BOISE, Idaho (AP) - House Speaker Scott Bedke said Friday the concerns he originally raised around a pilot project designed to give better cost estimates on proposed legislation have eased after seeing the results from this year’s legislative session.
In November, Bedke, R-Oakley, opposed launching a program assigning a designated legislative data analyst to review a proposal and work with various state agencies to help come up with a correct dollar amount, also known as a fiscal note inside the Statehouse. However, the 14-member legislative council pushed forward with the pilot project despite Bedke’s objections.
The program was strictly voluntary and essentially formalized a process already available to bill sponsors. Lawmakers still had access to Legislature’s data analysts for consultation even if they don’t go through the program.
Bedke, along with several other legislators, criticized creating the program last fall because he feared it would create a two-tiered system where one class of fiscal notes would be seen more credible than others.
Bedke told legislative council members during Friday’s meeting that those concerns never came to fruition. Bedke added that he’s also received support for the project from the state’s business community eager to have solid data coupled with tax-cutting bills.
Budget analysts reported that the pilot project reviewed 13 legislative proposals. Two of those were signed into law by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and another was vetoed.
“Thirteen bills isn’t a ton, but this was the first year,” Bedke said. “There’s no reason this can’t be used to review more bills in the future.”
The council has since instructed budget analysts to submit recommendations to legislative leaders later this year to improve the pilot program for the 2018 legislative session.
In 2015, legislative staffers identified 15 Legislatures comparable to Idaho and found that the majority of them required some sort of third-party agency to draft the fiscal notes. Eleven of the states went a step further and required outlining the fiscal impact on local governments; seven required reporting any long-term effects.
The Idaho Legislature introduces roughly 550 bills each year. Nearly 120 of those typically are state budget bills, where legislative budget staffers draft the fiscal notes. Another 100 of those are state agency bills, where agency staffers come up with their own fiscal note estimates.
In Idaho, bill sponsors are solely responsible for determining the financial impact of their legislation. There is no consequence if the estimated cost of a bill is wrong. The Idaho Legislature does not track if legislation estimates are accurate, so it’s unknown how many bills may have incorrectly stated their fiscal impact.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.