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Joint finance panel sets budget rescission target, approves base reductions and several statewide funding moves
Summary
After hours of debate over whether to use across-the-board cuts or committee-picked line-item reductions, the Joint Finance Committee adopted a rescission target, set base-budget reduction guidance and approved statewide adjustments including contract inflation, cost-allocation changes, military pay alignment and cash transfers to the general fund.
The Joint Finance Corporation Committee met Feb. 6 to review the legislature’s updated “green sheet,” debate options for closing a projected shortfall and vote on a package of rescissions, base-budget guidance and statewide adjustments.
Committee leadership said the votes were intended to give the work groups a clear starting point amid volatile revenue projections and uncertainty about a pending tax-conformity bill that staff estimated could reduce receipts by about $155 million. “We’re trying to right‑size government, preserve flexibility and have long‑term balance,” the committee chair said, arguing that top-line guidance will help working groups and prevent repeated reliance on one‑time fixes.
Opponents warned that blunt, across‑the‑board rescissions would gut hard‑won, targeted savings found by committee members and damage services. “This is taking a chainsaw to the budget,” Senator Cook said, urging committee members to let work groups identify specific efficiencies rather than accept uniform percentage cuts.
After extended debate and the filing of substitute motions, the committee adopted a substitute rescission measure as recorded in the roll call (14 ayes, 6 nays). The body immediately approved a related cash‑management step to transfer $22,366,500 from the public school income fund into the general fund to reflect the committee’s decisions.
Separately, the committee considered FY2027 statewide decisions for base budgets. Co‑chairs and staff presented three options — roughly the governor’s baseline and two higher-percentage reduction alternatives — and discussed how the maintenance/enhancement work groups would implement any adopted top line. Following debate and multiple roll-call votes, the committee approved the original base-budget motion recorded on the transcript (17 ayes, 3 nays), establishing the reduction baseline that staff will use to prepare maintenance packets for the next meeting.
The panel also cleared a set of largely noncontroversial statewide adjustments that staff said are needed to keep agency operations flowing: a contract-inflation recommendation for FY2027 (totaling about $4.6 million across funds) passed unanimously; adjustments to the statewide cost-allocation plan (attorney general fees, controller and treasurer fees, risk management, administrative hearings, OITS and related indirect costs) passed unanimously; and a recommendation to align the Military Division’s pay schedule with comparable federal civil‑service rates passed unanimously.
On cash transfers, the committee approved a $45 million transfer from the Strategic Initiatives Fund to the general fund (the roll call recorded a majority in favor, 16 ayes and 4 nays) and later approved a $3 million transfer from the Idaho Opportunity Scholarship Fund (20–0). Representative Green recorded a no vote on the strategic-initiatives transfer and said she was concerned about taking money away from transportation programs and local contractors.
Staff presentations included an explanation of the green sheet mechanics and where committee members and the public can find daily updates and packet PDFs on the Legislature’s website. Keith Bybee, Division Manager for Budget and Policy Analysis, and Christopher Lahoset, a Legislative Services Office analyst, answered members’ technical questions about how the packet columns interact with the governor’s recommendation and how asterisks flag incomplete agency work.
What happens next: the adopted baselines and statewide decisions will be used to build the maintenance budget packets and to focus work-group deliberations between meetings. The committee paused remaining items for the House floor schedule and adjourned until Monday morning, when it will resume maintenance‑level votes and agency‑by‑agency review.
Representative Keith Bybee of the Division of Budget and Policy Analysis and analyst Christopher Lahoset provided the staff briefings and figures used during debate. The committee’s recorded roll-call tallies and motions are on the public record and were read into the transcript during the meeting.
