JFAC has voted 7-13, defeating a motion from Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, to shift $10 million from a $25 million unused fund balance at the state Division for Veterans Affairs into higher education, to fund unfunded enrollment growth costs at the state's universities and community colleges. Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, said, "Our appropriation for state colleges and universities was not nearly what we would have liked to have had it be," and she called the shifting of the funds "an opportunity that would serve our young people very well." Ringo said, "Other nations ... are making investments in higher education. I think our failure to do that is not going to serve us well in the future." Jaquet said, "It's not like we're taking the entire cash balance." But the motion failed, though three Republicans joined the joint committee's four Democrats in supporting it; they were Sens. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, and Mitch Toryanski, R-Boise, and Rep. Jim Patrick, R-Twin Falls.

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