JFAC approves program maintenance budgets across state agencies; public schools, health & human services and major branches get maintenance funding
January 17, 2025 | Finance, SENATE, Committees, Legislative, Idaho
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The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee on Jan. 17 advanced program maintenance budgets for a broad set of state agencies and functional areas, including the legislative and judicial branches, constitutional officers, public safety, general government, economic development, natural resources, the State Board of Education, public schools and Health and Human Services.
Committee staff described the program maintenance process as setting ongoing operational budgets by starting from the FY2026 base appropriation (removing one‑time funding), adding decision units enacted earlier (notably statewide cost allocation and, where applicable, contract inflation), and then authorizing the resulting program maintenance budget. Analysts and presenters from the Legislative Services Office guided members through comparative reports for each functional area and noted where statutory transfers or exemptions are customarily included in appropriation language.
Notable presentations and procedural moves
Analyst Terry Bybee (Legislative Services) walked the committee through the statewide “program maintenance” construct and a statewide total cited during the presentation: about $12.6 billion as a working statewide program-maintenance figure. Presenters for discrete functional areas included Frances Lippitt (general government), Brooke Dupree (economic development), Janet Jessup (natural resources and State Board of Education segments), Jared Tatro (public schools), and Alex Williamson (Health and Human Services). Committee members moved and adopted the budgets in groups with recorded roll-call votes.
The State Board of Education and public schools received detailed language reviews; committee members approved both the general maintenance appropriations and multiple statutory language sections that direct distribution or allow reappropriation for dedicated funds. For public schools, members approved a packet of sections addressing professional development, the teacher career-ladder allocation (the $6,359 program element from prior sessions and its relationship to CEC adjustments), discretionary funds per support unit, health benefits language, classroom technology distributions, English proficiency grants, advanced-opportunity reporting and other programmatic set-asides and reporting requirements. Analysts flagged that some section numbers are placeholders until the bill is drafted and that a crosswalk was available in SharePoint to help members and staff reconcile sections after consolidation.
Health and Human Services
The committee also approved a realignment and program-maintenance appropriation package for Health and Human Services that reflected a department reorganization the department had submitted earlier in the process. Members authorized transfers of appropriation unit names and realigned base funding accordingly; the committee approved the program maintenance totals and a set of 24 statutory language sections tied to health and welfare appropriations. Those language sections include monthly Medicaid tracking reports, limitations on transfers out of trustee and benefit payments, reporting and use requirements for home-visitor and smoking-cessation set-asides, direction for opioid-response naloxone distribution to first responders, and other program-specific instructions. The Health and Human Services actions passed on a recorded vote (senate and house tallies recorded in the packet); two members changed votes or recorded nays on some items as the motions moved through final tallies.
Unanimity and limited dissent
Most program-maintenance votes in the meeting passed unanimously by roll call (the transcript records multiple 20‑0 votes — 20 ayes, 0 nays — for many functional-area votes). There were a few recorded exceptions later in the meeting: one senator changed an aye vote to a nay during the Health and Human Services package, and one representative indicated a planned no vote on a technical realignment earlier in the day because of concerns about fully understanding the scale of FTP and line‑item realignments.
Why it matters: program maintenance budgets set the baseline level of operations that agencies carry forward. They establish how much funding is available for personnel, contracts, transfers and programs in FY2026 before the Legislature considers enhancements, policy changes or compensation items such as a classified/administrative compensation decision (CEC). The committee also left unresolved a CEC (compensation) decision and health‑insurance number it had not reached consensus on; committee leadership said those items will be addressed at a later date.
What passed: votes at a glance (selected items)
- Legislative branch program maintenance: program maintenance total $12,546,100; vote 20‑0 (House & Senate combined), passed. Motion moved by Representative Miller.
- Judicial branch program maintenance: program maintenance total reported as $96,696,300 (after statewide cost allocation); vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Senator Carlson.
- Constitutional officers (six offices): total maintenance reported at $73,630,300; vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Representative Tanner.
- Public safety program maintenance: total base approx. $525,859,000 (program maintenance adjustments shown on packet); vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Senator Wintrow.
- General government: total program maintenance $479,688,000; vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Representative Miller.
- Economic development functional area: program maintenance total $1,380,100,600; vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Senator Woodward.
- Natural resources: program maintenance total $513,855,000; vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Representative Manwaring.
- State Board of Education: program maintenance total $999,940,000 (rounded in packet); vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Senator Ward Engleking.
- Public schools (public school support): program maintenance total $3,166,900,700; vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Representative Miller.
- Health and Human Services: program maintenance total reflected larger federal participation (see packet); final recorded total and FTP cap set in roll call, motion passed with recorded yeas and nays (final combined tally recorded as 17 ayes, 2 nays, 1 absent on the first large motion and subsequent language votes recorded separately). Motion moved by Representative Tanner.
Next steps and unresolved items
Committee leadership said the compensation element (CEC) and health‑insurance assumptions were not settled and will be taken up later; options include a multi‑agency bill or an agency‑specific adjustment once members reach agreement. Staff will draft the appropriation bills for actions taken today and return draft bills to the committee for a brief review session before final introduction.
(Documentation: roll-call tallies and analysts’ presentations in JFAC packet; committee motions and recorded votes, Jan. 17.)
Committee staff described the program maintenance process as setting ongoing operational budgets by starting from the FY2026 base appropriation (removing one‑time funding), adding decision units enacted earlier (notably statewide cost allocation and, where applicable, contract inflation), and then authorizing the resulting program maintenance budget. Analysts and presenters from the Legislative Services Office guided members through comparative reports for each functional area and noted where statutory transfers or exemptions are customarily included in appropriation language.
Notable presentations and procedural moves
Analyst Terry Bybee (Legislative Services) walked the committee through the statewide “program maintenance” construct and a statewide total cited during the presentation: about $12.6 billion as a working statewide program-maintenance figure. Presenters for discrete functional areas included Frances Lippitt (general government), Brooke Dupree (economic development), Janet Jessup (natural resources and State Board of Education segments), Jared Tatro (public schools), and Alex Williamson (Health and Human Services). Committee members moved and adopted the budgets in groups with recorded roll-call votes.
The State Board of Education and public schools received detailed language reviews; committee members approved both the general maintenance appropriations and multiple statutory language sections that direct distribution or allow reappropriation for dedicated funds. For public schools, members approved a packet of sections addressing professional development, the teacher career-ladder allocation (the $6,359 program element from prior sessions and its relationship to CEC adjustments), discretionary funds per support unit, health benefits language, classroom technology distributions, English proficiency grants, advanced-opportunity reporting and other programmatic set-asides and reporting requirements. Analysts flagged that some section numbers are placeholders until the bill is drafted and that a crosswalk was available in SharePoint to help members and staff reconcile sections after consolidation.
Health and Human Services
The committee also approved a realignment and program-maintenance appropriation package for Health and Human Services that reflected a department reorganization the department had submitted earlier in the process. Members authorized transfers of appropriation unit names and realigned base funding accordingly; the committee approved the program maintenance totals and a set of 24 statutory language sections tied to health and welfare appropriations. Those language sections include monthly Medicaid tracking reports, limitations on transfers out of trustee and benefit payments, reporting and use requirements for home-visitor and smoking-cessation set-asides, direction for opioid-response naloxone distribution to first responders, and other program-specific instructions. The Health and Human Services actions passed on a recorded vote (senate and house tallies recorded in the packet); two members changed votes or recorded nays on some items as the motions moved through final tallies.
Unanimity and limited dissent
Most program-maintenance votes in the meeting passed unanimously by roll call (the transcript records multiple 20‑0 votes — 20 ayes, 0 nays — for many functional-area votes). There were a few recorded exceptions later in the meeting: one senator changed an aye vote to a nay during the Health and Human Services package, and one representative indicated a planned no vote on a technical realignment earlier in the day because of concerns about fully understanding the scale of FTP and line‑item realignments.
Why it matters: program maintenance budgets set the baseline level of operations that agencies carry forward. They establish how much funding is available for personnel, contracts, transfers and programs in FY2026 before the Legislature considers enhancements, policy changes or compensation items such as a classified/administrative compensation decision (CEC). The committee also left unresolved a CEC (compensation) decision and health‑insurance number it had not reached consensus on; committee leadership said those items will be addressed at a later date.
What passed: votes at a glance (selected items)
- Legislative branch program maintenance: program maintenance total $12,546,100; vote 20‑0 (House & Senate combined), passed. Motion moved by Representative Miller.
- Judicial branch program maintenance: program maintenance total reported as $96,696,300 (after statewide cost allocation); vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Senator Carlson.
- Constitutional officers (six offices): total maintenance reported at $73,630,300; vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Representative Tanner.
- Public safety program maintenance: total base approx. $525,859,000 (program maintenance adjustments shown on packet); vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Senator Wintrow.
- General government: total program maintenance $479,688,000; vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Representative Miller.
- Economic development functional area: program maintenance total $1,380,100,600; vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Senator Woodward.
- Natural resources: program maintenance total $513,855,000; vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Representative Manwaring.
- State Board of Education: program maintenance total $999,940,000 (rounded in packet); vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Senator Ward Engleking.
- Public schools (public school support): program maintenance total $3,166,900,700; vote 20‑0, passed. Motion moved by Representative Miller.
- Health and Human Services: program maintenance total reflected larger federal participation (see packet); final recorded total and FTP cap set in roll call, motion passed with recorded yeas and nays (final combined tally recorded as 17 ayes, 2 nays, 1 absent on the first large motion and subsequent language votes recorded separately). Motion moved by Representative Tanner.
Next steps and unresolved items
Committee leadership said the compensation element (CEC) and health‑insurance assumptions were not settled and will be taken up later; options include a multi‑agency bill or an agency‑specific adjustment once members reach agreement. Staff will draft the appropriation bills for actions taken today and return draft bills to the committee for a brief review session before final introduction.
(Documentation: roll-call tallies and analysts’ presentations in JFAC packet; committee motions and recorded votes, Jan. 17.)
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