What an argument over colleges and DEI shows about this powerful group of Idaho lawmakers

BOISE – It was four days after Idaho lawmakers planned to end the legislative session, and members of the Legislature’s powerful budget-setting committee still had budgets to consider. That morning, they debated how much money to give Idaho’s colleges and universities.

The panel of House and Senate members argued over whether to punish the universities for their DEI initiatives – diversity, equity and inclusion – or whether to reward the schools for recent actions, like refusing to compete with a volleyball team with a transgender athlete.

Eventually, the lawmakers moved forward with a compromise bill, which cut $2 million each – a smaller cut than what some wanted – from Boise State University and the University of Idaho. The group also passed “intent language” that requires the Legislative Services Office to audit the universities and colleges to make sure DEI programs don’t exist. The budget still needs approval from the House.

It was just one example of legislators’ myriad disagreements that have cost taxpayers, at times extending how long lawmakers ultimately spend at the Capitol. (Estimates for the daily cost of the legislative session range from $15,000 to $30,000, according to the Legislative Services Office.) And it’s an example of the controversial ways the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has used “intent language,” which some critics said is an overreach of the committee’s purpose: setting budgets.

The Idaho Legislature is required by law to balance the state budget every year. Without lawmakers’ approval, state agencies remain in limbo, waiting for budgets as legislators decide whether the agencies deserve the money they’re asking for. In the meantime, lawmakers can’t adjourn, leaving taxpayers with the daily cost.

Rep. Wendy Horman, an Idaho Falls Republican who co-chairs JFAC, said the committee has been using intent language to hold agencies accountable, to ask for reports that could inform funding or policy decisions, and to set “conditions, limitations and restrictions” on that money.

This year, for example, the committee approved language requiring an Idaho Commission for Libraries employee to swear by affidavit that school libraries aren’t disseminating harmful material to minors; requiring a Department of Health and Welfare report on alternatives to a youth assessment’s questions that ask about sexual orientation or gender identity; and a report from the Department of Labor on E-Verify, a software to help employers confirm that their workers are legal residents.

“We rarely used intent language in the old days,” said Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise. “It was a really big deal, like, ‘We’re directing you to do something so pay attention,’ sparingly. Now the entire budget bill is intent language.”

Some JFAC members defended the use of the language, arguing that it helps lawmakers manage budgets appropriately. Horman said “it is the job of JFAC to set fiscal policy.” The Department of Labor’s report on E-Verify, for instance, will help inform the state whether they should adopt the program and how it would impact its budget, she said.

“We are looking for greater transparency, greater accountability,” Horman told the Idaho Statesman. “Sometimes we need to use words (intent language) and numbers to improve that for taxpayers.”

Democrat criticizes ‘horrible’ intent language

Sens. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, and Ben Adams, R-Nampa, told the Statesman that the committee’s expansion into policy started last year, when the committee inserted language into budgets blocking the proposed sale of the Transportation Department’s State Street campus to developers. Horman defended the move, and told the Statesman the language was “clearly directing the use of funds.”

Gov. Brad Little ultimately let the ITD appropriations bills go into law, but expressed concern over backing out of the established sale agreement, according to previous Statesman reporting. The developers sued, but lost, because the sale had not been finalized.

Adams, who was on JFAC last year, opposed the language at the time and said it was “policy inserted into a budget,” according to meeting minutes.

“That was the Rubicon that was crossed,” Adams told the Statesman, referring to a moment of no return.

Sen. Kevin Cook, R-Idaho Falls, told the Statesman that the mandates for agencies to write reports could cause problems.

“We’re not giving agencies money for that, so I’m not sure how they’re supposed to swallow that,” said Cook, who has been on the committee for five years.

Ward-Engelking, who is on JFAC, said the committee’s use of intent language this year has been “horrible.”

“It’s a budgeting committee, it’s not a policy committee,” she said. “Or, we haven’t been in the past.”

Sen. Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree, said using more intent language through JFAC skirts the public vetting process. JFAC doesn’t hold public hearings. When other policy-focused committees can’t hold hearings on the changes, the public doesn’t have the opportunity to weigh in, she told the Statesman.

“That’s what I see that can happen, a real abuse of power,” VanOrden said.

Idaho House, Senate reject budget bills

Lawmakers had an ambitious goal to finish the legislative session by March 21. But several complications at the beginning of the session contributed to budget delays, Horman said.

Some negotiations were particularly challenging this year, Horman told the Statesman, such as one on employee compensation that held up the budgeting process for several weeks. Employee raises were baked into every state budget. Other times, budget committee members agreed on a budget, only to have it die on the House or Senate floor.

Horman celebrated on March 26 about the potential last JFAC meeting after the committee finished setting budgets. But lawmakers continued to vote down some appropriations bills, sending the group back to the drawing board.

Hours after Horman celebrated, the House killed two education budgets that would have funded routing software for student transportation, cybersecurity testing, replacement vehicles and support for a school safety tipline.

Two days later, the Senate voted 9-26 against a budget bill for the Office of Energy and Mineral Resources. The bill would have funded an additional employee to help businesses with permits, the bill’s sponsor, said Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle.

There’s also a new budget process that has affected state funding and programs. The system, which began last year, requires that JFAC first pass maintenance budgets to keep agency operations intact, then consider any funding above last year’s budget in a separate supplemental budget bill. Wages aren’t indexed for inflation in the maintenance budgets, Horman said.

Although the Legislature must set every state agency’s budget to adjourn, the committee isn’t required to consider any of the requests for new money.

JFAC decided not to provide any new funding for the state’s foster care ombudsman, which was a position created last year to help field citizen complaints, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. The office requested money to increase salaries.

Lawmakers also rejected new money for the Commission on the Arts, which would have funded arts education projects in Idaho schools, according to the Legislative Services Office.