Gov. Brad Little issued a rare line-item veto late Monday afternoon on a bill that would’ve removed more than $600,000 from an emergency fund his office controls.
Most publicly, Little offered up to $1 million from the fund in 2022 to backfill investigation costs related to the murder of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. The victims include Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogan and Kaylee Goncalves.
“The Governor’s Emergency Fund has been used to address serious and unexpected situations that fall outside of a formally declared state of emergency,” he wrote in his veto letter.
He ended up using $435,000 from the emergency fund on law enforcement expenses related to the case, according to Little’s communications director, Emily Callihan.
"Using the emergency fund to allocate resources to Moscow in order for a proper investigation to be done was one of the most critical pieces in bringing the defendant to justice," the Goncalves family wrote in a statement issued by their attorney.
House Bill 482 contains several items the budget writing Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee routinely compile toward the end of each legislative session.
That includes proposing to shift $652,500 from the Governor’s Emergency Fund to the General Fund.
The bill states the move “centralizes the state's emergency funds in the Office of Emergency Management in the Military Division.”
That also means Little would have less flexibility to spend the money on issues he deems to be emergencies while the legislature is out of session. Lawmakers generally meet for the first three months of the year in Boise.
“As leaders, we need the tools to be agile in responding to crises that affect our citizens,” Little wrote in a statement explaining his veto.
The governor said he’s also used the fund to pay for border missions for Idaho State Police as a way to combat fentanyl trafficking.
House Speaker Mike Moyle (R-Star) wasn't immediately available for comment Monday afternoon.
"It's fascinating that we normally think of line item veto as cutting spending, but it will have the effect of increasing the budget from what we set it at," said JFAC co-chair Wendy Horman (R-Idaho Falls).
House Bill 482 passed both the House and Senate nearly unanimously. Assistant Senate Democratic Leader James Ruchti (D-Pocatello) was the lone no vote against the legislation.
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