JFAC approves FY2026 program-maintenance budgets, technical corrections and appropriations adjustments

BOISE — The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee on Friday, Jan. 17, voted to adopt a slate of technical corrections to the current fiscal year and to set program-maintenance budgets for FY2026 across state government agencies, approving reappropriations, transfers and clarifying budget language for multiple agencies.

The committee approved technical corrections that moved previously reappropriated funds into the newly created broadband office, corrected an appropriation transfer for the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and adjusted appropriation categories inside the Department of Health and Welfare so contract payments are aligned with operating expenditure rules. It also voted to set the program-maintenance budgets — the baseline ongoing budgets before any new policy or enhancements — for nearly every major functional area, including legislative and judicial branches, constitutional officers, public safety, general government, economic development, natural resources, the State Board of Education, public schools and health and human services.

Why it matters: These votes establish the fiscal baseline the Legislature will use as it begins the budget-writing process. Program-maintenance budgets reflect ongoing operations as authorized by prior legislatures and incorporate only a limited set of statewide adjustments (contract inflation and statewide cost allocation) unless the committee specifically approved otherwise. The maintenance decisions do not themselves enact policy changes but determine the dollar amounts agencies may use in preparing detailed enhancement requests and statute-driven distributions.

What the committee…