House Bill 322 – Public Utilities Commission, Appropriations FY24

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 322 appropriates $7,174,500 and 48.00 full-time positions to the Public Utilities Commission for fiscal year 2024.

Except for provisions related to the Statewide Human Resources Consolidation initiative, House Bill 322 provides a true maintenance budget for the agency with no line items, no supplemental requests, and no changes in full-time positions.

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 Public Utilities Commission at $7,231,300, demonstrating 11.1% growth in the last three years. This rate is acceptable compared to what would be prescribed by inflationary pressures and growth.

(+1)