Bloodhound benefit coming to Idaho?

Bring out the dogs.

A subcommittee on Tuesday recommended that a proposed rule be sent to the full House Resources and Conservation Committee that will allow hunters to use a dog to track down big game animals that have been hit.

The rule has some stipulations: Dogs must be on a leash and can only be used to locate animals within the first 72 hours after they have been hit. This applies to big game animals like deer and elk; the state already allows hunters to use dogs for pursuing mountain lions and black bears.

Democrats vote “Yes” to closed caucus meetings

The Senate and House Democrat caucus meetings are now closed to visitors, including the press and public.

The Legislature’s minority leadership announced the change today, and it is effective immediately.

Caucus meetings are a tool that political parties use to talk about legislative issues and develop political strategies.

Elliott Werk,  Senate Assistant Minority Leader, issued a statement today explaining it this way:

“If Coach Pete had opened his playbook to TCU before the Fiesta Bowl, the fake punt would have led to disaster — not victory.”

Rep. James Ruchti, House Assistant Minority Leader, followed with one of his own:

“To maximize our effectiveness in the Legislature, we must take the field with every advantage that we can muster.”

With the legislative session not even through the first quarter yet, it’s hard to predict if this strategy will result in extra touchdowns.

In case you’re wondering, the Republican caucus meetings are already closed.

Second speaker at JFAC

Cathy Holland-Smith with the Legislative Services Offices is now getting ready to address JFAC.

“We budgeted at a level last that was sustainable based on the revenues we projected,” she said.

The fiscal year 2010 — the one we’re in now — had virtually no cash balance — just $13,400 to start.

“Agencies came back with some plans of their own that were a little different,” she said.

Part of the governor’s recommendation is taking $20 million from the economic recovery reserve fund to patch the budget hold, Holland-Smith said.

The dairy research center planned for near Twin Falls won’t happen for now.  The original amount was to $10 million, is now $9.4 million that will go into the general fund instead of for the dairy center.

“The governor felt the timeing was not there to maintain that,” Holland-Smith said.

“We begin to cut the budget in 2009 before the indicators were firm first of all that the recession is coming,” Holland-Smith said.

She didn’t try to sugarcoat the state’s financial outlook.

“We’ll see 2011 will basically be using up all of the resources we have,” she said.

The budget proposal, she said, is “built on a series of assumptions and each one of these assumptions go to balance the budget.”

For example, selling the parks and recreation headquarters building would generate $5 million under the plan, but that’s not guaranteed.

“In essence there’s only a small amount of inflationary increases,” Holland-Smith said.

“You’re still in the hole about $220 million,” Sen. Dean Cameron, co-chairman of JFAC said, pointing to the estimated ending balance of $480 million in the hole the requested items, which seek far more funding than the governor’s recommendations.

The budget recommendation from Otter for fiscal year 2011 is $2.57 billion, with $218.7 million coming from one-time sources that include reserves and federal stimulus.

“It’s not a very pretty onion,” Cameron said, referring to the budget process as peeling an onion.

JFAC meeting now

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee began meeting at 8 a.m. today, starting with Wayne Hammon, the governor’s financial services director making a presentation about Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s proposal.

“They’re not looking to give government more money,” Hammon said, in describing the economy and reason for why higher taxes aren’t an option.

He’s also facing grilling by members on JFAC about Thousand Springs Park, education and other aspects of the budget.

Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, asked Hammon if the economic impact of a park’s closure — particularly Thousand Springs — was taken into consideration. Hammon deferred that question to the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation’s director, noting the agency prioritized items in the process.

“If every agency in state government had one mission, we’d have one agency,” Hammon said when asked a question about the Idaho Digital Learning Academy’s mission differing from the Idaho Education Network. IDLA is slated to lose its general state funding over the course of four years under the governor’s proposal, along with several other state entities.

Sen. Dean Cameron, co-chairman of JFAC told Hammon: “I have confidence we’ll be able to work through that together.”

90-day sessions in the future?

Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, wants to get a constitutional amendment passed that would limit the Legislature’s regular session to 90 calendar days. This comes the year after the second longest session in state history — 117 days.

Whether he’ll get it through remains to be seen: the amendment would require a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate before it would go to voters in the next general election.

Burgoyne’s reasoning: It would help legislators be able to tell their employers when they’ll be back, encouraging participation among younger Idahoans. This falls in line with the goal of a citizen Legislature, he says.

Burgoyne’s idea isn’t that unusual elsewhere in the nation.  There are 39 other states with limits already in place; Idaho is one of the 11 without any limit.

To read the full story about the issue, visit magicvalley.com on Tuesday.

Gov. Otter gives State of the State

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter gave his State of the State address today as the Legislature began.
His recommendation concerning the state budget includes:
_ A holdback in the current fiscal year of $40 million, which is 1.6 percent of the budget.
_ A budget for the next fiscal year that is based on zero growth from the last fiscal year: $2.43 billion total.
That budget proposal conservatively estimates revenue at $83.8 million less than what is forecast.
_ Continuing the expansion of the grocery tax credit, which is scheduled to continue growing at a clip of $10 a year until it reaches $100 for individuals.
_ Eliminating 400 state jobs in the next year’s budget, which includes 375 positions that are currently vacant.

More federal money?

In today’s Times-News, there’s a look at a bill that’s working its way through Congress — it passed the House and is headed to the Senate. If passed, it would pump more money into the economy, including Idaho, for teachers and other jobs. While it’s not as much money as the federal stimulus of 2009, it still raises the question of what this may mean for the state’s budget — which faces significant cuts.
To read the story, click here.

A time for budget cuts

Capitol Confidential talked this past week with legislators getting ready for the 2010 session, which begins Monday.
The news is grim: Cuts are expected for this fiscal year’s budget and more of the same is anticipated for the next fiscal year, which begins in July.
Here’s what it means for the Magic Valley: Possible funding cuts in classrooms, Medicaid benefits, and closing down Thousand Springs State Park. Lawmakers will also have to decide whether to continue expanding the grocery tax credit for residents.
You can read the whole story here.

In a separate story, we also provide an interview with Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, who faces the task this session of working with legislators and educators in a year when state revenue shortfalls will make it a challenge to keep education whole. That story is here.

Governor to announce holdbacks

In a press conference today, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said he will announce holdback details for the current fiscal year in his state of the state address Monday.
Otter declined to give a figure or percentage, saying that will come Monday.
Those holdbacks, which will require the Legislature’s approval, would be on top of tiered holdbacks ordered in September in response to declining revenues.
Otter also is open to letting school districts borrow from state reserves to buffer themselves against the cuts and then repay that in the fiscal year 2011 budget cycle, which starts in July.

Finance summit set for next week

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s Governor’s Finance Summit is set for Tuesday, Jan. 5.

The event will feature talks from members of the finance community about how to make working capital more available for Idaho businesses, according to the governor’s office.

Otter, Lt. Gov. Brad Little, Department of Commerce Director Don Dietrich and Department of Finance Director Gavin Gee will hear testimony from four panels with 19 members of the state’s finance community.

Panelists are from banks, investment groups, and from federal and state organizations that provide loans and grants to private businesses. They will have suggestions about how state government can spur Idaho’s economic growth by helping to make capital more  available.

“I heard from industry leaders at my Business Summit and again at my Innovation Summit last fall that getting the financing they need to grow, relocate or get started is a big hurdle to our economic recovery,” Otter said in a statement. “We want to hear from the people who know best how we can help get the money moving to create more career-path jobs and renewed prosperity for all of us.”  

The format will have brief presentations by panelists, then a roundtable discussion. A report, including recommendations for addressing Idaho’s capital needs, will subsequently be delivered to Otter.

The Finance Summit is part of Otter’s Project 60 initiative to grow job opportunities and increase Idaho’s gross domestic product to $60 billion.

The Finance Summit is  from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 5 at the Washington Group Plaza Theater Complex, 720 E. Park Blvd., Boise.