Bill Description: This bill would approve authority for $300 million in Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle, or GARVEE, bonds and establish a new Capacity, Safety, and Congestion Mitigation Program.

Rating: -1

Analyst’s Note: This bill would continue the dubious practice of handing authority for the debt to the Idaho Housing and Finance Association. Because IHFA is a corporate and politic independent body, the state constitution does not require a public vote on the debt. Such an arrangement, one could argue, prevents the public from having a say in the matter.

This bill also creates a new Capacity, Safety, and Congestion Mitigation Program. The purpose of this program is primarily to fund projects proposed “within counties having a population greater than one hundred seventy-five thousand (175,000)” to “mitigate capacity, safety, or congestion concerns” (Page 7, Lines 21-31).

Does it increase government spending (for objectionable purposes) or debt? Conversely, does it decrease government spending or debt? 


This bill gives the Idaho Housing and Finance Association (IHFA) the authority to issue $300 million in GARVEE bonds in order to finance new highway projects. (-1)