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: -2
Bill Description: House Bill 676 appropriates $44,842,100 and 22.00 full-time positions to the Division of Financial Management for fiscal year 2025.
With the exception of an adjustment to the statewide change in employee compensation, this budget confirms the maintenance budget funding proposed in pending legislation, House Bill 459.
Does this budget enact powers and activities that extend beyond the proper role of government? Conversely, does this budget fulfill the proper role of government?
This budget sustains more than $41 million in spending authority for funding from the American Rescue Plan Act that is built into the base as pass through spending. These funds were added to the base budget in the 2024 fiscal year to provide support to small businesses and mortgage assistance to homeowners in response to the economic effects of the pandemic.
ARPA and the IIJA were largely partisan measures from Washington, DC, and they represented gross federal overreach and a massive surge in the national debt. These concerns were compounded by issues of state sovereignty, since the federal government is paying for new entitlement programs in Idaho on the backs of our grandchildren. This funding represents the staggering growth of Idaho’s dependence on the federal government and its reach outside of its proper role. So far, no plan has been articulated as to what will happen when these funds expire in 2026 while Idahoans are dependent on receiving this government assistance.
(-1)
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 confirms the maintenance budget for the Division of Financial Management of $44,796,300. This funding includes $41,677,100 in COVID relief funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. These funds are one time in nature. Removing these funds leaves a maintenance balance of $3,119,200. This is a 20.9% increase from the base over the last three years and higher than what would be prescribed by inflationary pressures over the same period.
(-1)
