JFAC approves technical corrections to maintenance bills, sets constitutional officers’ FTE cap at 431.9

BOISE — The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Thursday accepted a set of technical corrections to maintenance-bill language and approved a corrected full‑time‑equivalent cap for constitutional officers.

Committee staff told lawmakers the corrections fix drafting errors identified after the committee’s Jan. 17 actions and that the fixes are non‑substantive edits to clarify where funds and program transfers are authorized. Two of the edits — one affecting program‑transfer language in the public‑schools section and another correcting a cross‑reference in the health and human services language — were adopted by unanimous consent. A third correction, a numeric fix to the constitutional officers’ FTE cap, was adopted after a roll‑call vote.

The public‑schools correction adds the Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA) to the list of divisions exempted from program‑transfer limits so IDLA funds are not treated as partially in and partially out of the transferred program language. Jared Tetreault, deputy manager of the Budget Division with Legislative Services, explained the change and said it prevents an ‘‘in and out’’ result for IDLA that could otherwise block simultaneous deposits and withdrawals in accounting for the K‑12 budget.

Alex Williamson, a Legislative Services budget analyst, described a separate correction to wording that had kept Millennium Income Fund language pointing to an old appropriation location. The committee substituted language showing the funds are appropriated in section 1 of the maintenance bill; that correction also passed by unanimous consent.

A third correction fixed a typographical error in the constitutional officers’ program maintenance table. Keith Bybee, division manager for Budget Policy Analysis, told the committee the full‑time equivalent (FTE) cap should read 431.9 (not the incorrect digit that appeared in the earlier motion). Committee members moved the corrected FTE cap and approved it on a roll call. The committee recorded a unanimous vote of 20 ayes, 0 nays on the motion to cap FTE positions for constitutional officers at 431.9.

All of the accepted changes will be incorporated into the maintenance bills and reported when the package reaches the floor.

The committee clerk recorded the unanimous‑consent approvals on the two language fixes and the roll‑call passage for the FTE cap; staff will incorporate the corrected language into the packet presented to the legislature.