The Idaho legislature’s first round of budget cuts cleared a major hurdle Monday morning.
Senate Bill 1331 includes $131.3 million in cuts to state funding for the current fiscal year. That works out to chopping an extra 1% on top of Gov. Brad Little’s 3% holdbacks imposed last summer.
Supporters said the move is needed to stave off a projected revenue shortfall after legislators over the past several years have passed multiple income tax cuts.
The nonpartisan Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy found the state has forfeited $4 billion in tax revenue since 2020 due to the tax cuts.
“If we do not take this step now, we will be coming back next year with even more difficult decisions,” said Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld (R-Twin Falls), who sits on the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee.
The cuts don’t have to be permanent, said Zuiderveld.
“Hopefully, after maybe we’re done eating beans and rice for a session, we can maybe start to bring some of that back,” she said.
JFAC has occasionally passed out so-called “enhancement budgets” in recent days that restore some funding to state agencies.
Earlier Monday morning, the committee added millions of dollars back into the budget for Idaho’s community colleges, for example. Though other enhancements, like a $190,000 National Guard tuition benefit, have failed twice in committee.
The measure passed by a single vote – 18-17 – with many Republicans opposing it
Sen. Treg Bernt (R-Meridian) said JFAC should’ve been more strategic with their plan.
“It’s easy to just add 1% onto the top and call it good. However, it’s tough to take a scalpel, dig deep and figure out which budgets really need to be cut,” Bernt said.
Sen. Codi Galloway pushed back against the criticism. Galloway said taking a “very dramatic approach” is the only way to balance the budget this year.
“There’s no way that you can take a scalpel, effectively, to 100 budgets with 100 people that have to agree on that,” she said, referencing the 105 elected legislators.
Idaho has more than $1.5 billion in its rainy day accounts.
The bill now goes to the House.
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