The Case of the Shrinking Budget. The primary battleground in the Legislature this session will once again be in the Senate/House Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC). As the 2009 session drew to a close it became apparent that revenue streams were continuing to shrink. Since then, the only real change is the depth and extent of that shrinkage. Sales tax revenues in particular have been hard hit as families seek to conserve their ever shrinking wallets. Aggravating this is the continuing job loss both locally and nationally; the growing spending hold backs ordered by the Governor, while clearly required to meet our balanced budget mandate, will inevitably lead to more layoffs in the governmental sector matching those in the private sector. The bottom line is that virtually no new programs will survive in JFAC’s budget setting sessions, and many existing programs will be either reduced or curtailed. . Certain programs experience increased demand during downturns and every effort should be made to match the limited resources to those programs.  Equally important the impact on jobs should be assessed carefully.  Every effort need to be made to retain and create jobs in both the public and private sectors

 

Transportation Funding. I will be again be pushing for enactment of a Local Option Funding bill again this session.   While there is little likelihood of any city or county putting such a proposal forward in the current economic downturn, it is a good time to get the authority to do so on the books. The will enable local government to study their needs well in advance and determine whether this funding approach fits their particular project. When the economy does turn around, they will then be positioned to move forward directly with minimum delay.

 

Missing Revenues.  Currently Idaho has no real ability to collect sales tax owing to it for on-line purchases unless the vendor has a presence in Idaho as well.  Efforts have been made in the past to convince majority leadership to join a multi-state compact working to remedy this situation.  The Tax Commission estimates that some $30 million annually in tax revenues is left on the table because of this.  With every dollar, let alone 30 million of them, owing to all of us, it is no longer acceptable that we continue to ignore this situation.  Hopefully things will change this year.