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JFAC splits on LSO bill-drafter request; sends language asking for earlier governor budget and statewide review
Summary
A proposal to add one bill-drafting attorney to the Legislative Services Office narrowly failed to clear the Senate side of the committee; committee later adopted language asking the governor to transmit budget recommendations earlier and asked LSO to review interagency billing and budget submission systems.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on March 24 considered a request by the Legislative Services Office to add one bill-drafting attorney and $129,000 in fiscal-year 2026 funding, and separately adopted language asking the governor to transmit the 2027 budget earlier and directing LSO to review interagency billing and to explore a statewide budget submission platform.
LSO division manager Keith Bybee and other staff described the office’s workload and compared Idaho’s staffing to peer states, noting Idaho’s LSO had relatively few permanent staff per capita. Co-chairs argued the additional position would ease staff burdens caused by a large volume of bills and help LSO draft the committee’s own maintenance bills without being held up by executive-branch drafting needs. Senator Hart and others supported the request; Representative Petzke opposed adding staff on parity grounds with other agencies.
The motion to add 1 FTE and $129,000 passed the House side of the committee but failed to carry a majority in the Senate: the committee recorded a Senate vote of 4 ayes and 6 nays and a House vote of 9 ayes and 1 nay (combined total 13 ayes, 7 nays); because the motion did not receive a Senate majority, it will be sent to the full Senate for further consideration as noted in committee remarks.
Separately, the committee adopted language (by a wide margin: total 19 ayes, 0 nays, 1 absent excused) asking the governor to transmit the 2027 budget to the legislative branch earlier in December (the motion asked for an earlier transmission than the current practice of releasing the executive budget on the first day of session). The language also directed LSO to conduct a statewide review of agency interagency billing and to explore development of a new statewide budget submission platform to increase transparency and efficiency. The committee clerk recorded that the motion will carry a due-pass recommendation.
LSO staff and committee leaders emphasized that the language is intended to reduce late-season workload and to explore options such as charging agencies for executive-branch drafting work if those costs are creating delays or staffing burdens for legislative staff.
