Idaho legislative session marked by budget conflicts, ‘medical freedom,' tax cuts

Yahoo

05-04-2025

Day after day inside Idaho's Capitol, a group of hardline conservative lawmakers calling themselves the 'Gang of 8' rejected dozens of proposed budgets this legislative session.
They told fellow lawmakers that they wanted no new government employees, no federal money and limited spending. Meanwhile, the Legislature approved $450 million worth of new tax cuts, which will come out of the state's general fund every year.
In interviews with the Idaho Statesman, several said their approach was at least partly inspired by President Donald Trump's cost-cutting actions.
'The DOGE phenomenon is sweeping across the nation,' said Sen. Joshua Kohl, R-Twin Falls, referring to the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. 'We want to be part of that in Idaho. We want to truly be a leader in the conservative movement, really slashing the growth of government.'
But the group's approach clashed with other lawmakers' desire to ensure government agencies had the funding they said they needed to perform their duties.
'I like to give the agencies what they need, within reason, and it doesn't feel to me like we were giving them their asks,' Rep. Marco Erickson, R-Idaho Falls, told the Statesman.
These diverging philosophies were a key source of disagreement this legislative session, sparking fierce debate and contributing to the extension of the legislative session past its target end date.
In a whirlwind of last-minute budget approvals, Idaho lawmakers Friday wrapped up this year's regular legislative session, three months marked by fierce debate over how to fund state agencies and departments. The adjournment date was two weeks past their goal of ending by March 21.
'Our job is to run the government and our state. So we have to pass budgets,' said Rep. Lori McCann, R-Lewiston. 'This session probably killed more budgets than I can ever remember.' She said she wished lawmakers would use 'a pocket knife instead of a chainsaw to balance the budget,' she told the Statesman.
Idaho lawmakers have long sought to keep budgets trim, but many this year invoked the idea of DOGE when rejecting budgets they deemed excessive, Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, told the Statesman. McCann attributed that in part to a growing number of far-right legislators joining the body.
Those who wanted to cut agencies' budgets expressed distrust of the funds those agencies requested through the Legislature's powerful budget-setting group, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. The committee approves budget proposals before they move to the House and Senate floors.
Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, who co-chairs the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, has said that lawmakers on JFAC have done their job of holding agencies accountable for the money. Horman on Thursday touted the work they accomplished on budgets.
'We have work that we can all be proud of,' Horman said on the floor. 'We have been able to fund essential government services while returning as much money to the taxpayer as possible.'
In the last few days of the session, lawmakers also sped through approving a controversial measure that banned businesses and schools from requiring medical interventions, including vaccines and any action taken to prevent the spread of diseases. The first version of the proposal was the only bill Little vetoed so far this year.
The bill would have converted the state's Coronavirus Stop Act into a broader 'Medical Freedom Act,' a law that prohibits businesses from requiring COVID-19 vaccines, and bans requiring medical interventions and action taken to prevent the spread of disease. Little said the bill would have forbid schools and day cares from sending contagious children home.
To override a veto, lawmakers must vote on the bill again and secure two-thirds majority support in both chambers. An attempt to do so for the 'medical freedom' bill failed in the Senate. Lawmakers then passed a new version of the bill that allows some exceptions for schools.
When asked about a potential veto of the latest bill, Assistant Majority Leader Josh Tanner, R-Eagle, told reporters in a news conference that 'I think everyone's in agreement and the issues are resolved.' Little signed the bill into law 15 minutes after it arrived on his desk.
Idaho Republicans ultimately accomplished passing several of their longstanding proposals, including the use of public funds for private school tuition, also known as school vouchers; cuts to the state's voter-approved Medicaid expansion; and the creation of a state crime for illegal entry, directing local police to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ACLU of Idaho immediately sued the state and temporarily blocked the immigration law from taking place.
They continued on the body's streak of tax cuts, which Little has called 'historic,' with a measure on property tax relief, a reduction on income tax and an increase of the state's grocery tax credit.
'We did a really good job this year,' House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, told reporters Friday. 'It was a good year for Idaho.'
Lawmakers also said they tried to address Idaho's doctor shortage. After years of the state operating under one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country, prompting an exodus of OB-GYNs, the Legislature passed a bill that would allow judges to dismiss frivolous lawsuits against medical professionals being sued for an illegal procedure. Susie Keller, CEO of the Idaho Medical Association, told the Statesman that the bill doesn't address doctors' concerns about liability.
The law, which threatens doctors with up to five years in prison and loss of their medical license, allows abortions only in cases of reported rape or incest, ectopic pregnancies, or when saving the life of the pregnant patient. The narrow exemptions have created uncertainty and anxiety among doctors about what treatment is legally allowed, and when, Keller said.
'That's a high bar,' Keller previously told the Statesman. 'What I hear our doctors say is, 'How close to death does she have to be? Has she lost 10% of her blood? Has she lost (more)?''
Last year, Idaho lawmakers decided to shake up their budgeting approach. Going forward, budget committee members decided they would separate out 'maintenance' budgets to keep agency operations intact, then consider any funding above last year's in a separate supplemental budget bill.
That approach, some told the Statesman, has created the impression that keeping budgets flat year over year is enough to keep agencies operating. For example, the members of the 'Gang of 8' have promised to reject any budget that exceeds 1% growth over baseline funding in an effort to keep government spending flat and save money.
But the additional 'enhancement' funds that agencies request are often critical, lawmakers said — such as money requested in Senate Bill 1160 to replace 60 aging vehicles in the Department of Health and Welfare.
'Those cars are eventually going to have to be replaced, and they're just going to cost more money' in the future as costs rise, said Rep. Ben Fuhriman, R-Shelley, who expressed disapproval of this and other examples of 'deferred maintenance' to keep budgets flat.
A supplemental budget for the state's Liquor Division, similarly, faced repeated pushback in part over its inclusion of shrink wrap — which the division uses to streamline packaging and prevent theft.
Items like these are 'mandatory to keep things going smoothly,' said Senate Minority Caucus Chair Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise.
There was an 'internal battle' in the Legislature when it weighed this approach to budgeting last year, Erickson said, because of concerns that it would slow the process and block funding for important government functions.
'There were several of us who said this is going to happen,' he said. 'And that's what we've seen play out.'
Idaho Democrats in a news conference said their party leaders are the ones who have stood up for Idaho values, in the face of irresponsible governing by the Republican Party. They touted standing up for health care and public schools, and in a news release criticized GOP infighting that 'brought chaos' to the budget-setting process.
'Republicans siphoned money needed for public education to subsidize private school tuition for the wealthy, they eliminated affordable housing funds, and actually managed to make our physician shortage worse, all while leaving us facing future revenue shortfalls,' Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said in the release. 'They have abandoned the values they once claimed to stand for: fiscal responsibility, local control and limited government. It is Idaho Democrats who champion these values.'