The Idaho House of Representatives voted Friday to approve next year’s budget for the embattled Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
House Bill 460 is a 2026 budget enhancement for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
Vocational Rehabilitation is a state/federal program that seeks to help people with disabilities secure and retain employment, according to the division’s website. At the time that the division’s financial troubles came to light last year, Vocational Rehabilitation was serving about 8,000 Idahoans with disabilities.
A year ago, at the very end of the 2024 legislative session, the former administrator of Vocational Rehabilitation suddenly told the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that the division was out of money and would be unable to pay its bills, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC, is a powerful legislative committee that sets the budgets for every state agency and department every year.
Federal government notified the state of Idaho that grant was considered high risk
Since the financial problems came to light publicly, the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration (which is part of the U.S. Department of Education) notified the state that the Vocational Rehabilitation grant was considered high risk because of significant concerns about the division’s financial accountability, the Sun previously reported.
In September, the Sun reported Vocational Rehabilitation was offered $10 million in emergency federal funding to help the division pay for people the division has already committed to helping. In order to fully access the federal funds, Idaho would need to provide $2.7 million in state funds.
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Fast forward to Friday, and House Bill 460 provides $35,000 in additional funding for the fiscal year 2026 budget for interpreter services and a one-time $4.4 million supplemental funding appropriation for the current fiscal year 2025 budget.
The supplemental funding includes $2.7 million as a state match to allow Vocational Rehabilitation to access $10 million in emergency federal funds intended to help the agency stay afloat and $1.7 million for client services that have already been provided but are not eligible for federal reimbursement.
Idaho’s state government runs on a fiscal year calendar. The current 2025 fiscal year ends June 30, and the 2026 fiscal year begins July 1.
Rep. Wendy Horman, an Idaho Falls Republican who serves as co-chair of JFAC, acknowledged the division’s financial concerns Friday and said Vocational Rehabilitation is under new leadership.
“I must give praise to the interim director, who stepped into a difficult situation and is trying to make sense of what’s going on, but it’s a very complicated situation,” Horman said.
Without any debate, the Idaho House voted 49-20 to pass the Vocational Rehabilitation budget bill.
House Bill 460 heads next to the Idaho Senate for consideration.
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