Otter’s building proposals, including $35M for higher ed and a new State Hospital West, endorsed by JFAC

Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal for a $35 million higher-ed construction program next year has won unanimous approval in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. The legislative budget committee voted 20-0 in favor of a budget for the Permanent Building Fund this morning that includes the $35 million transfer from the state general fund to the building fund. A breakdown: $10 million for a Center for Materials Science at BSU; $10 million for the University of Idaho to build the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (CAFÉ) in the Magic Valley; $10 million for Lewis-Clark State College to build a Career-Technical Education building; and $5 million more to complete the remodeling of the Gale Life Sciences Building at ISU.

Other projects funded in the building budget include $16.1 million for alternation and repair projects statewide; $1.9 million for hot water and HVAC upgrades at state prisons; $2.4 million for a WWAMI building remodel at the University of Idaho; and $10.3 million for a “psychiatric hospital transformation” program that includes construction of a new 16-bed State Hospital West in the Treasure Valley, to house adolescents; and conversion of the current adolescent unit at State Hospital South in Blackfoot into a high-risk, 20-bed secure psychiatric unit for adults.

JFAC members who worked on the budget, including Sens. Fred Martin and Dean Mortimer and Reps. Neil Anderson and Wendy Horman, added a “trigger” mechanism to the funding for the LCSC building and the CAFÉ project, saying the money can be spent once the institutions attest that they’ve raised matching funds.

Martin said, “I think these are very important programs.” He said the “trigger” mechanism should serve as “an incentive to them to get going” because as soon as they’ve raised their matching funds, construction could start. “The money’s there.”

The budget still needs House and Senate passage and the governor’s signature to become law, but budget bills rarely change after they’re set by the joint committee.