JFAC approves spending cuts, placing higher ed on the chopping block

Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on February 6, 2026

by Kevin Richert and Ryan Suppe, IdahoEdNews.org

The Legislature’s budget committee Friday endorsed $46.3 million of additional spending cuts for the next two years, which could come largely from higher education budgets.

Several big budgets are exempt from the sweeping proposals — including K-12, which accounts for nearly half of all state spending. But with K-12, Medicaid, prisons and Idaho State Police off the table, a disproportionate share of the cuts could fall to the public colleges and universities.

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee’s proposals would further carve into the budget, on top of the midyear, 3% cuts Gov. Brad Little ordered in August. Like JFAC, Little shielded K-12 from his cuts; he also imposed his cuts on higher education.

Eagle Republican Rep. Josh Tanner, JFAC’s House co-chair, conceded the committee will face “a lot of hard decisions,” with several large budgets insulated from the cuts. But JFAC leaders say they are trying to put some cushion into the 2026 and 2027 budgets, while Republican lawmakers race to immediately adopt the tax cuts in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

“We’re trying to be very measured here,” said Sen. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, JFAC’s Senate co-chair. “It’s a slight tweak to what the governor has already done.”

JFAC’s proposed tweaks work this way:

For the current budget year, which ends June 30, JFAC wants to go along with Little’s 3% cut, and slice another $15.3 million off the budget.

For 2026-27, JFAC would fold Little’s 3% cuts into the budget base, as he called for in September. JFAC would put an additional 2% of cuts into the base, or close to $31 million.

Sen. Kevin Cook argued against the across-the-board approach.

“Months ago, this committee knew that we had a revenue shortfall,” said Cook, R-Idaho Falls, noting that he and fellow budget-writers have spent that time looking for thoughtful spending cuts. “We’re about to lay aside everything we have done. … It is taking a chainsaw to the budget.”

Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said the 2025 Legislature put itself in a bind by approving $453 million in tax cuts and credits, which could force JFAC to undo some of the programs the state has created in recent years. “I just wish we would have made those hard decisions last year.”

Rep. Rod Furniss chided Grow and Tanner for ordering state agencies to spell out their plans for possible 1% and 2% cuts — in letters last week, which went out without JFAC members’ knowledge. “This committee wasn’t advised of that.”

But Furniss, R-Rigby, voted in favor of the proposed budget cuts.

Higher education has the most to lose from the proposed cuts — and it would be out of whack with state higher ed funding.

As things now stand, JFAC’s proposals would cut $13.5 million from the state’s two- and four-year colleges and universities, or nearly 30% of the cuts. Higher education receives 8% of the state general fund.

But it’s unclear whether things will look the same at the end of the legislative session.

JFAC will be able to write up — and propose to the full Legislature — “enhancement” budget bills. These bills would allow committee members to add money back into agency budgets, or make additional budget cuts. Most of that work will be done by JFAC “working groups,” which meet behind closed doors to work on budget legislation.

The cuts passed Friday do not usurp this process, and will not keep JFAC members from making specific spending decisions, Tanner said. Instead, he said, it gives the groups “a fighting chance” to do this job.

“We’re not trying to take anything away from any working group,” he said. “Nor should we.”

From here, a flurry of budget bills will come out of JFAC, and go to the House and Senate floors:

• A “2026 Idaho Budget Rescission Act,” a bill to finalize this year’s cuts, could be the first bill out of committee.
• JFAC is expected to work next week on so-called “maintenance” budgets — a battery of spending bills that would roll this year’s spending into the next year. K-12 and higher education are usually covered in separate maintenance budgets.
• After that would come any enhancement budget bills. But JFAC isn’t required to write an enhancement spending bill for any agency, and the Legislature isn’t obligated to pass such a bill. If that happens, the spending cuts JFAC passed Friday could basically go into effect intact.

Trump tax conformity bill heads to governor

A bill to immediately conform to most tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is heading to the governor’s desk — with a veto-proof majority. 

The Senate approved House Bill 559 nearly along party lines Friday. The fast-tracked legislation would make President Donald Trump’s tax cuts retroactive to the 2025 tax year. This would cost the state an estimated $155 million for this budget year, which ends June 30. The cost could rise to $175 million next year.

“There’s some unknowns here, because this is new,” said sponsoring Sen. Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg.

Republican Gov. Brad Little proposed implementing the federal changes in 2026. But HB 559 easily cleared the House and Senate, garnering support from all GOP lawmakers but one. 

Sen. Jim Guthrie argued Friday that the bill should go further, fully conforming to the tax changes and avoiding tax filing headaches for corporations and the State Tax Commission. HB 559 would only partially adopt federal changes to research and experimental (R&E) expenditures, and some businesses withheld taxes assuming the state would fully conform.

“We should rip the Band-Aid off now,” said Guthrie, R-McCammon. 

All other Republican senators supported the bill. 

“This conformity bill is about providing relief to Idahoans, working-class Idahoans,” said Sen. Joshua Kohl, R-Twin Falls. 

Democrats, meanwhile, took a rare step in opposition. They demanded a “minority report” be published in the Senate journal.

The report, from Sens. Ali Rabe of Boise and Ron Taylor of Hailey, is a formal dissent from the Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee’s decision to advance HB 559. The letter argues that the state doesn’t have enough revenue to absorb the federal tax changes without cutting services and employees.

“House Bill 559 compounds the detrimental fiscal impact of earlier policy choices, cutting revenue too deeply without a clear plan to stabilize revenues or protect essential services,” Rabe and Taylor wrote. 

Little will have five days (excluding Sunday) to sign the bill, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.