Budget writers OK $12.6B as baseline

BOISE — Idaho’s budget writers have swiftly passed maintenance budgets for all state agencies and programs, representing all the ongoing expenditures approved by past Legislatures.

The baseline budgets — passed in packages separated into 10 categories such as general government, public safety, health and human services and economic development — totaled about $12.6 billion spent, including state and federal money.

Nearly each category passed unanimously with no discussion, a departure from the committee’s meeting the day before. The health and human services category, which totaled $5.26 billion in state and federal funding, had two no votes from Rep. Jame Petzke, R-Meridian, and Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld, R-Twin Falls.

The budgets did not include changes in employee compensation or employee health insurance benefits; the committee on Thursday failed to reach a consensus on either of those decisions as well as on a fiscal year 2026 revenue forecast from which to set the budget against, the Idaho Press reported.

Each decision had opposing motions made but neither motion garnered sufficient support from both House and Senate members on the committee to move forward.

Joint Finance and Appropriations Co-Chairperson Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, said Friday that a decision will be made on a “future date,” but said there was no plan yet for when that would be.

“There’s no sense in coming back here and doing what we did yesterday,” she told members Friday.

Horman said she and co-Chairperson Sen. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, hadn’t yet discussed with staff how they will go about making those changes. She said if a consensus can be found, it’s possible a bill for multiple agencies would be brought to the committee to vote on and then the money could be added to the maintenance budgets.

Committee leaders implemented the new process of passing maintenance and enhancement budgets separately for the first time last year. Members of the committee were skeptical, and the three Democrats initially voted against every single maintenance budget last January, the Idaho Press reported at the time.

Republican and Democratic members later introduced competing budget bills that used the traditional method of including agency baseline spending and new requests in one bill.

Arguments in the House over the new process resulted in the very narrow approval of the first maintenance budget off the floor.

This year, there were no questions or debate over the process.

The 10 maintenance budget categories — legislative branch, judicial branch, constitutional officers, public safety, general government, economic development, natural resources, State Board of Education, public school support, and health and human services — passed Friday will need to be approved by the House and Senate.

Next week, agency budget hearings regarding new requests for the upcoming fiscal year will begin and budget-setting is scheduled for next Friday, Jan. 24.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.