JFAC shown governor’s “keeping promises” executive budget; staff demo SharePoint and new LSO research team

BOISE — On Tuesday, Jan. 8, the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) heard a high-level briefing on Governor Brad Little’s executive budget and an orientation to new committee tools and staff supports ahead of the 2025 budget-setting session.

Laurie Wolf, administrator of the Division of Financial Management, told JFAC members the plan is “his keeping promises budget,” and said the proposal aims to preserve structural balance while directing additional money to education, transportation, wildfire response and other priorities.

The executive budget summary Wolf presented projects general fund revenue of roughly $6.2 billion in fiscal 2026, leaves an estimated $227 million ending balance after recommended transfers and sets aside $100 million the governor has held for tax relief. Wolf said the state will also transfer roughly $59 million to the budget stabilization fund and $50 million to the public education stabilization fund under her proposal.

Major proposed commitments

- Public schools: Wolf said the governor recommends $150 million for public schools, including roughly $83 million toward teacher pay and nearly $30 million for health insurance costs. The proposal also includes $50 million set aside for education choice initiatives, to be released only if lawmakers pass the required policy changes.

- Workforce training and CTE: The budget would provide $25 million for workforce training, including $15 million one-time for a block-grant program requiring private matching funds and $10 million ongoing for career and technical education (CTE) capacity.

- Transportation: Wolf said the governor recommends a $50 million appropriation for a transportation expansion and congestion mitigation fund that would support bonding for up to $800 million in high-value projects; the budget also increases strategic initiative funding by 3 percent (from about $302 million to roughly $312 million).

- Natural resources and wildfire: The proposal includes a $60 million supplemental to backfill the fire suppression account for FY2025 and $40 million ongoing in FY2026 to stabilize fire-fighting funding. Wolf said the state aims to maintain a level closer to a multi-year average — roughly $40 million per year — in that account.

- Water projects and permitting: The governor recommends $30 million ongoing to the Idaho Water Resource Board for prioritized recharge projects and signaled support for permitting reforms to speed large projects.

- Housing and health: The executive budget sets $15 million one-time for the workforce housing fund and recommends $850,000 for medical residency positions (about 18 slots) and $500,000 ongoing for a rural physician incentive program.

- Public defense: Wolf told the committee that a December Supreme Court decision and difficulties staffing contract attorneys changed the state’s cost outlook for the newly consolidated state public defense system. The governor recommended a $5.4 million supplemental in FY2025 and about $16.8 million in FY2026; Wolf said total FY2026 support for state public defense would be about $83 million while noting some funding choices require policy decisions on the revenue source.

Other priorities and fiscal stance

Wolf said the administration followed a conservative revenue forecast and emphasized bolstering reserves: after the recommended transfers the governor’s proposal would leave what Wolf described as the largest revert reserve in state history, roughly $1.4 billion (about 22 percent of the budget). She said the administration considered Moody’s guidance on reserve levels when making those decisions.

Tools and staff supports introduced

Before Wolf’s presentation, Keith Bybee, division manager for the Budget and Policy Analysis Team in the Legislative Services Office (LSO), demonstrated how JFAC members can use the committee’s SharePoint repository and the session record to access the legislative budget book, agency presentations and prior meeting video and materials. Bybee told members the preferred workflow is to download files from SharePoint to a local drive so members can annotate PDFs and avoid read-only copies.

Paul Headley, LSO deputy chief, introduced a new legislative impact review team that will support JFAC with research and evidence reviews. Headley said the team will produce work ranging from email responses to short reports and deeper research on program effectiveness; he argued that “evidence” should drive evaluation of proposed programs.

Questions from members

Members pressed Wolf on several items. Senator Carlson said he had “extreme concerns over over funding for firefighting” if the state makes the $40 million ongoing commitment without addressing related policy questions. Senator Cook asked whether the $60 million supplemental was required to pay bills already incurred; Wolf replied that the fire suppression account had been largely depleted and the supplemental would backfill FY2025 expenditures, while the $40 million is an ongoing request for FY2026.

Representative Tanner asked why the administration had left $100 million for tax relief rather than allocating a larger share to cuts; Wolf said the governor balanced reserves, ongoing operational needs and tax relief while emphasizing investments intended to prepare Idaho for continued growth.

Next steps

Wolf told members DFM and relevant agencies will detail line-item requests in coming agency presentations; she also agreed to provide a report on the state’s prior use of GEAR (Governor’s Emergency Education Relief) funds after a committee member asked for that background. The committee will follow the published hearing schedule, with JFAC meetings running most weekdays and workgroup sessions meeting separately to review budgets in detail.

Why this matters

The administration’s plan would increase ongoing commitments — especially in education, transportation and natural resources — while maintaining substantial reserves, setting the stage for a full line-by-line review in the coming weeks. JFAC will need to weigh one-time grants, ongoing program expansions and the administration’s revenue assumptions as it crafts appropriation bills for the 2025 session.

Acknowledgment

Materials and statements summarized above are drawn from presentations and exchanges in the Jan. 8 JFAC meeting, including remarks by Laurie Wolf, Keith Bybee and Paul Headley and questions from committee members.