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Joint Finance committee accepts EROC revenue outlook, urges caution on appropriations
Summary
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee accepted the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee's revenue report and recommended more conservative general-fund targets than the governor's proposal, noting uncertainty from Federal Reserve policy and the presidential election.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Monday accepted the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee's (EROC) report and its recommended general-fund revenue targets for fiscal years 2025 and 2026.
EROC co-chair Senator Kevin Cook, who presented the committee's findings, said the panel reviewed tax, business and financial data and heard from economists and industry experts before reaching its median projections. The committee recommended general-fund revenues available for appropriation of $5,990,000,000 for fiscal year 2025 and $6,400,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. Cook said the committee advised "cautious in making appropriations above the committee's revenue recommendation."
Why it matters: The revenue baseline that JFAC adopts determines how much the Legislature can safely appropriate. EROC and JFAC members repeatedly cited uncertainty tied to the Federal Reserve's inflation policy and the upcoming presidential election as reasons to avoid aggressive spending that exceeds the committee's estimates.
Details and context: The committee compared its medians with Governor Brad Little's projections. In the transcript presentation, the governor's projections were described as higher than the committee's medians for the years in question; EROC reported its medians as below the governor's recommendations and then proposed the $5.99 billion/$6.40 billion targets as prudent alternatives. Senator Cook framed the committee's role with a reference to Idaho's constitutional requirement to balance appropriations and expenditures within revenues (Idaho Constitution, Article 7, Section 11).
Action taken: Co-chair Horman moved that JFAC accept the EROC report; Senator Woodward seconded. The committee approved the report by unanimous consent with no recorded roll call.
What comes next: Committee members and staff said the revenue recommendation will guide budget decisions in the coming days as JFAC considers program maintenance and enhancement bills.
Speakers quoted or summarized are those who presented or formally moved the action during the segment of the meeting in which the EROC report was taken up; the committee accepted the report without a recorded roll call vote.
