JFAC debates unemployment-insurance funding; accounting correction later approved to move funds between Labor accounts
February 21, 2025 | Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, JOINT, Committees, Legislative, Idaho
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Members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee questioned Department of Labor funding and staffing for unemployment insurance operations and the department’s use of interest earnings from the unemployment-security administration account to cover operating costs.
Representative Handy, who moved the original unemployment-insurance operations motion, explained that the department uses interest earnings credited to the unemployment security administration fund to support operations and that the department had increased staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since reduced positions by attrition. Committee members asked whether prior rate increases and temporary staffing increases had actually flowed to worker wages.
An initial motion to add $7,330,000 for unemployment insurance operations and $161,000 for IT hardware was presented and drew debate; the first vote did not result in a clear committee approval. Committee members later discussed and then approved a technical transfer to correct accounting records: the committee voted to transfer and appropriate $4,868,000 from the Unemployment Security Administration and Reimbursement Fund to the Employment Security Fund to correct fiscal-year 2024 fund balances. That corrective transfer passed on a roll call recorded as 18 ayes, 0 nays.
“People are not sitting around eating bonbons just because unemployment is low right now. They are still very busy,” Representative Handy said in explanation to the committee.
Why it matters: The accounting correction restores correct fund balances for fiscal-year 2024 and clarifies where funds will be recorded going forward. The broader policy discussion about how the Department of Labor uses interest revenue and how many positions it needs to administer claims reflected legislative scrutiny of ongoing operating costs funded from dedicated accounts.
What’s next: The Department of Labor will work with the State Controller to complete fund-balance corrections and submit the required report language and follow-up information to the committee under the adopted language.
Ending: Committee members asked for follow-up reporting from the Department of Labor on position counts and fund uses; staff said the department would report back under the language the committee adopted.
Representative Handy, who moved the original unemployment-insurance operations motion, explained that the department uses interest earnings credited to the unemployment security administration fund to support operations and that the department had increased staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since reduced positions by attrition. Committee members asked whether prior rate increases and temporary staffing increases had actually flowed to worker wages.
An initial motion to add $7,330,000 for unemployment insurance operations and $161,000 for IT hardware was presented and drew debate; the first vote did not result in a clear committee approval. Committee members later discussed and then approved a technical transfer to correct accounting records: the committee voted to transfer and appropriate $4,868,000 from the Unemployment Security Administration and Reimbursement Fund to the Employment Security Fund to correct fiscal-year 2024 fund balances. That corrective transfer passed on a roll call recorded as 18 ayes, 0 nays.
“People are not sitting around eating bonbons just because unemployment is low right now. They are still very busy,” Representative Handy said in explanation to the committee.
Why it matters: The accounting correction restores correct fund balances for fiscal-year 2024 and clarifies where funds will be recorded going forward. The broader policy discussion about how the Department of Labor uses interest revenue and how many positions it needs to administer claims reflected legislative scrutiny of ongoing operating costs funded from dedicated accounts.
What’s next: The Department of Labor will work with the State Controller to complete fund-balance corrections and submit the required report language and follow-up information to the committee under the adopted language.
Ending: Committee members asked for follow-up reporting from the Department of Labor on position counts and fund uses; staff said the department would report back under the language the committee adopted.
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