Rating: –1

Bill Summary:

Senate Bill 1161 appropriates an additional $30,000 from the Miscellaneous Revenue Fund to the Office of Species Conservation for fiscal year 2026. The funds are designated for operating expenditures and do not include personnel or capital costs. The bill includes an emergency clause and is effective July 1, 2025.

Reason for Rating:
S1161 expands funding for a bureaucratic agency engaged in regulatory and environmental oversight without implementing any structural reforms or performance accountability. The Office of Species Conservation operates in a policy space prone to federal overreach and environmental regulation that can threaten private land use and economic development. This bill increases that office’s resources without safeguards, reductions, or offsetting efficiencies. Regardless of the appropriation’s relatively small size, it violates the Idaho Republican Party Platform’s commitment to reducing unnecessary programs, limiting government growth, and defending property rights against creeping regulatory expansion. Therefore, it warrants a negative rating.