 package, including the Idaho Power settlement language and the reappropriation provisions, will be carried forward for further consideration by the legislature. The committee did not adopt additional conditions beyond the language shown on the screen at the time of the vote.