Governor’s office seeks emergency-fund restoration, America 250 funds; committee asks for spending detail

The Executive Office of the Governor appeared before the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Feb. 18 to present its FY2026 requests and answer questions about recent expenditures and accounting practices.

Budget highlights and requests

Christopher LaHozet, Legislative Services Office analyst, summarized the office's FY2026 requests: $45,000 one-time general-fund IT replacement items and a $250,000 one-time general-fund request to support Idaho participation in the federal America 250 effort (the White House task force established by presidential executive order). LaHozet also cited a recommended $1,350,000 one-time cash transfer from the general fund to the governor's emergency fund to restore its cash balance to the $2 million base appropriation; the fund's cash balance was shown at roughly $650,000 after recent expenditures.

‘‘The fund has a base appropriation of $2,000,000 in spending authority,’’ LaHozet said, noting the cash balance and recent uses tied to investigator reimbursements and anti-fentanyl work.

Committee questions: spending detail, constituent services, personnel transfers

Multiple committee members asked for detailed accounting and transparency. Senator Hart and others asked about the constituent-services management platform item in the budget book, which was initially described as Salesforce in budget materials. LaHozet said the governor's office examined Salesforce as one option but that the office later found it cost-prohibitive and has been exploring other platforms; the office had not spent the FY2025 appropriation on the platform as of the hearing. ‘‘We have not spent any of that funding,’’ DFM Administrator Lori Wolf told senators.

Members asked for itemized lists of in-state charter flights, recent personnel reimbursements, and transfers from other agencies back to the governor's office. LaHozet and DFM staff agreed to provide Excel breakout sheets with transaction detail. Senator Zitterfeld requested a spreadsheet showing exactly how the governor's emergency fund monies were expended. LaHozet said he could provide the report the Division of Financial Management produces annually.

Personnel reimbursements and 10P transfers

Representative Tanner questioned transfers he characterized as agencies reimbursing personnel costs to the governor's office; DFM Administrator Lori Wolf and LaHozet explained that cross-agency personnel reimbursements (a process called "10P" dating to 1999) are a longstanding administrative mechanism to allocate staff time and costs. Wolf said the state replicated the 10P process in the newer LUMA accounting system and offered to provide role-by-role time and reimbursement detail where available.

Emergency fund history and uses

LaHozet said the governor's emergency fund has been drawn down in part for reimbursements to the Idaho State Police related to the University of Idaho Moscow murder investigations and for the Esto Perpetua (Fight Fentanyl) program. He said the proposed $1.35 million transfer would restore the fund's cash balance to match the $2 million base appropriation so the governor can spend to address qualifying emergencies under Idaho Code section 50-716(01).

Other questions and follow-up

Committee members requested itemized hardware/ITS replacement lists for the $45,000 request, details on travel and charter expenses, and payroll-account reimbursements shown in the budget. DFM and LSO staff agreed to provide the requested spreadsheets and reports to the full committee.

Ending

DFM Administrator Wolf closed by emphasizing the office's intent to be transparent and said the governor's office had not yet spent the appropriated constituent-service funds. The committee left the hearing with multiple follow-up requests for transaction-level detail; no appropriation votes were taken during the presentation.