Idaho House Bill H0425

Idaho 2025 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/20/25
• Engrossed: 3/24/25
• Refer: 3/25/25
• Report Pass: 3/25/25
• Enrolled: 4/1/25
• Chaptered: 4/2/25
• Passed: 4/2/25

Caption

Relates to the appropriation to the Department of Administration for the Division of Public Works for fiscal year 2026.

Summary

House Bill 425 is the fiscal year 2026 capital outlay appropriation for the Idaho Department of Administration’s Division of Public Works. It appropriates $122,861,900 from the Permanent Building Fund for state capital projects, including statewide maintenance, alterations and repairs, ADA compliance work, facilities maintenance, and a set of named capital projects at state facilities and institutions. The bill also restores a prior deferred maintenance appropriation from H768 and authorizes the Permanent Building Fund Advisory Council to prioritize and direct the timing of construction and repairs. The measure includes administrative provisions governing how the funds may be used, including the ability to match federal or private funds, reallocate savings from one project to another funded project with council approval, and report project status to legislative budget committees. It also creates mechanisms for identifying capital projects that have not begun within four years and for returning unexpended balances from completed or long-delayed projects to be considered for new appropriation in the November 2025 budget submission. The bill takes effect July 1, 2025, under an emergency clause.

Impact

HB 425 directly affects Idaho’s Permanent Building Fund and the state’s capital project budgeting process by authorizing spending for maintenance, repairs, accessibility compliance, and specific construction projects across state agencies and institutions. It does not create new substantive regulatory law, but it does set binding conditions on how the Division of Public Works and the Permanent Building Fund Advisory Council may allocate, reallocate, report on, and repurpose capital appropriations. The bill also establishes reporting and reappropriation procedures that influence future legislative oversight and the handling of unused capital balances.

Sentiment

The voting history suggests the bill had generally favorable support, passing the House 50-20 and the Senate 25-10. The structure of the bill and the absence of committee transcript opposition indicate it was treated as a routine but important appropriations measure focused on maintenance, deferred maintenance, and capital needs. The inclusion of ADA compliance, deferred maintenance restoration, and named projects likely contributed to broad support, though the recorded no votes show that some lawmakers were not fully aligned with the spending package or its project priorities.

Contention

The main points of potential contention are the size of the appropriation, the selection of specific capital projects, and the authority given to the Permanent Building Fund Advisory Council to reallocate savings and recommend new appropriations for unused balances. Legislators concerned about spending levels, project prioritization, or executive/agency flexibility may have objected to the bill’s broad capital funding scope. The reporting and reversion provisions appear designed to address such concerns by increasing oversight and limiting long-term idle balances, but they also signal that project timing and unused funds were likely areas of legislative interest.