The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee was busily approving “trailer” appropriation bills this morning – bills that “trail” behind policy bills to add the required funding – when it ran into a hitch. Sens. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, and Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, raised questions about a trailer appropriation for HB 274, which creates a new administrator of invasive species in the governor’s office.

An earlier version sought to put the position in the Office of Species Conservation; this one would make it a policy advisor to the governor, with an emergency clause starting it up for the final three months of fiscal year 2017. The 2017 cost is $40,900; the 2018 cost is $142,700.

Bair said he wondered if the appropriation was premature. The bill passed the House 63-1, but is just being heard in committee in the Senate. “I’m not positive it’s going to pass the Senate floor,” Bair said. “I wonder.”

JFAC Co-Chair Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, said, “That’s an excellent question. This time of year, it’s always a struggle as we’re trying to close down the session.” She said JFAC’s procedure is to start the trailer appropriation bill in the House, where the bill already has passed; if the bill didn’t pass the Senate, the appropriation bill would be pulled. “However if it should pass, and leadership’s still driving for a Friday adjournment, then this saves us some time,” she said.

Mortimer said, “I believe the invasive species has been handled through the Department of Agriculture. So I’m struggling a little. … Are we duplicating efforts? I guess I haven’t paid enough attention to HB 274 yet. But I’m thinking that it should stay with the Department of Agriculture.”

Mortimer moved to hold the trailer appropriation bill at the call of the chair, but his motion failed on a 5-13 vote. JFAC Co-Chair Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, said, “I understand your concern, but we really, we do not need to hold. We have the process in place, we’ll watch this, it will be ready to follow or it will be stopped. So what you’re doing here today is putting it in place should it go forward, and then we’re ready to keep moving with it.”

HB 274 also codifies the Invasive Species Council, and specifies the duties of the Department of Agriculture and the new administrator in the governor’s office, as well as coordination efforts between state agencies. The bill has 18 legislative co-sponsors, including Keough; and stems from the work of an interim committee on invasive species.

Rep. Steve Miller, R-Fairfield, who also is a co-sponsor, said, “I think it’s really important that in terms of policy, in terms of dealing particularly interstate, we do have a governor’s office that would facilitate these agreements, these discussions, as well as trying to deal with the federal government in conjunction with other states. I think for us to really be successful with this program, we’re going to have to be dealing more with the infected waters, the boats and the vehicles that can bring these species away from those waters, than we are putting up these stations on our borders. While they are important, I think it’s important we be more proactive in dealing with these other states and other waters.”

With that, the trailer appropriation was approved on a 16-2 vote, with just Bair and Mortimer objecting.

Other trailer appropriations approved this morning included funding for a new division head within the Idaho Department of Lands for a new Oil and Gas Division, pursuant to SB 1099a; spending authority for the Idaho Department of Fish & Game for its successful “price lock” fee increase legislation for hunting and fishing licenses; and funding for two interim legislative committees, one on employee health benefits and one on commercial vehicle registration fees.

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