The Idaho Spending Index serves to provide a fiscally conservative perspective on state budgeting while providing an unbiased measurement of how Idaho lawmakers apply these values to their voting behavior on appropriations bills. Each bill is analyzed within the context of the metrics below. They receive one (+1) point for each metric that is satisfied by freedom-focused policymaking and lose one (-1) point for each instance in which the inverse is true. The sum of these points composes the score for the bill.
Analyst: Niklas Kleinworth
Rating: -1
Bill Description: House Bill 222 provides a supplemental appropriation of $1,000,000 to the University of Idaho to cover costs related to a security incident for fiscal year 2023.
Does this budget contain hidden fund transfers or supplemental expenditures that work to enact new policy or are not valid emergency expenditures? Conversely, are fund transfers only made to stabilization funds or are supplemental requests only made in the interest of resolving valid fiscal emergencies?
House Bill 222 covers security incident costs associated with the murders of four students near the University of Idaho campus last November. It was noted that these funds will be used to cover the cost of “Idaho State Police services, increased security, a safe shuttle service, counseling services, a vigil, and consulting services for media, social media, compliance, and a physical security review.”
Most of the services listed are truly unexpected and arguably necessary for the mitigation of the fallout from the incident. Based on the fiscal note presented before JFAC, it is estimated that only $260,000 would be necessary to expend during the 2023 fiscal year. However, the combined estimated cost of the physical security review and the compliance and process review is $740,000. Though neither of these expenses was expected when the budget was set for the 2023 fiscal year, it was not necessary for these internal reviews to be conducted before the new fiscal year begins on July 1, 2023.
Being that much of these expenses do not qualify as emergency expenditures, a supplemental of this size is not warranted.
(-1)
