(Senator Tammy Nichols, January 29, 2024)
Week 3 just ended in the Idaho Legislature and things are moving fast and furious. One of the BIG topics of discussion on both the House and Senate side has to do with the budget, or how Idaho spends your money.
JFAC (Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee) is in charge of setting budgets. The way in which Idaho has done these budgets in the past has been similar to what happens in Congress at the federal level. There they run budget bills for numerous things that may be needed, but then they stuff a bunch of “fat” into the bill and if you vote to not pass it, then they try to label you as anti-something or another.
Idaho has done the same thing actually for many years which has allowed the state spending to get out of control (just like the federal government). In fact, the state’s chief budget analyst admitted that JFAC committee only reviews about 19% of the spending each year. We have been spending billions of extra dollars, your tax dollars every year!
Last year (due to two new chairman on the JFAC committee) it was decided to change this method for transparency as well as budgetary purposes. The new method was worked on all of last year, proposed to the committee and implemented, which included splitting every agency budget into 2 parts, one that keeps the lights on (base budgets) and the other that has the “fat”. This would also allow for the budget bills to be voted on in this manner.
10 base budget bills were passed ($12.1 billion) last week in JFAC along party lines, but now, it seems some Republicans don’t like this new method all of a sudden and want to go back to the old method. Where are the budget bills now? We have yet to see them hit the floor.
There has been pressure from some in Senate leadership to go back to the old way, and both JFAC chairman have been receiving a lot of pressure to do this. Why, you may ask? That is a great question. I can give you my thoughts. First, this new way allows for transparency and accountability in government, with a touch of fiscal conservatism. Some seem to have a problem with that, because since 2019, the Senate hasn’t killed one spending bill, and it’s time for that to change.
Change can be hard, but this change is for all the right reasons. More accountability, better budgeting, increased transparency, less “fat”, and more money in your wallet.
Let the legislature know that you want this new direction for budgeting in Idaho and that you support this change by emailing the legislature here.
As a co-chair of the Idaho Freedom Caucus, we steadfastly persist in our commitment to provide the people of Idaho with a government that is fiscally responsible and deserving of their trust. We work for YOU!
