JFAC approves $177.4 million CEC package, technical maintenance corrections and an FTP cap

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Feb. 6 approved a compensation and employment cost (CEC) package and several technical corrections to maintenance bills, and set a cap on constitutional officers' full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions.

Representative Miller moved the main CEC motion, which the committee recorded in detail: “I move fiscal year 2026 to provide $84,411,100 for a dollar 55 per hour per employee for permanent employees of state agencies and institutions. Include $2,305,700 for community colleges. Include $6,042,800 for salary schedule adjustments for those at the minimum of the pay grade. Additional funding for Idaho military division to maintain parity with federal military compensation, an additional 4.5% for IT engineering workers, additional funding for ISP troopers, and additional funding for nursing and health care workers to receive a dollar 55 or 3%, whichever is greater. And include $84,669,500 for public schools, and Idaho Bureau of Education Services for the Deaf and the Blind.” The motion listed funding sources and a total: $128,350,490 from the general fund, $34,266,900 from dedicated funds and $14,807,300 from federal funds, for a combined total of $177,429,100.

Committee language attached to the motion directs pay increases between $1.05 and $1.55 per hour except where statute or specified conditions apply; it requires agencies to use existing resources for any increases above $1.55 and to report such changes to the Legislature. The language also prohibits transferring newly provided pay funding to non-personnel categories and requires monthly reporting by the Division of Human Resources and the Office of the State Comptroller on pay changes.

The motion drew both support and opposition in floor debate. Senator Ward Engle King and Senator Wintrow said the package did not adequately address higher-pay salary compression and long-term retention concerns, particularly for employees with pay above about $64,000, and they voted against the motion. Senator Cook and Senator Woodward expressed support while noting the plan's limitations: Cook warned that a flat minimum raise could limit managers' ability to reward only top performers, while Woodward said the approach risked creating “use it or lose it” dynamics but would support moving the budget forward.

The committee recorded the final recommendation as carrying a due-pass recommendation to the floor. The roll call showed the Senate vote 8 ayes, 2 nays; the House vote was recorded as unanimous on the record for the contingency that produced a combined committee result of 18 ayes and 2 nays, and the motion was accepted.

Earlier in the meeting the committee approved several technical corrections to maintenance bills by unanimous consent. Legislative staff identified four edits stemming from the committee’s January decisions: two language corrections in the public schools budget (including adding the Idaho Digital Learning Academy to program-transfer exemption language), one correction in the Health and Human Services language (updating a reference to where Millennium Income Fund monies are appropriated), and a numeric correction to the FTE cap in the constitutional officers’ program maintenance table. That FTE cap motion was moved and carried on a roll call setting the cap at 431.9 full-time-equivalent positions.

All three maintenance corrections were enacted either by unanimous consent or standard motion and roll call as required; committee clerks recorded the outcomes and will include the corrected language in the maintenance bill packages sent to the floor.