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Labor director asks for dedicated-fund authority as federal UI grants decline; committee seeks staffing numbers
Summary
The Idaho Department of Labor told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee it needs $7.33 million in dedicated-fund authority to maintain unemployment insurance operations as federal pandemic-era grant support declines, and asked for a $4.87 million inter-fund transfer to correct accounting.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee heard the Idaho Department of Labor’s FY2026 budget presentation and a request for additional spending authority to cover unemployment insurance operations as federal grant support declines.
Director Janie Rivera told the committee that the department seeks $7,330,000 in ongoing spending authority in a dedicated fund to sustain determinations, appeals and compliance operations that have been supported by federal pandemic-era grants. "The unemployment insurance program is a federal-state partnership ... As these federal dollars are declining, we need to keep all of those operations going," Rivera said.
The department also requested a cash transfer of $4,868,600 from the Unemployment Penalty and Interest Fund to the Employment Security Fund to correct an overcount and restore intended balances; analyst Brooke Dupree described how that transfer would lower the department's projected FY2026 ending free fund balance by roughly $4 million if approved.
Rivera and analysts emphasized that the agency's UI payouts are made from a continuously appropriated trust fund, not general fund, and said they would not be asking the Legislature for general fund to cover benefits. Rivera explained fallback options if trust funds are exhausted: "If we run out of money in the fund, then, ... we can borrow money from the federal government, or we can ... get a bond," she said, adding the department currently projects a solvent trust fund and statutory changes made after the Great Recession improved solvency calculations.
Committee members asked for more granular staffing and spending details. Senators and representatives pressed the department to provide exact numbers on: baseline staff levels prior to the pandemic, the roughly 100 staff added during COVID peak activity, how current staffing is allocated between baseline compliance and recession-response positions, and what portion of salary savings have been shifted to other spending categories. Analyst Pree offered to follow up with those details.
Other items discussed included a $161,000 request for Office of Information Technology Services (OITS)-recommended hardware and statutory language to permit certain fund-balance adjustments requiring committee approval. The governor recommended the department’s enhancements. No final appropriation votes were recorded in the hearing.
