Committee signs off on technical corrections to maintenance bills; adds Idaho Digital Learning Academy to public schools language and fixes FTE cap typo

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee approved three technical corrections to maintenance-bill language on Feb. 6, fixing drafting errors the committee identified after its January actions.

Correction summary: Committee staff said staff identified four technical corrections overall; three were brought forward at this meeting. The corrections covered program-transfer language in the public schools budget (adding the Idaho Digital Learning Academy to a list of divisions eligible for program-transfer exemptions), an appropriation-section reference in the health and human services language (moving Millennium Income Fund language to the correct maintenance-bill section), and a numeric typing error in the constitutional officers’ full-time-equivalent (FTE) cap in the program maintenance table.

Committee actions and votes: The public-schools and Health & Human Services language corrections were approved by unanimous consent after staff described the changes. The FTE cap correction required a formal motion and a roll-call vote because the item changed an FTE cap figure in the motion text. The committee voted to cap full-time-equivalent positions for the constitutional officers at 431.9; the roll call recorded a total of 20 ayes, 0 nays. Committee staff said the rollover of the corrected items will be reflected in the committees’ maintenance bill package that moves to the floor.

Why it matters: Committee staff said the public-schools correction was necessary because Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA) had become a separate division and needed to be included in the program-transfer exemption language to avoid creating a scenario that would permit simultaneous deposits and withdrawals. The health-and-human-services correction corrected an internal reference so funds tied to the Millennium Income Fund are described in the correct maintenance-bill section.

Process notes: For the two unanimous-consent corrections, staff asked members if there were objections; none were heard. For the FTE-cap correction, the cochair read the corrected motion and the committee approved it by roll-call. Committee minutes show the motion carried and will be included in the committee’s due-pass recommendation to the floor.

Ending: Committee staff said they will incorporate these corrections into the program maintenance budgets and the maintenance-bill package sent to the full Legislature.