How the Business of State Spending Really Works!

Editorial by Senator Scott Herndon

Spend, Spend, Spend

We all know the United States Congress, which has the power of the federal purse, is totally out of control with their spending. It seems like we just passed $30 trillion in US National debt, yet I just checked the US national debt clock, and by the time you read this email, it may be up to $34 trillion.

It’s mind-blowing. With out-of-control spending, Congress has enslaved future generations of Americans: our children and children's children.

But what about the State of Idaho and your state senator or representative? How does state spending happen, and do we have the same problems?

The short answer is that because the State of Idaho cannot manufacture money, it has to live within its means. It can only spend what is in the state's bank accounts. Does that mean your state representatives and senator in Boise spend your money responsibly?

Well, it’s time to tell you how the business of state spending really works.

What Idaho calls "revenues" are really your taxes

Even in Idaho, we spend billions of dollars. Since I started paying attention to the state budgets just six years ago, we have doubled state spending to $14 billion annually.

And you are paying for it weekly. Did you just fill up your gas tank? You just paid Idaho 32 cents per gallon in gas tax, the 17th highest in the nation. You just went grocery shopping? You just paid Idaho $6 of sales tax on the $100 of groceries and toilet paper.

Who spends all of the money the state extracts from you?

The Idaho State Legislature. In fact, the Idaho legislature has 100% of the responsibility and authority to spend the state's tax revenues. The governor gets nothing unless the legislature gives it to him. The courts will close unless the legislature authorizes their budgets. Fish and Game? They get to spend nothing unless the legislature says yes.

Even when we get money from the Feds, the Idaho State Legislature must first authorize the spending. 

I’m on the committee where the budget process begins every year. When the media write about the committee, they call it the "powerful budget-setting committee.” It’s actually the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC). JFAC has ten representatives and ten senators, and this is where all of the state spending starts. 

Here’s how the process really works

All the state government agencies, all 180 boards, departments, and commissions, spend several weeks in January and February coming to the 20 members of the JFAC Committee with their hands out and a compelling story. They come with a plan, and their goal is to get JFAC to agree to their spending plan. JFAC writes a budget bill for each agency and sends it to the house and senate for approval.

Then, the governor must sign the bill. We do this every year, creating the entire state budget through about 110 to 150 budget bills. That's right, to spend the entire $14 billion of your money, we cut it into at least 110 pieces and then vote on every single one.

Now you’re probably hoping there is a lot of critical thinking that goes into this process and that your "conservative" fiscally responsible legislator is exercising a lot of judgment and is combing through these agency budgets with a fine-toothed comb looking for waste and excess, right?

I mean, your representatives and your senator are representing YOU. It’s ultimately your money, and we don't want to grow government too much, right?

If the government is too big, you will probably notice its intrusion into a lot of your life. In fact, if we set great budgets and kept the government responsible, maybe we could even cut your taxes! Maybe instead of paying $6 in sales taxes on that last bag of groceries from Yokes or Super 1, we could cut the sales tax to just 5%. You would keep more of your money, right?

Well, I have some bad news.

Checks and Balances

Remember, the way our system works is that each branch of government is supposed to act as a check on the other branches of government.

Out of 110 budget bills, some are probably still bad when they get to the senate or house floors, and they should be voted down and sent back to JFAC for some more work.

Even the most liberal spender of your money would probably say NO to at least one of the 110 budget bills, right? These budgets contain billions of dollars of spending; certainly, every legislator can find at least one budget bill they don't like, and they should maybe vote NO on at least one of these bills? Remember, voting NO at least once means you are still saying YES to 99.5% of the budgets that come across your desk.

Saying NO just sends it back to the committee with the request that we get this budget a little tighter or get a better explanation for a line item. It doesn't actually kill an agency, close a school, or shut down a highway project. And yet, for the past two years, NOT A SINGLE BUDGET BILL, out of 250 individual bills, has been killed on the senate floor and returned to committee. 

Not a single one.

In fact, many legislators, particularly in the senate, vote YES on Every. Single. Budget. Bill. In fact, in 2022, nine senators voted YES on every budget.

Nine senators never ONCE voted NO

Click here to see a listing of every single budget bill from 2022 and what the vote counts were. Notice that, at least in the House of Representatives, there was some real opposition. The house even killed some budgets, which caused them to go back to committee to get tightened up with more responsible spending.

This is what We The People want!

In fact, I voted in favor of some budgets and voted against some budgets.

For example, I voted for Senate Bill 1205, the Public Schools' Teacher's Division budget that included significant public school teacher pay raises. But, I voted against Senate Bill 1206, the Public School Operations budget. While I supported the $97 million pay raise for bus drivers and other classified staff in that budget, I opposed the line item of $48 million for so-called "discretionary spending.”

By voting NO, I was sending a message to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction that I was not a random “YES” man. Superintendent Critchfield knew that, in my opinion, the discretionary spending number seemed somewhat random, and my NO vote was my message to her to provide a more detailed plan for why the number was in the budget to begin with. In fact, I stated this in JFAC, and I debated the same point on the senate floor.

This is how we get a better and more responsible government. 

One more terrible thing

Special interest groups will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in the next six months against us conservative senators and representatives who sometimes say NO. These “Center-Left Special Interest PACs” want legislators who will say YES to everything they want.

Remember who is trying to wield all of the power in the Boise Swamp. The corporations and special interest groups who want to use government to enrich themselves and they will lie and attempt to deceive voters to get the "YES" men and women they want in the legislature.

Here’s one example: A new political action committee was formed In April 2022, right before the last primary election. They use the name “Idaho Liberty PAC”. 

So far, they have raised $584,000 and spent $532k against our most conservative and fiscally responsible legislators. Their donations come entirely from center-left, wealthy individuals, corporations, and other political action committees. These are NOT people like you and me.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Idaho "Liberty" PAC spent $47,500 to send a mailer against three of Idaho's most fiscally conservative senators, Chris Trakel, Brian Lenney, and Tammy Nichols. In the mailer, this center-left Idaho Liberty PAC straight-up twisted the record.

Here’s the mailer:

"Defund our police"?

They state that Chris Trakel wants to "defund the police" because he voted against Senate Bill 1211.

Senate Bill 1211 is known as a Cash Transfer Bill. Here are some things it did that Senator Trakel approved of:

1) It transferred $68.7 million to cover the summer of 2022's wildfire suppression in Idaho.

2) It transferred $550 thousand to the Peace Officer Training Fund.

3) It transferred in total $130.9 million from the general fund, which is your personal income taxes and your sales taxes, to other funds so the money could be used.

Both Senator Trakel and I opposed the bill's transfer of $15 million of your money to the Workforce Development Council in the Office of the Governor so your money could be used to train semiconductor workers who will work for Micron Technologies.

Micron is a major corporation and employer in Idaho. In fact, Micron has donated $161,600 to influence elections in Idaho. On May 11 this year, they donated $10,000 to the Friends of Brad Little PAC. They also donated $17,000 on March 15 to the Idaho Prosperity Fund, which is the PAC for the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry (IACI).

IACI just issued its May 2024 Republican Primary candidate endorsements. They endorsed 34 center-left candidates, many of whom are members of the newly formed, center-left “Main Street Caucus.” Why? 

Because corporations want "YES" men and women in the legislature who will approve budgets and policies that financially benefit their corporations, and the Main Street Caucus members have been reliable “YES” votes for them.

These corporations want to use the sword of the state, the power to tax you, to increase their profits and line their pockets.

This is politics folks—the down and dirty of it.

The Freedom Caucus will stand for you every step of the way

The Idaho Freedom Caucus members are standing for you.

With our state's financial future at stake, we are committed to prudent spending. In an environment where special interests have huge political influence, we champion the interests of Idahoans. Our dedication to efficient and accountable government is crucial for our state's future, protecting our finances and curbing unnecessary growth.

Join our cause, support us, and share this message. We stand as the guardians of Idaho's wallet, working tirelessly to ensure your money is spent wisely.

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