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Analysts walk new JFAC members through Idaho’s budget 'decision unit' process and program‑maintenance benchmarks
Summary
Budget staff explained how the state builds appropriations in six benchmarks—from prior appropriation through executive adjustments and program maintenance to next year’s base—and how agencies and departments are presented in the budget book.
Jared Tetrault, deputy director and manager of budget and policy, presented an orientation to the legislative budget book and the “decision unit” approach the state uses to assemble appropriations.
Tetrault told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee that Idaho builds agency budgets in programming “decision units” and six formal benchmarks, starting with the legislature’s prior‑session original appropriation and finishing with the next year’s original appropriation after program maintenance and enhancements are applied. He said the benchmarks help keep midyear adjustments, executive carry forwards, reappropriations and enhancements in clearly defined boxes for ease of review and legislative action.
The presentation described how 20 executive departments can contain many subdivisions or self‑governing agencies (for example, brand inspection and the racing commission under public safety) and how each agency appears in the budget book with a division summary, fund analysis, comparative request/recommendation page and decision‑detail pages. Tetrault noted the governor’s and agencies’ differing roles: agencies file requests, the governor provides a recommendation, and the legislature ultimately decides appropriations.
Tetrault summarized common decision‑unit items that appear in program‑maintenance bills — benefit changes, contract inflation, statewide cost allocation and change in employee compensation — and explained that enhancements, population forecast adjustments and requests for statutory exemptions typically appear later in the cycle. He stressed that the committee has latitude in designing appropriation bills and structure, citing Idaho Code 67‑35‑14, which authorizes JFAC to draft appropriation bills.
The session included procedural questions from members about where to find specific pages in the budget book, and Tetrault committed to updating the SharePoint files so members could view the screenshots he used. He said the front‑end reports, comparative tables and fund analyses in the book are intended to give members multiple ways to review the same decisions before voting.
Ending: Committee members with less budget experience said the presentation clarified how analyst documents map to appropriation bills; staff promised updated SharePoint materials and printed copies for members who requested them.
