Idaho’s DOGE Task Force is recommending the legislature consolidate or eliminate six government entities next year.
The task force’s report to lawmakers will urge them to repeal the state code creating the Idaho Honey Commission and regional committees related to family intervention services.
Several other entities could be merged with larger agencies, like the STEM Action Center, being absorbed into the Workforce Development Council.
That move will save the state about $300,000, according to its director, Wendi Secrist.
Multiple lawmakers asked Secrist how she measures whether the program is successful in driving students to become tech workers.
“We don’t have the ability to make those direct correlations, but we absolutely believe that we are going to be able to do a better job of defining and setting metrics,” she said.
DOGE Task Force co-chair, Sen. Todd Lakey (R-Nampa), voted to consolidate the center, but said its remaining $3 million budget needs to be further justified down the line.
“This does result in some benefit, some savings and reduction in full-time employees, but I really hope there can be some additional measurables as to the effectiveness of it overall,” Lakey said.
The task force also voted to recommend restructuring the following entities:
- Idaho’s Bingo-Raffle Advisory Board would be under the Idaho Lottery Commission
- The Soil and Water Commission would be under the Idaho Department of Water Resources
- The Idaho Sheep and Goat Board would be under the Idaho Department of Agriculture
Members chose to hold off on issuing recommendations for a handful of other entities they referred to as “low-hanging fruit.”
Those included merging the state’s liquor and lottery divisions, eliminating the dormitory housing commission for community colleges and moving the Idaho Brand Board under the Department of Agriculture.
Legislators will consider the proposals when they reconvene in January.
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