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.

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Bill Description: House Bill 482 is the end of session cash transfer. This bill does provide $200,000 from the General Fund to support the commissioning of a submarine, the USS Idaho, which some might find objectionable; however, this is outweighed by  three other major actions. First, the bill transfers roughly $37.8 million from the (closed out) Bond Levy Equalization Fund to the General Fund. Second, the bill does not transfer the approximately $59 million — recommended by the Governor —  to the Budget Stabilization Fund, maintaining the $880 million balance, which is clearly sufficient. Lastly, the bill does not transfer an additional- requested $50 million to the Public Education Stabilization Fund, which already has an estimated ending balance of $254 million.

The stabilization funds are projected to be approximately $1.29 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, nearly 22% of General Fund revenues, which are more than sufficient to protect programs funded by the General Fund. The legislature was correct in not increasing the transfers to stabilization funds.