JFAC has gotten snagged in an extended parliamentary dispute, after the joint committee defeated, on a 10-10 tied vote, an appropriation bill, called a "trailer bill" because it trails after the substantive legislation, to match the House-passed bill, HB 662, authorizing funding of the National Guard Youth Challenge as an alternative secondary school.

Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, said, "We've all agreed" that the program should be made available to the state's youth, by passing authorizing legislation last year, and HB 662 this year, which passed the House today. The program would start up a military school for at-risk youth; much of its funding would come from federal funds and donations, Hagedorn said, though the state would provide $600,000 next year in matching funds, and $1.2 million each year thereafter. Hagedorn asked for reconsideration, which requires a two-thirds vote. Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, noted that last year when lawmakers pushed for approval of the program late in the legislative session, "They made a promise that they would not ask for general fund dollars." He said, "This is not the way to start a program."

"I have no doubt that it would be good for that community up north," Cameron said. "But there's a lot of stuff that we can't fund." Starting a new program requiring an ongoing commitment of state funds should require coming in early in the session and making a case, he said.

Hagedorn said he wanted to make a slightly different motion, not reconsider the one that failed; committee members are now checking rules and disputing over which way to go.

Another trailer bill, to follow HB 660, the judges' retirement bill, was approved on a 19-1 vote, with just Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, dissenting.