JFAC has approved the governor's recommendation for the Fish & Game budget, with one "no" vote from Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow. The department receives no state general funds; the budget approved for next year shows a reduction of 0.9 percent. Now, the joint committee is debating the budget for the Office of Species Conservation. Sen. Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson, and Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, proposed a 5.5 percent decrease in state general funds and a 0.1 percent cut in overall funding; Reps. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, and Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, proposed a 24.4 percent cut in state general funds, cutting an additional $100,000-plus, in hopes the agency could shift federal grant funds to cover costs. Whether it can do that, however, was unclear. Vander Woude said he tried to ask the governor's Division of Financial Management about that on Friday "and they didn't get back to me," though he did  get a message this morning from over the weekend.

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