Gov. Little OKs 4% cuts for most state agencies

BOISE — Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a sweeping budget rescission bill without much fanfare Monday evening, seemingly bringing an end to debate surrounding the budget cuts slated for this fiscal year after previously warning against cutting budgets beyond the recommendations he provided at the outset of the legislative session.

The bill’s signing codifies the 3% reductions Little recommended for most state agencies in August of last year through the executive order, deemed “The Idaho Act,” that notably excluded K-12 public schools.

It also includes reductions beyond the governor’s recommendations after the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) recommended an additional 1% across-the-board cuts. Limited exceptions to these additional reductions were made for public safety agencies, Medicaid and K-12 public schools. 

In a news release provided by the Governor’s Office, Little stated his approval of the additional cuts came after close collaboration between his office and the Legislature. 

“Idahoans expect their state government to operate efficiently and effectively, and the balanced budget we approved for the current fiscal year delivers on both fronts,” Little said in a written statement. "I appreciate my partners in the Legislature for working closely with my office to right-size state government to match the taxpayers’ means while minimizing the impact of spending reductions." 

When incorporating the funding cuts recommended by the governor and adopted by the Legislature, the total 4% reduction amounted to funding cuts of $192.7 million, including $131.3 million in general funds, $52.2 million in federal funds and the elimination of 110 full-time positions, as was previously reported by the Idaho Press. 

A series of funding restorations were approved by JFAC and the Legislature, to subtract limited amounts from JFAC’s added 1% or $15.1 million in general fund cuts. These include general fund restorations of $578,000 to the general fund and to the Idaho Department of Lands and the Idaho State Tax Commission, bringing the total general fund reductions by JFAC to $14.5 million for this fiscal year.

Though Career Technical Education saw a separate restoration of $957,600, it was added back through dedicated funding, rather than general funds, Emily Callihan, Little’s communications director, said in an emailed statement.  

Expanding on support for this bill's signing into law, the letter from the Governor’s Office highlighted a variety of funding restorations for this fiscal year that JFAC made in recent weeks. These include funds to:

• Hire seasonal firefighters and support wildfire prevention 

• Maintain certain career technical education programs in high schools

• Prevent the furloughing of parole staff and support juvenile corrections

• Support the Idaho Tax Commission in conforming to the tax cuts of the One Big Beautiful Bill

In some cases, funding for restorations was only passed by the committee after several rounds of denials from JFAC. Such was the case for seasonal firefighters and wildfire prevention funds, which had $124,900 restored for the department’s Forest and Range Fire Protection Program to bolster the first half of this year’s fire season. 

In other cases, state agencies and institutions are going without funding restorations. That's the case for Idaho’s state colleges and universities, which are on track to see reductions totaling $18.6 million across general and dedicated funds. These reductions are effectively $3.8 million more than Little’s initial recommendation for cuts.

It includes reductions of $6.8 million from Boise State University, $5.2 million from Idaho State University, $1.2 million from Lewis-Clark State College, and $5.2 million from the University of Idaho.

The governor’s signing of the rescission bill drew swift blowback from Democratic legislative leadership in what was characterized as a reversal from his past stances.

“Governor Little knows these cuts will hurt Idaho families because his own administration warned they would,” Senate Democratic Leader Melissa Wintrow said in a written statement. “He may try to downplay the damage now, but these reductions will mean fewer meals for Idaho seniors, weaker public safety, delayed services, and more costs pushed onto local governments and property taxpayers.”

“Governor Little has acknowledged for months that these deep, across-the-board cuts will cause real harm to our economy and to the quality of life of Idahoans,” House Democratic Leader Ilana Rubel said in a written statement. “Last year, he openly admitted that reckless revenue cuts would bring us to this moment, but he signed those cuts anyway. Now he is signing onto the consequences.”

Little spoke in February about the “unintended consequences” of cuts that went beyond his original recommendations, but said his role, as the executive without lawmaking authority, was to communicate the consequences of the recommended cuts.

In the case of funding for wildfire prevention and the Idaho State Tax Commission, JFAC opted to restore funding after Little’s budget administrator, Lori Wolff, cautioned the reductions slated for these services would be “cutting too deep.”