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Read. Follow. Verify.Idaho Legislature appropriates $20.8 million to Department of Health and Welfare for fiscal year 2027
Last action · March 27, 2026: Recommitted to Finance
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What This Bill Proposed
APPROPRIATIONS – HEALTH AND WELFARE – EARLY LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT, YOUTH SAFETY AND PERMANENCY, AND FAMILY AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS – Relates to the appropriation to the Department of Health and Welfare for fiscal year 2027.
Allocates state and federal dollars to expand child care availability, home-based care, and foster assistance payments while establishing spending restrictions and reporting requirements for state health programs.
- The Idaho Legislature enacts annual appropriations bills to fund state agencies such as the Department of Health and Welfare for the upcoming fiscal year. context
- The Cooperative Welfare Fund is the primary state accounting fund used by Idaho to receive and disburse state and federal welfare and health program moneys. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Department of Health and Welfare
Receives additional appropriations, authorized full-time positions, reporting requirements, and transfer limitation exemptions.
Child care providers
Eligible to receive contracts, programs, and grants to expand licensed, license-exempt, and home-based child care capacity.
Foster children and underserved populations
Targeted for reserved funding under the Idaho Child Care Program capacity grants.
Key Facts
- Appropriates a grand total of $20,862,800 in additional moneys to the Department of Health and Welfare for fiscal year 2027.
- Allocates $4,842,800 to the Division of Early Learning and Development, including $600,000 from the Cooperative Welfare General Fund.
- Appropriates $16,000,000 to the Idaho Child Care Program for fiscal year 2027.
- Allocates $20,000 to the Southwest Idaho Treatment Center from dedicated and federal funds.
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- Appropriates $681,900 to the Division of Youth Safety and Permanency, including $250,000 for youth safety and $431,900 for foster and assistance payments.
- Appropriates $180,000 to the Division of Family and Community Partnerships for the Kinship Navigation Grant.
- Increases full-time equivalent position authorization for the Division of Early Learning and Development by 8.00 positions.
- Reappropriates up to $14,000,000 of unexpended and unencumbered balances for the Idaho Child Care Program for nonrecurring expenditures.
- Requires the Department of Health and Welfare to submit a report on outcomes and return on investment for the Idaho Home Visiting Program to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee by December 31, 2026.
- Reserves no less than $9 million of child care capacity funding for home-based child care, out-of-school child care programs, and underserved children.
- Prohibits child care capacity funds from being used for construction, major renovations, minor remodeling, school districts, or providers under investigation or previously found guilty of fraud or misuse of public funds.
- Grants transfer limitation exemptions for personnel costs and trustee and benefit payments for the Divisions of Early Learning and Development and Youth Safety and Permanency.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much total additional money is appropriated by this bill?
What are the restrictions on child care capacity funding?
When is the report for the Idaho Home Visiting Program due?
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News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · on the Senate floor.
Procedural history
5 actions- Mar 27, 2026Recommitted to Finance
- Mar 26, 2026Read second time; filed for Third Reading
- Mar 25, 2026Reported out of Committee with Do Pass Recommendation; Filed for second reading
- Mar 25, 2026CommitteeReported Printed; referred to Finance
- Mar 24, 2026IntroducedIntroduced; read first time; referred to JR for Printing
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Connected Entities
Sources
legislature.idaho.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy20Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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