Idaho Legislature’s budget committee conducts orientation for new members • Idaho Capital Sun

The Idaho Legislature’s new-look budget committee conducted an orientation Tuesday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise to help new members prepare for the upcoming legislative session.

Rather than debating budgets, the meeting served as a sort of orientation for the nine new legislators who will serve on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee during the 2025 legislative session.

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC for short, is a powerful legislative committee that meets daily during the legislative session to set all of the budgets for every state agency and department.

Although the committee’s two co-chairs – Sen. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, and Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, are retaining their chairmanships, there are multiple changes coming to the committee for the 2025 legislative session.

Nine of the 20 JFAC members did not serve on the committee during the 2024 legislative session, due to a combination of factors including legislators who lost re-election bids this year, and legislators who were reassigned to other committees for the upcoming legislative session.

JFAC did not consider any budget proposals or vote on any budgets Tuesday.

The 2025 legislative session kicks off Jan. 6. JFAC members plan to conduct their first meeting of the year Jan. 7.