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: 0

Bill Description: House Bill 277 appropriates $872,600 and 4.00 full-time positions to the Endowment Fund Investment Board for fiscal year 2024.

According to the Legislative Budget Book, “the Endowment Fund Investment Board manages Idaho’s land grant endowment funds, the State Insurance Fund, and other monies required by law.” Except for the statewide human resources consolidation initiative, this is a true maintenance of the operations budget, featuring no line items or supplementals. There are also no changes in the number of full-time positions within the agency.

Is the maintenance budget inappropriate for the needs of the state, the size of the agency, or the inflationary environment of the economy? Conversely, is the maintenance budget appropriate given the needs of the state and economic pressures?

This legislation sets the maintenance budget for the Endowment Fund Investment Board at $866,900, growing from the base by 15.4% in the last three years. This rate is approximately equal to the rate of inflation over the same period.

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