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Legislative committee accepts EROC revenue assessment, recommends $5.99B for FY2025
Summary
The Joint Finance Committee accepted the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee's report and its revenue recommendations for the current budget cycle, urging caution on appropriations above the committee's figures given economic uncertainty.
The Joint Finance Appropriations Committee on Monday accepted the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee's (EROC) revenue report and its recommended general fund totals for the coming budget years.
EROC Co-chair Senator Kevin Cook told the committee the panel recommends total general fund revenues available for appropriation of $5,990,000,000 for fiscal year 2025 and $6,400,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. The committee urged caution about appropriating above those levels because of uncertainty tied to Federal Reserve actions on inflation and the upcoming presidential election.
The committee framed its work as a statutory duty under Idaho's constitution, with Cook saying the panel reviewed business, tax and financial data and sought testimony from economists, business and industry representatives before reaching its conclusions. EROC members compared the committee's median projections with the governor's projections and recommended the lower figures noted above as the prudent planning baseline.
Co-chair Horman moved to accept the EROC report; Senator Woodward seconded the motion and the committee accepted the report by unanimous consent.
The committee record includes EROC's advisory recommendation rather than a binding forecast; JFAC members will use the committee's figures as one input while building appropriation decisions. Senators and representatives who spoke during the presentation emphasized the committee's role in providing an independent assessment of the governor's revenue estimates and in guiding appropriation risk tolerance.
Next steps: the revenue recommendation will be part of upcoming JFAC budget hearings and will be weighed alongside agency requests, the governor's proposals and later economic updates.
