This bill appropriates $3,700 from the Endowment Earnings Administrative Fund to the Endowment Fund Investment Board for fiscal year 2027. The funds are designated for capital outlay expenses between July 1, 2026, and June 30, 2027. The legislation declares an emergency to allow immediate implementation of the appropriation starting July 1, 2026.
Idaho's H 760 revises property tax exemptions for low-income housing owned by nonprofit organizations. It requires qualifying nonprofits to meet specific criteria, including federal 501(c)(3) status and ensuring no private benefit from tax exemptions. The bill mandates that 55% of units must rent to residents earning ≤60% of local median income, 20% to those earning ≤50%, and 25% to those earning ≤30%, with annual compliance reports to counties. It also adds protections preventing evictions for three months after certified medical emergencies and prohibits the exemption for properties with financing closed by July 1, 2026, unless undergoing rehabilitation.
This bill appropriates approximately $25.9 million to Idaho's Department of Fish and Game for fiscal year 2027, covering administration, enforcement, fisheries, wildlife, and communications programs. The funding comes from state, federal, and other dedicated funds, with specific amounts allocated to personnel costs, operating expenditures, and capital outlays. The legislation also allows the department to use any unspent money from fiscal year 2026 for nonrecurring expenses in the following year. An emergency provision sets the effective date as July 1, 2026.
This bill allocates funding and authorizes new positions for Idaho's Office of Information Technology Services for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. It provides approximately $10.7 million in total funding across personnel, operating, and capital costs from the General Fund, Administration and Accounting Services Fund, and Federal Grant Fund. The legislation also increases the office's authorized workforce by 59.5 full-time equivalent positions for 2027 and an additional 0.5 position for 2026 to support the E-CORE Federal Grant program.
H 642 adjusts Idaho's public safety officer retirement benefits to ensure consistency between catastrophic injury and death benefits. It increases the lump-sum death benefit for surviving spouses or dependent children to $500,000 (matching the existing catastrophic injury benefit) and adds an annual pension of $75,000 for surviving spouses. The bill specifically affects surviving spouses and dependent children of police officers and firefighters who die in the line of duty due to catastrophic injuries. Benefits will be funded solely through public safety officers' pension contributions, with no tax on the payments. The legislation repeals outdated death benefit provisions and defines "catastrophic injury" through specific medical criteria.
This bill revises Idaho's sales tax rebate program for developers of retail complexes. It allows developers to receive a 60% rebate on sales taxes collected by qualified retailers within their complex, provided the developer spent at least $4 million on approved transportation improvements (like highway projects costing over $5 million). The rebate is paid from a new "demonstration pilot project fund" and capped at $35 million per transportation project. This directly affects developers building retail complexes who make qualifying transportation investments, not the retailers or general consumers.
Idaho's H 645, the Portable Benefit Plan Act, creates a system for independent contractors to access portable benefits through accounts funded by hiring parties. It allows companies to contribute to these accounts (without reclassifying workers as employees) and specifies that contributions are fully deductible as a business expense for hiring parties and excluded from taxable income for contractors. The bill establishes clear definitions, administration rules for benefit accounts, and tax treatment, effective July 1, 2026. It directly affects independent contractors (who gain access to benefits like health, retirement, and disability insurance) and hiring parties (who can voluntarily fund these accounts). The law does not change worker classification status but provides tax advantages for both parties.
This bill modifies Idaho's budget limit rules for taxing districts, allowing them to request property tax revenue increases under specific conditions. It primarily affects local governments such as cities, fire protection districts, and other taxing entities by adjusting how much they can raise in property taxes for their annual budgets. The key changes include allowing a maximum budget increase of 8% for most districts, with a 15% limit for smaller cities under 30,000 people, and creating a mechanism for districts to recover previously unused budget increases in future years. The bill also clarifies calculations for new construction and annexed property, while excluding school district levies from these limits.
This bill revises how Idaho distributes transportation funding from the Highway Distribution Account. It gradually increases the share going to local governments (from 38% to 40% by 2025) while increasing the state highway account share (from 57% to 60%), and eliminates the law enforcement account's allocation. Crucially, it removes a restriction preventing fuel tax revenues (including fees from electric/hybrid vehicles) from being used for highway funding. These changes adjust existing fund distribution formulas without creating new taxes or programs.
H 733 revises Idaho's tax code for partnerships and S corporations (now called "affected business entities") by requiring these entities to pay tax on behalf of non-resident members instead of individual members filing returns. The bill adds new rules for calculating tax based on Idaho-sourced income, sets deadlines for annual elections to qualify as an affected business entity, and creates a new section (63-3070) to handle partnership income and federal adjustments. Non-resident members of such entities will not need to file individual tax returns if the entity pays the tax and reports it. The bill also updates technical provisions for tax notices, deadlines, and credit adjustments. These changes streamline tax collection for businesses with non-resident owners while maintaining Idaho's corporate tax rate for entity-level payments.
