JFAC has voted 19-0 for a budget for the Division of Professional-Technical Education for next year that included a 2.2 percent cut in state general funds and a 1.7 percent cut overall, though backers of the plan acknowledged that it fails to meet federal maintenance of effort requirements for funding, and might mean future penalties for the state. "That is serious," said Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, one of several JFAC members who helped craft the budget. "We're making a conscious decision recognizing that there is a maintenance of effort problem with this budget, just as there was last year."

JFAC also approved a budget for the state Department of Agriculture that calls for a 2 percent cut in state general funds, but a 6.4 percent increase overall; that's because it draws, on a one-time basis, $900,000 for the aquatic weed program to target invasive milfoil from a federal grant, rather than taking that money from the state general fund, and also includes federal stimulus grants for noxious weed control. The budgets still need approval from both the House and Senate and the governor's signature to become law, but budget bills rarely are changed after they're set by the joint committee.