Idaho
As Idaho budget debate rages, JFAC co-chair says ‘budget setting is in limbo’ – Idaho Capital Sun
As legislative leaders continue to debate voting procedures and rules, the Idaho Legislature’s budget committee has not yet taken the traditional step of voting on a revenue target that the entire state budget is based around.
The revenue target is important because the Idaho Constitution requires the Idaho Legislature to pass a balanced budget where expenses do not exceed revenues.
The revenue target is intended to show the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, other legislators and the public how much money is available to spend on budget requests.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC, faces other challenges aside from the lack of a revenue target. JFAC’s co-chairs, Sen. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, and Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, are implementing a series of significant changes to the budget process this year, including breaking the budgets up into different parts and altering the committee’s daily public hearing procedures.
On Friday, 12 of JFAC’s 20 members rebelled against the new procedures to break up the budgets in different ways and went around Grow and Horman to write and craft their own standalone budgets that are in direct competition with Grow and Horman’s plans for separate maintenance of current operations budgets.
When asked if JFAC can continue setting budgets without knowing how much revenue is available to spend, Horman said she isn’t sure.
“I would say budget setting is in limbo,” Horman said in a telephone interview late Tuesday afternoon.
Why does the Idaho Legislature’s budget committee need a revenue target?
Normally, JFAC sets a revenue target and makes statewide budget decisions before it begins setting state budgets.
This year JFAC accepted a revenue report from the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee on Jan. 12, but has not yet acted on that report by setting a revenue target, Horman said.
“Given some of the other issues we’ve been dealing with in JFAC, that was moved,” Horman said. “It was less of a priority than resolving some of the other problems we are dealing with.”
Although JFAC has not yet set a revenue target, JFAC passed 10 omnibus budget bills on Jan. 16 that spend more than $5.1 billion in general fund money.
Since then, on Friday, JFAC also passed 14 additional state agency budgets that include millions more in general fund spending. The Department of Agriculture budget, for example, includes more than $15 million in general fund spending for fiscal year 2025.
Those new budgets JFAC passed Friday are in direct competition with the 10 omnibus budgets JFAC passed Jan. 16.
Idaho budget showdown could intensify Wednesday at the Idaho State Capitol
The situation with competing budgets could force the full Idaho House of Representatives and Idaho Senate to pick one side or the other starting as soon as Wednesday. Nine of the 10 omnibus budgets are near the top of Wednesday’s floor agendas – five in the Idaho Senate and four in the Idaho House.
The earlier omnibus budgets passed Jan. 16 lump about 100 state agencies all together between new bare-bones budgets that Grow and Horman said do not include any new spending requests and are designed to simply keep the lights on for state agencies.
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By contrast, the 14 state agencies budgets JFAC passed Friday separate the agencies out from each other, but are intended to be full standalone maintenance budgets that include fuller raises for state employees, replacement items for state agencies and more, supporters of those budgets have said.
Because the Jan. 16 and the Feb. 2 budgets are in competition, both cannot pass, and legislators will need to make a choice at some point.
“That’s where we are at an impasse right now,” Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, said in an interview Tuesday. “If that is the case, then we have to vote those down or our budgets (from Friday) could be ruled out of order.”
If the Jan. 16 omnibus budgets pass, the Feb. 2 standalone budgets could be thrown out. If that’s the case, JFAC may need to again return to those 14 budgets to consider state employee raises, new spending requests and replacement items that were not in the Jan. 16 budgets.
But if the Jan. 16 omnibus budgets fail, then those budgets will be thrown out.
How much revenue is going to be available for Idaho budgets?
The Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment’s Committee’s report recommends that a little less than $5.6 billion in revenue be available for budgeting in fiscal year 2025.
Horman said JFAC members were supposed to vote on a revenue target earlier in the year, but delayed action while legislative leaders debate JFAC’s rules and voting procedures.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little says JFAC’s budget changes could have unintended consequences
Depending on what happens in the ongoing budget showdown, JFAC may have already spent $5.1 billion against a revenue recommendation of a little less than $5.6 billion. Meanwhile, JFAC hasn’t yet considered new spending for the state’s largest budgets, the public schools budgets and the Medicaid budget.
Horman said the Idaho Legislature is not at risk of overspending its revenue.
“But the maintenance budgets (from Jan. 16) are well under those revenue targets,” Horman said. “As soon as House and Senate leadership make some decisions about JFAC operations and we get a resolution on the maintenance budgets, we will immediately put that on the agenda for consideration of what we have in the report from the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee.”
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Photo: Summer dish and salad at Graze Cafe. Video: At Graze Cafe, you can enjoy delicious food and feel good about eating it. | Jordan Wood, EastIdahoNews.com
REXBURG — The Graze Cafe in Rexburg offers fresh foods and an amazing atmosphere that will make you want to stay and graze all day!
Victoria Ramirez owns the cafe and runs the newly established location at 76 W 2nd S in Rexburg. She is helped by family and friends who make the environment warm and welcoming.
The cafe prides itself on fresh, nutrient-dense menu items, and we had the pleasure of trying a few of them!
The first dish we tried was a summer dish and salad. The salad was topped with raspberries, poppy seeds, fresh fetta cheese, pistachios and cranberries. This salad is also served with fresh sourdough bread.
“We do…fresh fruit always,” said Ramirez.
The second dish was the truffle parmesan fries, which are air-fried and topped with truffle parmesan salt. They are served with ranch that is made in-house.
“They are air-fried, so you feel healthier about eating them,” said Ramirez.
The third dish was the Caprese sandwich, which has tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil, balsamic vinaigrette and pesto.
The sandwich was very fresh and organic! In fact, “95% of everything is organic” according to Ramirez.
The last dish we tried was the seasonal sandwich. This season the sandwich has peaches on it, melted in with a specialty cheese and topped with arugula. The sandwich was inspired by a trip Ramirez took to Italy with her family.
“We always have people say ‘peaches in a sandwich, it sounds so weird’ but it is amazing,” said Ramirez.
The Graze Cafe has a brick-and-mortar location at 76 West 2nd South and a food truck nearby at 435 A Street No. 3616.
Its hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
To learn more about the cafe and the dishes it serves, check it out on Instagram.
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BOISE, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Idaho state governor, Brad Little, announced Thursday that the Idaho State Police (ISP) have agreed to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the 287(g) program to transport illegal alien criminals from Idaho, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
The program allows ICE to assign state and local law enforcement the authority to use certain immigration procedures. Procedures will be used with the direction of ICE, under a signed agreement.
“Idaho is stepping up to help the Trump administration transport dangerous illegal alien criminals to ICE facilities instead of being released back into our communities. These are people who pose the greatest danger to Idaho families. Idaho has taken many steps to increase our coordination with the Trump administration in the enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws, and I want to further strengthen our state’s partnership with President Trump to help address the national emergency posed by years of reckless border policies under the Biden-Harris administration,” Little explained.
The state will only target those who have been convicted of a crime and are finishing their sentence at local jails.
Frequently, when an illegal criminal is released from jail, ICE does not have the resources needed to transport them to a facility for deportation which leads to criminals being let back into local communities. ISP will be authorized to transport up to 100 criminals over the next 12 months to a detention facility in Jefferson County.
With more dangerous criminals, ICE is allowed to transport them to out-of-state facilities.
Copyright 2025 KMVT. All rights reserved.
MERIDIAN, Idaho — Meridian Mayor Robert Simison took to the stage Wednesday to address his community in the annual State of the City. He outlined his vision for Idaho’s second-largest city, emphasizing investment in public safety, transportation, and economic development amid the rapid growth in Meridian Neighborhoods.
“We have been taking steps to address these issues where possible, with my direction of reducing or holding our spending flat on discretionary expenses over the last several years. Yet expenses continue to grow, and the revenues aren’t able to keep up,” said Mayor Simison.
96th annual Meridian Dairy Days returns to Storey Park
Transportation remains a top concern, as the Linder Road Overpass project breaks ground, Eagle Road is expecting slower speeds in the fall, and ITD continues progress on Highway 16.
With over 4,500 new residents in 2024, Simison is looking to strengthen public safety departments. He proposed a levy for the November ballot to fund police recruitment, firefighter positions, and new in-house prosecution services.
“If we are going to attract the best talent from the start and retain the people who we have made huge investments in the Meridian Police Department, we need to increase the wages to our sworn officers,” said Mayor Simison.
The public safety levy needs to be approved by Meridian’s City Council before voters can see it on their ballot in November. Mayor Simison says the community will have the chance to weigh in on the levy’s details in the coming months.
On the economic front, Meridian reports adding over 1,800 jobs last year, with average wages rising nearly 5%. Simison also outlined a bold vision to make the city Idaho’s healthcare education hub, citing investments from Grand Canyon University and Idaho State University.
Closing his speech, Simison stressed the importance of investing in youth, businesses, and infrastructure to ensure Meridian’s continued success.
“As we look to the future, we will see the need for more transportation projects, rising costs, and shrinking revenue. We will also see growing healthcare needs, public safety challenges, legislative changes, and more. When that happens, I will say “Challenge Accepted,” said Mayor Simison.
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