Did Idaho's Department of Labor and Industrial Services need legislative appropriations each year before spending money in its dedicated electrical, plumbing, and building code fund accounts?
Opinion 85-7: Dedicated funds still go through annual appropriation
Plain-English summary
The Department of Labor and Industrial Services asked whether its three dedicated fund divisions (electrical board account, plumbing board account, and Idaho building code fund) needed to go through the annual budget and appropriation process before spending. The fund-creating statutes (§§ 39-4124, 54-1015, and 54-2630) all contained language stating that the moneys in the accounts were "perpetually appropriated" to the Department. The Attorney General concluded that, notwithstanding that language, chapter 35 of title 67 of the Idaho Code required the Department to follow the annual budgeting and appropriation process and limit fiscal year expenditures to the amount appropriated by the legislature. Reading the continuing-appropriation statutes alone might support skipping the process, but several specific provisions in chapter 35 (especially §§ 67-3514 and 67-3516) clearly anticipated annual appropriation bills covering continuing-appropriation funds.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1985. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Background and statutory framework
The Department of Labor and Industrial Services received funding from several sources, including three dedicated accounts created by Chapter 90, 1985 Sess. L.: the electrical board account (§ 54-1015), the plumbing board account (§ 54-2630), and the Idaho building code fund (§ 39-4124). Each fund-creating statute contained continuing-appropriation language. For example, § 54-2630 said the moneys in the plumbing board account were "set aside and perpetually appropriated to the department of labor and industrial services to carry into effect the provisions of this act."
Chapter 35 of title 67 sets up Idaho's annual budgeting and appropriation framework. Section 67-3503 requires each department to file annual reports of receipts and expenditures with the Division of Financial Management. Section 67-3505 sends that information into the executive budget process. Section 67-3507 requires that "[a]ll funds, including federal and local funds and interaccount receipts received for any purpose, shall be accounted for in the budget." Section 67-3514 specifically addresses departments operating "in part or in whole under a continuing appropriation or fund authorized by the legislature" and requires the Joint Finance/Appropriation Committee to prepare an appropriation bill covering all the requirements. Section 67-3516 makes appropriation acts "fixed budgets beyond which state officers, departments, bureaus and institutions may not expend," whether the appropriation is fixed or continuing.
What the AG concluded at the time
Continuing appropriations are constitutionally permissible
McConnel v. Gallet (1931) had already addressed the constitutional question. There is no constitutional bar to a continuing appropriation, provided the appropriation is limited to amounts in a special fund. So the dedicated accounts could be set up that way, and the legislature could even leave them on autopilot if it chose.
But chapter 35 requires going through the process anyway
Idaho's modern statutory framework supersedes the autopilot path. The plain text of §§ 67-3503, 67-3507, and especially 67-3514 contemplates that even continuing appropriations get rolled into annual appropriation bills. Section 67-3516 makes those bills "fixed budgets" the agency cannot exceed.
The legislative effect is to dedicate certain revenue streams (occupational licensing fees, etc.) for the exclusive use of the Department, while keeping the year-by-year spending level under legislative control.
Endowment exception does not apply
Section 67-3530 exempts certain continuing appropriations (such as those for endowment funds and endowment income funds) from chapter 35. The AG noted that no comparable carve-out applied to the Department's three dedicated accounts.
Common questions
Could the Department spend dedicated-fund money on items not covered in the annual appropriation bill?
No. Under § 67-3516, appropriation acts are fixed budgets that may not be exceeded. The Department had to operate within the appropriation, even when the underlying fund had a perpetual-appropriation statute.
Why have a perpetual appropriation if the legislature still has to appropriate annually?
The continuing-appropriation language preserves the dedicated nature of the fund. It tells the State Treasurer that the money is reserved for the Department's use, rather than reverting to the general fund or being available for reappropriation to other agencies. The annual process controls the actual spending level.
Did this opinion apply to other dedicated funds across state government?
The AG addressed the three Labor and Industrial Services accounts specifically, but the reasoning rests on general provisions of chapter 35. The same logic would apply to other continuing-appropriation funds unless covered by a specific exemption like § 67-3530.
Citations
- Idaho Code §§ 39-4124, 54-1015, 54-2630 — fund-creating statutes with continuing-appropriation language.
- Idaho Code §§ 67-3503, 67-3505, 67-3507, 67-3514, 67-3516 — chapter 35 budgeting and appropriation framework.
- Idaho Code § 67-3530 — endowment-fund carve-out.
- Chapter 90, 1985 Sess. L. — Department of Labor and Industrial Services funding structure.
- McConnel v. Gallet, 51 Idaho 386, 6 P.2d 143 (1931) — continuing appropriations constitutionally permissible when limited to a special fund.
Source
- Landing page: https://www.ag.idaho.gov/office-resources/opinions/
- Original PDF: https://ag.idaho.gov/content/uploads/2018/04/OP85-07.pdf
Original opinion text
Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.
STATE OF IDAHO
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
JIM JONES
ATTORNEY GENERAL
BOISE 83720
TELEPHONE (208) 334-2400
Attorney General No. 85-7
TO: Mr. Gary H. Gould
Director, Department of Labor and Industrial Services
STATEHOUSE MAIL
Per Request for Attorney General Opinion
QUESTION PRESENTED
Are dedicated fund divisions of the Department of Labor and Industrial Services required to go through the budgeting and appropriation procedures set out in title 67, ch. 35, Idaho Code, before expending the funds in the respective division's dedicated fund accounts? This question is posed because the provisions in the Idaho Code relative to those accounts (§§ 39-4124, 54-1015, and 54-2630) do contain language which suggests that the funds in these accounts may be perpetually appropriated to the Department.
CONCLUSION
The dedicated fund divisions of the Department of Labor and Industrial Services are required to go through the budgeting and appropriation procedures of ch. 35, title 67, Idaho Code, before expending the dedicated funds.
ANALYSIS
The Department of Labor and Industrial Services is funded from the general account, interaccount billings, the mine safety training grant account, and three dedicated accounts. Chapter 90, 1985 Sess. L. The three dedicated accounts include the electrical board account, the plumbing board account and the Idaho building code account. Each of these dedicated accounts receives funds from various fees that the Department charges.
The statutes creating the three dedicated accounts provide for continuing appropriations to the Department from those accounts. For example, Idaho Code § 54-2630, which creates the Idaho plumbing board account, provides in pertinent part:
All such moneys, hereafter placed in said account, are hereby set aside and perpetually appropriated to the department of labor and industrial services to carry into effect the provisions of this act.
Idaho Code §§ 39-4124 and 54-1015 create the Idaho building code fund and the electrical board account. Those code sections also contain continuing appropriation language nearly identical to the continuing appropriation language of Idaho Code § 54-2630 quoted above.
If the three continuing appropriation statutes were not modified by other statutory provisions, they would provide sufficient authority for the Department to spend funds of those accounts without the need for an annual appropriation bill. For example, in McConnel v. Gallet, 51 Idaho 386, 6 P.2d 143 (1931), the Idaho Supreme Court considered a similar continuing appropriation from the Adjutant General's contingent fund. The Court held that there is no constitutional inhibition against such continuing appropriation, provided the continuing appropriation is limited to amounts in a special fund of the state.
Thus, if there were no other statutes providing for annual budgeting and appropriation of funds that have been continually appropriated, there would be no necessity to go through the annual budgeting and appropriation procedures. However, as discussed below, ch. 35, title 67, Idaho Code, requires annual budgeting and appropriation of continually appropriated funds.
Several sections of ch. 35, title 67, Idaho Code, require agencies receiving continuing appropriations to comply with the annual budgeting and appropriation process. Idaho Code § 67-3503 provides in pertinent part:
Each department, office and institution . . . shall, not later than the 15th day of August . . . prepare and file in the office of the administrator of the division [of financial management] . . . its report of receipts from all sources, including appropriations made by the legislature, its expenditures of all sums received from all sources, segregated as provided for in the blanks, and its estimates of receipts and expenditures for the current and succeeding fiscal years. [Emphasis added]
Following receipt of the foregoing information, the administrator of the division of financial management submits to the governor and the Joint Finance/Appropriation Committee information for the budget, pursuant to Idaho Code § 67-3505.
The governor is then required to submit the executive budget to the legislature. Pursuant to Idaho Code § 67-3507 the executive budget must include detailed information as to the needs of the various departments for the next fiscal year, and provides:
All funds, including federal and local funds and interaccount receipts received for any purpose, shall be accounted for in the budget. [emphasis added]
The foregoing sections reflect a legislative intention to deal with all sources of funding as part of the annual appropriation process.
Idaho Code § 67-3514 deals with the responsibility of the Joint Finance/Appropriation Committee in preparation of appropriation bills and deals specifically with continuing appropriations. That section provides in pertinent part:
[P]roviding further, that for any department, office, or institution operating in part or in whole under a continuing appropriation or fund authorized by the legislature, the joint committees of the legislature having jurisdiction or appropriations shall, after examining the budget, prepare and introduce appropriation bills covering all the requirements of the respective departments, offices, and institutions of the state operating under each such continuing appropriation.
Thus, the Joint Finance/Appropriation Committee is required to prepare an appropriation bill covering all the requirements of departments, such as the Department of Labor and Industrial Services, which operate in part under a continuing appropriation or fund authorized by the legislature.
Finally, Idaho Code § 67-3516 provides in pertinent part:
Appropriation acts when passed by the legislature of the state of Idaho, and allotments made thereunder, whether the appropriation is fixed or continuing, are fixed budgets beyond which state officers, departments, bureaus and institutions may not expend. (Emphasis added)
The foregoing statutes clearly require department such as the Department of Labor and Industrial Services to follow the annual budgeting and appropriation process of ch. 35, title 67, Idaho Code, and to limit fiscal year expenditures to the amount appropriated by the annual appropriation bill. The effect of the legislature's creation of the three dedicated accounts for the department is to set aside and dedicate certain revenues for the exclusive use of the department. However, the amount of such revenue that can be expended in any fiscal year is controlled by the legislature through the annual appropriation process.
We note that certain continuing appropriations, such as those regarding endowment funds or endowment income funds are exempted from the provisions of ch. 35, title 67 (Idaho Code § 67-3530). However, there is no comparable exception applicable to the dedicated funds of the Department of Labor and Industrial Services.
AUTHORITIES CONSIDERED:
Idaho Code § 39-4124
Idaho Code § 54-1015
Idaho Code § 54-2630
Idaho Code § 67-3503
Idaho Code § 67-3505
Idaho Code § 67-3507
Idaho Code § 67-3514
Idaho Code § 67-3516
Idaho Code § 67-3530
McConnel v. Gallet, 51 Idaho 386, 6 P.2d 143 (1931)
DATED this 31st day of December, 1985.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
State of Idaho
ANALYSIS BY:
DAVID G. HIGH
Deputy Attorney General
Chief, Business Affairs and State Finance Division