BOISE, Idaho – As the Idaho Legislature kicks off for 2026, Local News 8 is interviewing the Idaho Democratic and Republican Party Chairs about their top priorities this session.

Idaho Democratic Party Chair Lauren Necochea outlined some of the Democrat party’s goals and reacted to Governor Brad Little’s State of the State address in an interview on Friday.

“Idaho Democrats are very concerned about what we’re seeing happen with the budget and the expressed priorities,” she said. “There is a big hole in our budget because of deep revenue cuts that were made last year. And instead of, you know, patching those holes, it seems that the Republicans supermajority seems to want to roll ahead with a budget that cuts critical services.”

She cited $450 million of “permanent revenue cuts” passed in 2025 by the Republican supermajority.

“This includes a $50 million voucher scheme that is going to send dollars out the door with zero accountability to subsidize tuition at private, religious, and for-profit schools,” Necochea said. “At the same time that we have a $100 million funding gap for special education in your local neighborhood school. So it’s just not affordable.”

Necochea also listed recently discarded mental health treatment programs and cuts to therapy for children with disabilities among her chief concerns.

“These are just really crucial things that are not really optional if we’re going to have a society where everyone has a chance to succeed,” she said.

Necochea said Democrats are gearing up for a major battle to protect Medicaid expansion in the state.

“Medicaid expansion is the best investment in our budget because we put in $1 and then we get to draw down at $9, and that means we get to cover 90,000 people in Idaho who face low wages but don’t have jobs that offer health coverage,” she said.

The Idaho Democratic Chair said her party is fighting to bring down the cost of living.

“We want families who put in the work to be able to pay their utility bills, put a roof over their head and make sure their neighborhood school is strong, and it’s going to make sure that their kids are going to be set up to do the same for the next generation,” she said.

Local News 8 will continue our coverage of the 2026 Legislative session.

We are reaching out to hear from Idaho Republican Party Chair Dorothy Moon next week.

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — The Idaho Legislature’s powerful budget committee did not vote on adopting revenue projections for the state budget on Friday as originally planned. 

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC for short, was originally scheduled to take up a report from the Idaho Legislature’s Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee on Friday.

On Thursday, the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee voted to recommend a revenue projection of $5.8 billion for next year, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. Notably, that revenue target is about $137 million more than the revenue projection Gov. Brad Little issued Monday in conjunction with his State of the State address. 

But rather than take action on the revenue committee’s recommendation on Friday, without any public explanation, JFAC leaders started Friday’s meeting about 20 minutes late, pulled back their agenda for the day and removed the agenda item for the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee’s report. 

Why is setting a revenue projection important for state budgeting?

Setting a revenue projection is an important and closely watched step in setting the overall state budget because the Idaho Constitution requires the state to pass a balanced budget where expenses do not exceed revenue. In that regard, the revenue projection serves as the upper limit for what can be spent each year in the state budget. 

The revenue projection is taking on increased importance this year because Idaho has experienced revenue shortfalls, and both the fiscal year 2026 state budget and fiscal year 2027 budget are projected to run a deficit. 

Little and legislators have vowed to avoid a budget shortfall by cutting spending during the 2026 legislative session. 

After Friday’s meeting adjourned, Sen. Scott Grow and Rep. Josh Tanner, both R-Eagle, said they wanted to give JFAC members more time to study the revenue recommendation and plan to consider the revenue projection on Monday now.

Last year, some legislators from both political parties criticized JFAC for delaying action on a revenue projection until March 5 – 59 days into the annual legislative session. Last year, legislators waited to set the revenue projection until after they had passed major budgets and tax cuts that reduced revenue.

“This is the wrong way to do our budgets,” Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, said last year. 

“I believe this revenue projection should have been set at the beginning of the session, and then we work towards that number in everything that we do and the spending and in the tax reductions or the tax cuts,” Ward-Engelking added. 

Last week, just before the 2026 legislative session started, Senate President Pro Tem Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, told reporters that Republican leaders were hoping to set the revenue target to base the budget around earlier in the legislative session this year. 

“We’ve decided, as majority leadership, to try to do a better job this session (by) really hitting the revenue projection early and to work better with the governor’s office to try to get to that revenue number quickly,” Anthon said Jan. 8. “We’ll see how that goes, but that is the goal.”

JFAC is scheduled to reconvene at 8 a.m. Monday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise.