Idaho

Idahoans could receive state voter guides under new bill – Idaho Capital Sun

Published

2 years ago

February 17, 2024

Idahoans could receive state voter guides under new bill – Idaho Capital Sun

Idahoans could receive a state-issued voter guide for primary and general elections under a new bill headed to the Idaho Senate.

Senate Bill 1273, brought by Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, would require the Idaho secretary of state to prepare and distribute voter guides before primary and general elections. The bill would expand upon and replace a voters pamphlet already mailed to Idahoans.

Many Western states, where many new Idaho residents are often moving from, have state-issued voter guides, McGrane said.

An Idaho guide, he said, would provide crucial information to voters in need. Voters headed to the polls often know their vote for president, McGrane said. But not necessarily for races further down the ballot, he said.

“A common thing I hear from voters is they’ll request an absentee ballot not because they want to vote absentee, but they just want to get the ballot in advance so they can go do their research,” McGrane said.

Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane at the State Capitol building on January 8, 2024. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun)

The Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee voted unanimously Friday to advance the bill to the full Senate. To become law, the bill would also need to clear the full Idaho House and be reviewed by Gov. Brad Little. A similar bill McGrane sought last year passed the Idaho Senate, but did not advance in the House.

Under the bill, Idaho’s new voter guide would have “uniform information about issues, measures, and candidates to be voted on.” Candidates could also submit a photo, a statement and campaign contact information.

McGrane, answering questions, said the state does not intend to censor or change information. But he said the state would need to create policy for the guide, referencing requirements in other states for proof of endorsements or quotations.

Sen. Treg Bernt- R-Meridian, said the bill would provide consistent election information across the state. Bernt also said honest people shouldn’t worry.

“Those who are against it are those who are biased, and those who provide misinformation to voters. If you’re honest, and if you provide honest information about candidates, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about,” Bernt said.

Seventy-eight percent of Idahoans favor a state-issued voter guide, according to Boise State University’s Idaho Public Policy Survey released last month.

The bill, if approved, wouldn’t create an Idaho voters guide for this year’s primary election, scheduled for May, McGrane said. He said the first guide would be issued starting next fall.

A 2024 general election voter guide wouldn’t cost the state extra, the bill’s fiscal note estimates. The fiscal note says the guide’s distribution to 800,000 Idaho households would be funded through a $350,000 annual budget request. The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office requests funds every other year for its voter pamphlet, which the voter guide would replace and expand upon. The voter guide would only be produced every other year, agency spokesperson Chelsea Carattini told the Idaho Capital Sun.

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State-issued voter guide could have more info than other guides

Idaho has historically relied on third parties such as newspapers and the League of Women Voters for voter guides, McGrane said, but some private guides can struggle to get information from candidates. He also held up a copy of the “infamous” newspaper-like publication called The Idahoan, funded by partisan interest in 2018.

“It was portrayed as a state publication, but the editorials and descriptions of some of the officers in the Legislature were not kind. And so this is an example of where it’s being pitched to voters as neutral, when really it’s clearly not,” McGrane said.

States with different political leanings have statewide voter guides, former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson wrote in a letter to the committee. Grayson, who was also president of the National Associations of Secretaries of State, said statewide voter guides have “proven especially effective in rural Western regions” with less news coverage or active civic groups.

“Today’s fractured media landscape and polarized politics make it difficult for voters to find reliable information about elections,” Grayson wrote. “By offering the basic facts about the candidates running for office, a voter guide provides a base level of knowledge without partisan spin. For many, it’s one of the few unbiased resources available ahead of election time.”

A state-distributed Idaho voter guide would likely have a higher rate of candidates participating than the 65% participating in the League of Women Voters of Idaho guides, Kendal Shaber, who represented the organization, told the committee.

“And, if we’re lucky, increase voter turnout,” she said.

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Idaho

Idaho’s projected state budget deficit increases to $58.3 million – East Idaho News

Published

5 hours ago

November 16, 2025

Press Room

Idaho’s projected state budget deficit increases to .3 million – East Idaho News

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) – Idaho’s projected state budget deficit for the current fiscal year 2026 has increased to $58.3 million, according to the state’s latest revenue forecasts and budget documents released this week.

The projected deficit has increased from a month ago, when the state budget was projected to end the fiscal year with a $56.6 million deficit, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.

Overall, state revenues have come in below forecasts in three out of the first four months of the current fiscal year, state records show.

According to the November edition of the General Fund Budget Monitor report published by the nonpartisan Idaho Legislative Services Office on Wednesday, total state revenue collections have come in $103.1 million, or 5.8%, less than the revised forecast issued by the Idaho Division of Financial Management. In addition to revenues coming in below budget projections, cumulative revenues have also come in $59.5 million, or 3.4%, below the actual revenue collections compared to the same time period last year, according to the General Fund Budget Monitor.

When it comes to the bottom line, the state general fund is projected to end the current fiscal year 2026 on June 30 with a budget deficit of $58.3 million.

In interviews Thursday, two prominent legislators from two different political parties presented two very different assessments of the budget situation.

“It keeps me up at night,” said House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise. “I cannot underscore enough how dire the situation we are facing is.”

Rubel said 3% budget cuts ordered by Gov. Brad Little this summer are already causing harm to Idaho’s elderly, disabled and low income families. She predicted more cuts will be forthcoming, calling it “a catastrophe.”

Idaho budget committee co-chair says Idaho won’t see a budget deficit

On the other hand, Rep. Wendy Horman, an Idaho Falls Republican who co-chairs the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, said the latest monthly budget reports show Idaho’s economy is healthy. She pointed out the state has record levels of savings accounts and cash reserves and said the largest tax cuts in state history are going to provide real benefits to Idahoans.

“We’re coming off the largest tax cut in state history and individual income tax collections are still up,” Horman said.

“I am looking at the trends now, and we have one month up and three months under revenue forecasts, but the numbers are small. They are not off by hundreds of millions. By no stretch is revenue in a free fall – it isn’t.”

Horman said one revenue source – corporate income tax collections – are down by $58.3 million. That number is identical to the projected deficit of $58.3 million.

“You can explain the entire variance simply with corporate income tax numbers,” Horman said.

Idaho legislators are required to pass a balanced budget

The Idaho Constitution requires the state to have a balanced budget and prohibits the state from spending more money than the amount of revenue that is collected.

In simple terms, revenue is the amount of money the state takes in. Idaho’s largest sources of revenue are taxes, specifically individual income taxes, sales taxes and corporate income taxes.

The latest revenue report covers the first four months of the 2026 fiscal year.

“We will set a balanced budget,” Horman told the Sun on Thursday. “The constitution requires it. I am personally committed to it. And I anticipate we will leave as large of a cash balance as we can to carry over into next year to guard against unforeseen circumstances. It was a wise decision to do it last year. And it will be a wise decision to do it again next year while still maintaining the core functions of government.”

Projected budget deficit does not include impact of President Trump’s tax cuts

The projected budget deficit does not include the cost of paying for more than $100 million in supplemental funding requests the Idaho Legislature will consider in 2026. The projected deficit also does not include the cost of conforming to tax changes included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed into law this summer.

The nonprofit Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy released a report Nov. 6 estimating that conforming to the personal and corporate tax changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could reduce Idaho revenue by an additional $284.4 million.

“Idaho’s lawmakers should ensure that our state revenue is protected to provide the public services that Idahoans rely on — like our education system, roads, and public safety,” said May Roberts, policy analyst for the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy. “Idaho’s budget should not take a hit to fund corporate tax breaks that primarily benefit businesses in other states.”

Big budget decisions await Idaho Legislature in 2026

During meetings this month at the Idaho State Capitol, leaders of the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC, vowed that the Legislature will intervene to ensure the state ends the fiscal year with a balanced budget.

JFAC is a powerful legislative committee that sets all of the budgets for every state agency and department.

Horman emphasized that Idaho is not now in a budget deficit, and the deficit is a projected forecast. What matters, she said, is where the budget actually stands when the 2026 fiscal year ends.

Idaho runs on a fiscal year calendar that begins July 1 and ends June 30. That means that the current fiscal year 2026 ends June 30.

The latest budget documents released by the state cover the months of July through October, representing one-third of the full fiscal year.

The state’s projected revenue shortfalls are not limited to the current fiscal year. The gap between revenue projections and requested budget expenditures is projected to widen during the upcoming 2027 and 2028 fiscal years, according to budget documents presented to the Legislature’s budget committee earlier this month.

One budget scenario that state staffers presented to JFAC last week showed an estimated budget deficit of $555.2 million – more than half of a billion dollars – for fiscal year 2027.

Horman said that $555 million figure is just a projection and said the Idaho Legislature has never agreed to fund everything that the state agencies requested.

The revenue shortfall is occurring after the Republican-controlled Legislature reduced state revenues by more than $450 million during the 2025 legislative session to pay for tax cuts and a new education tax credit that reimburses families for nonpublic school education expenses, including tuition at private, religious schools.

“Prior budget crises we have faced were due to the housing crisis in 2008 that we had to react to,” Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said in a text message to the Idaho Capital Sun last week. “This one is a direct result of the Legislature setting a questionable revenue projection in order to do tax cuts.”

Gov. Little sounded public warnings during the 2025 legislative session about the impact of revenue reductions on the budget.

During a Feb. 25 breakfast with reporters, Little said he was not very happy about the reductions in state revenue.

“If I would have thought we could do $450 (million), I would have proposed $450 (million),” Little told reporters Feb. 25.

In contrast to the $450 million worth of revenue reductions, Little proposed $100 in tax cuts and another $50 million for private school education initiatives in his January 2025 State of the State address.

Despite his concern with the revenue reductions, Little did sign each of the tax cuts and the new private school education tax credit into law earlier this year.

The 2025 legislative session begins Jan. 12 at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise.