Bill Description: Senate Bill 1332 would make several cash transfers from certain dedicated funds to the General Fund for FY26. It would also make one transfer for FY27. These actions were taken to deal with the budget shortfall.
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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.)?
Section 1 of this bill would transfer $45 million from the Strategic Initiatives Program Fund in FY26. This is a result of cancelled and delayed road projects.
Section 2 of the bill transfers $3,000,000 from the Idaho Opportunity Scholarship Fund in FY 26.
Section 3 of the bill transfers $33,745,000 from the Permanent Building Fund in FY 26. This is a result of canceled or delayed building projects.
Section 4 of the bill transfers $15,000,000 from the Water Pollution Control Fund in FY 26.
Section 5 of the bill transfers $10,000,000 from the In-Demand Careers Fund in FY 26. This is a transfer of mostly unused funds associated with start-up costs, among others.
Section 6 of this bill transfers $10,000,000 from the In-Demand Careers Fund in FY27.
While these transfers were made possible by cancelling projects and thereby reducing spending, these one-time transfers implicitly acknowledge the lack of structural balance in the budget. This is not a sustainable solution for the state’s budget problems.
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