JFAC opens interim meeting

The Idaho Legislature’s joint budget committee has begun its interim meeting this morning at the Stueckle Sky Center at BSU, starting with an update from legislative budget director Cathy Holland-Smith on the state of the general fund. Overall: Not so good. The state faces a $151 million budget shortfall in the current year; Gov. Butch Otter has ordered holdbacks to make up part of that. “The Legislature will have to act on this when you come to town,” Holland-Smith noted.