Idaho Finance Department requests six new examiners to fight rising cyber fraud; governor backs most of the package

BOISE — The Idaho Department of Finance told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that it is seeking six full-time positions and $816,600 from state regulatory funds to expand IT-focused examinations and investigations aimed at rising cybercrime, elder financial fraud and fintech-related threats.

The request, presented by budget analyst Noah Peterson and Director Patty Perkins, would add positions across the department’s Financial Institutions, Consumer Finance and Securities bureaus, including IT examiners, financial examiners and forensic-accounting specialists. Peterson said the request appears on the agency’s legislative budget pages as a six-FTE enhancement for fiscal 2026.

The funding request is meant to respond to “a huge increase in cybercrime,” Director Patty Perkins said during questioning, and to expand the department’s small investigation team that has been working with the Idaho State Police and prosecutors. “There is a huge increase in cybercrime,” Perkins said. She added that the department has focused on senior citizens as frequent targets and has been “following the money” with law‑enforcement partners.

Why it matters: the Department of Finance administers examinations and enforcement for state-chartered banks, non‑depository consumer finance providers and securities activities. The agency told the committee that about 77.8% of its FY2024 expenditures were personnel costs and that 99% of last year’s appropriation came from its regulatory fund. Committee members said they want tangible workload and outcome data before approving additional ongoing positions.

Specific requests and recommendation: the department’s enhancement package includes two IT-focused financial investigator positions, an IT examiner for the Financial Institutions Bureau, a financial examiner position without an IT focus, a securities‑bureau cybersecurity examiner, and a securities forensic‑accounting examiner. The Office of Information Technology Services recommended $52,600 in one‑time capital outlay for laptops and portable field monitors to support the new positions. The governor recommended all items in the package except for the two financial investigator 3 positions for the Consumer Finance Bureau.

Committee questions and follow-up: Senators on the committee pressed the department for clearer, measurable data to justify the new positions. “I would like to be able to see that … where you're at and why we are justifying having four new FTEs,” Senator Cook said, asking for baseline and follow‑up metrics the legislature could use to measure return on investment. Peterson said some supporting data (for example, FBI cybersecurity loss estimates) is not immediately available in the presentation but can be provided. Perkins agreed to provide a more detailed briefing and workload information to the committee.

Context and limitations: Peterson’s presentation summarized the Department of Finance’s three dedicated funds (state regulatory funds, the mortgage recovery fund and a securities investor‑education fund) and noted that statutory limits allow limited annual use of the mortgage recovery and securities education funds ($50,000 each). Peterson said the department has historically spent about 92.5% of its appropriation across recent fiscal years and that recent enhancements added two net FTEs in earlier years.

Next steps: committee members requested more granular data on caseload, outcomes and projected workload tied to the requested positions before final budget decisions. The governor’s recommendation—approving most but not all of the enhancement items—was noted during the hearing; legislative action on the request had not occurred by the end of the session transcript.

Perkins introduced Deputy Director Anthony Polidori at the close of her appearance and agreed to follow up with the committee on case counts, examples of recent investigations and other evidence to support the requested positions.