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Legislative counsel explains the Idaho legislature's appropriation powers and constitutional limits
Summary
Elizabeth Bowen, legislative legal counsel, told JFAC members the legislature holds plenary appropriation power under the Idaho Constitution but must follow constitutional limits and statutory procedures, including the balanced-budget requirement and item-veto rules.
Elizabeth Bowen, legislative legal counsel at the Legislative Services Office, presented a statutory and constitutional primer to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on the legislature's authority to appropriate public funds and the legal limits on that authority.
Bowen traced the authority for appropriation to the state constitution and to historic sources, and she emphasized that the legislature's appropriation act is a statute of equal standing to other laws. She told the committee that Idaho's Constitution places limits on appropriation powers, including the balanced-budget requirement and…
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