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JFAC accepts Millennium Fund report, approves one‑time aid for youth assessment centers
Summary
The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee accepted the Millennium Fund Committee report by unanimous consent and approved one‑time funding and budget recommendations aimed at prevention, cessation and treatment programs, including emergency support for youth assessment centers.
Senators and representatives on the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Feb. 28 accepted the Millennium Fund Committee report and approved one‑time supplemental funding to shore up statewide youth assessment centers.
The Millennium Fund was established with proceeds from a tobacco settlement. “The funds that come to the Millennium Fund are from the tobacco settlement in 02/2007,” Senator Van Burtonshaw, co‑chair of the Millennium Fund Committee, told JFAC as he outlined the committee’s priorities, which he said focus on prevention, cessation and treatment for tobacco, vaping, alcohol and other substance misuse.
The committee recommended one‑time support to help 12 youth assessment centers operated through the Department of Juvenile Corrections remain open. Representative Jordan Redmond, a newly appointed committee member, said the committee recommended $2,000,000 for the Department of Education for programs including vape detectors and school resource officers and that the youth assessment funding be explicitly one time so centers pursue sustainability.
“...this is the last time, this is a one time basis, and we really need you to become sustainable in this,” Representative Jordan Redmond said, addressing the centers’ leaders during committee testimony.
The committee also recommended personnel funding for Idaho Public Television tied to committee recommendations, and appropriations drawn from opioid settlement funds to support Idaho State Police educational programs related to substance misuse. Committee members said any unspent money in the Millennium Fund should roll over so the legislature can consider additional uses in 2027.
The report was accepted by unanimous consent and will be taken up in upcoming work groups; the committee clarified items will be reflected in the work groups’ green‑sheet and omnibus language.
The committee discussion emphasized that the youth assessment center funds are intended to be one time and routed through the Department of Juvenile Corrections; committee members repeatedly pressed for centers to demonstrate plans to become self‑sustaining moving forward.
The committee did not adopt ongoing base funding for the assessment centers; instead, the committee’s action preserves the centers in the near term and asks them to develop sustainability plans for future consideration.
