Sen. Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston, co-chair of the Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee, reported to JFAC this morning that there’s an overall positive outlook for Idaho’s economy, based on the presentations the panel heard from representatives of various sectors of the economy and from experts. “We learned that the inflation-adjusted GDP growth is still up,” Johnson said. “Net exports are leading that, consumer spending. … Inflation is rising but still tame. … Interest rates remain low. U.S. housing starts are up. If you’re in the construction business, it’s been a good year for you, in fact Idaho is leading the nation in that. Exports are always a challenge with the rising dollar, so we see some decline in that.”

Based on the overall picture, he said, the panel recommended adopting the governor’s forecast for state general revenues for the current year, fiscal year 2016, and the coming year, 2017, which calls for 4.1 percent growth this year and 4.9 percent next year.

Rep. Marc Gibbs, R-Grace, the revenue committee’s other co-chair, noted, “We did not have access to December” revenue figures when committee members made their initial projections. “So none of us were aware, including the governor, that December’s collections were off. … I think we’re all cautiously optimistic, waiting for the January numbers we’ll get in February, which will reflect the Christmas season.”

Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, co-chair of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, said, “We look forward to a good month in January as a rule, because that’s typically what we see.” With that, JFAC voted unanimously to accept the EORAC report. Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, the Senate co-chair of JFAC, noted that JFAC will determine available revenues as it sets budgets.