NOVEMBER REPORT
Let’s start things off with some exciting news about the BB&A team. Early last month, Katie Wheeler joined the firm as senior associate for government affairs. We’re thrilled to have her on board – for so many reasons. At the top of the list is the fact she brings a real drive and passion to help our clients navigate and understand the workings of state government, and her knowledge in this area is due to her previous leadership roles as the Bureau Chief for the Administrative Bureau at the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses.
Katie also excels at supporting professionals in crisis and helping them navigate the path toward long-term recovery. As the former leader of the Health Professionals Recovery Program, she brings years of hands-on experience in behavioral health. Please welcome Katie to the team. We’re confident you’ll enjoy getting to know her and collaborating with her in the future.
Ok, let’s take a look under the hood of state government. Interim legislative committees are wrapping up their offseason work. The DOGE committee – created to find efficiencies and savings in state government, agencies and spending – met once again, this time with an eye on eliminating state employee jobs and consolidating or getting rid of the hundreds of state boards and commissions that have been created in recent decades. The committee is likely to meet again in the coming weeks before presenting a list of recommendations to the Legislature next year.
The Medicaid Advisory Committee gathered for its quarterly meeting in October and the top of the agenda featured a review of the recent 4 percent cut in reimbursement rates to providers across the state. We’ve mentioned this before as part of the overall tightening of the state budget belt, but one interesting takeaway is that the public comment period on the reimbursement cuts drew more than 3,000 comments, a record for public engagement on any issue at the agency. It’s clear there is concern statewide about revenue and spending decisions made here in Boise.
Since we’re talking about state spending, we’d be remiss not to point out a new online tool legislators can use to perform a deep, analytical dive on budgets across the state government footprint. The new, so-called “base builder tool” is designed to give lawmakers the ability to poke around and examine base budget spending. Typically, base budgets don’t get the same level of scrutiny as new programmatic spending. But this is about to change, and it’s our expectation that the new tool will give lawmakers – especially those on the appropriations committee – the gumption to question spending decisions and priorities within every agency and department.
It's Election Day in cities across the state tomorrow. We always keep a keen eye on developments at the local level, especially in some of the bigger cities where it’s important to build or maintain relationships on behalf of our clients. Tomorrow we’ll be tracking results for city council races in cities like Boise, Nampa, Meridian, Eagle, Caldwell, Lewiston, and more. For those keeping track, it’s also worth noting the increased frequency in campaign fundraisers for legislative candidates. Hardly a day goes by that we don’t receive an invitation from an incumbent or challenger running for House and Senate seats.
Finally, Jason Lehosit, a longtime fixture in Idaho’s political landscape is changing jobs. For the last three years, Lehosit has served as a Deputy Secretary of State to Idaho’s own Secretary of State Phil McGrane. Lehosit’s influence in the office has led to significant and positive changes in election and campaign finance transparency, among other reforms and initiatives. In his new role, Lehosit will lead Americans for Prosperity, a national conservative political advocacy group we expect will wield significant influence. It’s nice to know the godfather of Idaho campaigns is back in the private sector.
As always, with the 2026 Legislature fast approaching, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team with questions, ideas or concerns.
