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Treasurer programs: LGIP, bond fund, idle pool and Millennium endowment; interest reporting available to committee
Summary
Legislative analysts reviewed the State Treasurer’s investment programs — Local Government Investment Pool, Diversified Bond Fund, idle pool and Millennium Permanent Endowment Fund — and confirmed reporting on interest earnings is available on SharePoint.
The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee heard a summary of the investment programs run by the Idaho State Treasurer and where earnings from invested public funds are reported.
Christopher Lahoset, a budget analyst with the Legislative Services Office, summarized four treasurer programs: the Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP) for city and county cash management, the Diversified Bond Fund (DBF) for longer‑horizon agency investments, the state’s idle pool that manages day‑to‑day cash and the Millennium Permanent Endowment Fund (MPEF) that holds MSA tobacco‑settlement dollars.
Lahoset said the LGIP focuses on short‑term, high‑quality securities for local governments that need liquidity; the DBF accepts larger, longer commitments (minimum $250,000) and is benchmarked to a corporate/government and mortgage blended index; the idle pool handles the state’s daily cash flow and earned over $249 million in interest during fiscal 2024; and the Millennium fund is a long‑term endowment used for tobacco‑prevention and related programs.
Interest reporting and statutory direction
Committee members asked where interest earnings are reported and whether interest in some funds bypasses legislative appropriation. Lahoset and staff confirmed the allocation of interest earnings is determined by statute for each fund and that detailed reports showing interest by fund and agency are posted to the committee’s SharePoint; he said staff could add a document showing which funds direct interest back to the general fund and which retain interest in the originating fund.
Why it matters: higher interest rates and larger cash balances mean public funds are earning material interest; the committee asked staff to make those reports available and noted potential interest flows that bypass the general‑fund appropriation process may merit legislative review.
Next steps
Senators and representatives asked staff to place the treasurer’s interest‑by‑fund and interest‑direction detail on SharePoint, and to provide any statutory citations that determine where interest earnings are credited.
