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: Senate Bill 1172 is an enhancement of $0 and 0.00 new full-time positions for the Department of Commerce for fiscal year 2026. This legislation appropriates a total of $204,120,200 and 48.00 full-time positions to the agency.

Does this budget incur any wasteful spending among discretionary funds, including new line items? Conversely, does this budget contain any provisions that serve to reduce spending where possible (i.e. base reductions, debt reconciliation, etc.)?

This legislation provides reappropriation authority for $166.6 million in federal funding for broadband infrastructure projects. Though it is important for the state to invest in durable infrastructure to accommodate growth, broadband is different. The federally funded initiative is designed to provide broadband infrastructure — largely in the form of fiber-optic cable — to more rural parts of the state. 

The official rationale for government spending is that connecting rural areas with fiber-optic cable carries such high costs that private companies will not find it worthwhile. But there are affordable alternatives. The market offers impressive wireless options for internet access in these areas, such as Starlink and mobile carrier service. Now, Idaho will be responsible for millions of dollars in infrastructure that could soon be obsolete. This is wasteful.

(-1)

Is the continuation or growth in ongoing spending, if any, inappropriate for the changes in circumstances, scope of the agency, or current economic environment? Conversely, is the continuation or growth in ongoing spending appropriate given any change in circumstances or economic pressures?

This legislation funds ongoing spending for the Department of Commerce at $204,120,200, growing by four-and-a-half times the base in the last three years. This rate is substantially faster than what would be prescribed by inflationary pressures and growth.

This increase is largely due to the temporary injection of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act as well as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This amounts to more than $166 million. The unspent balance of these funds must be reappropriated each year, meaning they aren’t truly ongoing funds. If we exclude these funds, the true ongoing appropriation for the agency would actually be flat over the last three years.

(0)