Idaho

Decision instrument

State debt needs a law for one stated object, a way to pay it within 20 years, and a majority of the votes at a general election.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Idaho Constitution, Article VIII, Section 1. The way to pay the interest as it falls due, and the principal within 20 years, has to be exclusive of further loans, and that law cannot be repealed until both are paid. Money raised may be used only for the stated object or to pay that debt. War, an invasion, or an insurrection is the exception. Ordinary operating expenses are not covered, and neither is a debt repaid by the end of the fiscal year. A debt of an independent public body that cannot levy a tax and cannot obligate the general fund is not a debt of the state.

Debt statement

No Annual Debt Statement of the New Jersey kind. The statewide report for the year ended June 30, 2025, was not the record used here.

What yearly filing states gross debt, deductions, and how close the issuer is to its limit? The figures below are from the Idaho Housing and Finance Association’s own statements for June 30, 2025, the Bond Bank Authority’s own statements for the same day, and the State Treasurer’s official statement for the 2026 tax anticipation notes, dated June 23, 2026. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county, city, or school district may not borrow more than that year’s income unless two-thirds of the electors assent. A debt that breaks the rule is void.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Constitution, Article VIII, Section 3. Before or when the debt is incurred, an annual tax has to be provided for the interest and for a sinking fund that pays the principal within 30 years. Ordinary and necessary expenses authorized by general law are not covered. A city may, with a two-thirds vote, issue revenue bonds for parking, recreation, or an airport, paid only from the rates. Water, sewer, and a treatment plant may be financed with revenue bonds on a majority vote, also paid only from the rates, and those bonds are outside the limit. A port district may issue revenue bonds with no election. Those are payable only from revenues other than property taxes, and they are not a general obligation of the port.

Conflict rule

A legislator, and a state, county, city, district, or precinct officer, must not be interested in a contract that officer makes, or that the officer’s board makes.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? Idaho Code § 74-501. Section 18-1359(1)(d) states the same bar for a public servant, except as § 18-1361 allows. That exception is narrow. If fewer than three suppliers are within 15 miles, the contract can go forward for a disaster, or if it is the low bid, the officer takes no part in writing the specifications or in the vote, and the interest is disclosed in writing.

Geography

Forty-four counties.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? FIPS 16001 through 16087. Cities and school districts also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

Transportation expansion bonds, principal still to be paid: $1.179 billion. Not a debt of the state.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Idaho Housing and Finance Association statements, June 30, 2025. The debt-service schedule for the Transportation Expansion and Congestion Mitigation bonds totals $1,179,125,000. The Treasurer’s statement, as of July 1, 2025, says $1.18 billion remained of $1.19 billion issued. The Association has no taxing power. Neither the state nor a political subdivision is liable for the Association’s bonds.

Who pays the coupon

In fiscal 2026 the expansion-bond principal on that schedule is $17.7 million. Sales-tax transfers feed the fund. They are not the debt-service bill.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? The 2021 law moved $80 million a year of sales-tax receipts into the expansion fund. The 2025 session raised that transfer, by $20 million a year from 2026 through 2028, toward $140 million a year. The Treasurer’s statement of the fiscal 2026 sales-tax sequence caps the highway piece at $100 million for this fund, inside a $145 million distribution. That cap is not the principal due on the bonds. Grant anticipation bonds, paid from future federal highway aid and not from the general fund, show $40.4 million of principal in fiscal 2026 on the Association’s schedule.

Other obligors

Grant anticipation bonds: $483.8 million. Building Authority sales-tax school bonds: $888.5 million. Do not add them to the $1.179 billion.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Grant anticipation principal on the Association’s June 30 schedule is $483,840,000. The Treasurer’s statement says $483,300,000 was outstanding on July 1, 2025, of $1,364,480,000 issued. The general fund is not pledged. Building Authority bonds for leased facilities were $148,830,000 on July 1, 2025. Rent the state paid in fiscal 2025 was $14,366,359, and the leases are subject to annual appropriation. Sales-tax revenue bonds for school facilities were $888,465,000, payable from a continuous appropriation of $125 million a year of sales tax. The Building Authority’s own statement in that disclosure says its bonds are not a debt of the state and it has no taxing power. The Bond Bank’s revenue-bond principal was $163,635,000 on June 30, 2025, of which $12,670,000 was due within a year. Those bonds fund loans to local governments. Single-family mortgage bonds were $1.896 billion. The School Bond Guaranty Act covered $893,348,996 of school-bond principal. That is a guaranty, not a bond the state issued.

Book-entry wall

Cede & Co., at the Depository Trust Company.

Who is the registered owner on ordinary public paper? The Treasurer’s note statement is book-entry. Series-level confirmation of the highway and building issues still waits on each official statement. Beneficial owners stay unnamed.