Bill Description: Senate Bill 269 would change the sunset provision for the Idaho Launch program to June 30, 2026 and eliminate the in-demand careers fund.
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Does it create, expand, or enlarge any agency, board, program, function, or activity of government? Conversely, does it eliminate or curtail the size or scope of government?
Senate Bill 269 would move the sunset provision for the Idaho Launch program from July 1, 2029 to June 30, 2026, effectively repealing the program. Launch was created in 2023 to help promote workforce development for “in-demand careers” identified by the Idaho Workforce Development Council. To this end, it offers high school graduates a one-time grant of $8,500 to redeem at a workforce training provider, career technical program, community college, or college of their choice.
The state of Idaho already provides funding for its public colleges and universities, which is available to all eligible high school graduates for a reasonable tuition fee. Launch, however, expands the scope of the government by creating a government scholarship program. It is worth noting that funding for private higher education cannot be justified on the same grounds as school choice, which provides families with funds to attend private K-12 schools. As is often mentioned, Idaho has a constitutional mandate to fund a system of public education. School choice is an alternative method by which to achieve that same end in a way that is more cost efficient and produces better outcomes. On the other hand, Idaho has no such moral or constitutional requirement to provide high school graduates with a postsecondary education. As adults, that responsibility falls to the individual. While the state has chosen to promote the common good by establishing public colleges and universities, its obligation to fund higher education should extend no further. A young adult is by all means free to attend a private institution of higher education, but not on the taxpayers dime.
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Does it transfer a function of the private sector to the government? Examples include government ownership or control of any providers of goods or services such as the land board’s purchase of a self-storage facility, mandatory emissions testing, or pre-kindergarten. Conversely, does it eliminate a function of government or return a function of government to the private sector?
The primary motivation behind the Launch program was to facilitate “workforce development.” This task is not the proper role of government nor is it the responsibility of Idaho taxpayers. Private industry should train its own workforces, not outsource that responsibility to the government. Nor is it the proper role of the government to decide what careers are “in-demand” and artificially inflate the labor market for those career fields. That process is best left to the invisible hand of the market, which is more than competent to establish incentives to entice young professionals into understaffed industries. Senate Bill 269 eliminates the government's cronyistic intrusion into the labor market by effectively repealing the Launch program.
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Does it increase government spending (for objectionable purposes) or debt? Conversely, does it decrease government spending or debt?
Senate Bill 269 would eliminate the $80,000,000 yearly appropriation to the in-demand careers fund, thereby reducing annual spending on this program.
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