Joint committee approves $68.745 million in cash transfers to the general fund

A joint meeting of the Senate Finance and House Appropriations committees on Feb. 9 advanced four cash transfers totaling $68,745,000 to the state general fund.

Keith Bybee, Division Manager of Budget and Policy Analysis, presented the governor’s recommendations and the packet titled “FY 2026 and 2027 cash transfers,” saying the requests derive mainly from canceled capital projects and fund balances. “You should have a new packet, titled FY 2026 and 2027 cash transfers,” Bybee told members, and he described a governor-recommended transfer of $33,745,000 from the Permanent Building Fund to the General Fund for canceled projects.

Members pressed analysts on why projects were canceled. A committee member asked whether cancellations resulted from current revenue shortfalls; Lori Wolf, Administrator for the Division of Financial Management, said there was “a little bit of a mix,” and that some projects were halted for reasons unrelated to budget constraints — including federal housing restrictions for juvenile facilities and site setbacks that caused planned reentry-center projects to fall through. Bybee and Wolf listed the canceled projects: the Carnegie Library purchase and renovation; Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections facility additions; Idaho State Police District 2 facility construction; IDOC Connection and Intervention Station Housing; the IDOC North Idaho Reentry Center; and an ISU pedestrian crossing over the railway between ISU and INL in Idaho Falls.

The committee approved the Permanent Building Fund transfer on a roll call of 18 ayes and 2 nays; the chair announced the motion carried and would be forwarded as a due-pass recommendation.

The panel then approved two additional FY2026 transfers: $15,000,000 from the Water Pollution Control Fund to the General Fund and $10,000,000 from the In Demand Careers Fund to the General Fund. Bybee recited the statutory purposes governing the Water Pollution Control Fund when presenting that transfer (the transcript listed the fund-authority language as “section 39, 36, 33 Idaho Code” and related citations). The Water Pollution Control Fund motion passed on a roll call of 17 ayes and 3 nays; the first In Demand Careers Fund transfer passed 18 ayes and 2 nays.

Members extensively questioned the In Demand Careers Fund transfer because that fund supports grants for students. Committee members asked whether there was a waiting list of eligible students and whether transferred cash would reduce awards; analysts said much of the fund’s balance reflects returned or unclaimed awards and that, in the current accounting, available cash exceeded obligations. Senator Cook noted that returned awards are a significant source of the available cash; the senator summarized the point: “So that money comes back and it’s sitting there,” and argued the transfer language merely formalizes taking unclaimed funds.

Members later considered a late amendment to apply the same $10,000,000 transfer for FY2027 only if awards were reconciled and obligated by Dec. 31, 2026. The committee moved and passed that FY2027 transfer on a roll call of 18 ayes and 2 nays; the motion’s language conditions the appropriation on reconciliation of awards by the specified date.

All four motions were announced as passed and will be forwarded as due-pass recommendations. The committee then moved to work-group review of maintenance-bill language for FY2027.