Gov. Little keeps emergency fund used in Idaho homicides investigation

Yahoo

15-04-2025

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Idaho Gov. Brad Little hopes to retain control of more than half a million dollars in emergency funding after he rejected part of a bill lawmakers passed in the last few days of the legislative session.
Little signed off on the other elements of House Bill 482 but vetoed the line item Monday evening that would have eliminated the governor's emergency fund, by transferring the remaining $652,500 in the pool to the state's general fund.
In a news release Monday, Little pointed to his use of the funding in the past few years, which included his pledge to provide $1 million to support law enforcement with the homicide investigation of four University of Idaho students in Moscow. He also used the fund to pay for trips to the U.S.-Mexico border that he said helped his initiative to tackle the fentanyl crisis, Operation Esto Perpetua.
Little can use the fund in any emergency that the Legislature couldn't 'reasonably' foresee under state law. In his veto letter, the governor said eliminating the fund would have hindered the state's ability to respond to certain crises swiftly.
'I share the Legislature's vigor for ensuring government is efficient, but citizens expect government to be responsive in times of crisis,' Little said in his news release.
Lawmakers can typically override a governor's veto with another vote on the bill if the legislation receives two-thirds support from each chamber, though the Idaho Legislature ended this year's regular legislative session early this month. Lawmakers can call themselves back to the Capitol in Boise for special sessions with a petition signed by at least 60% of the House and Senate.
The rest of House Bill 482 remained intact and became law, Little said in his veto letter. That included transferring the remaining $37.8 million from a fund created to help public schools pay interest on bonds into the general fund.
The bill also included moving $1.1 million from the Constitutional Defense Fund into the Legislative Legal Defense Fund. Both pools of money have been used to fight lawsuits against the state. But the constitutional fund needs sign-off from leaders of both legislative chambers, the governor and attorney general. The use of the legislative fund needs approval only from legislative leaders.
Before police found Bryan Kohberger, the suspect accused of killing the four college students in November 2022, Little committed up to $1 million to help fund the sprawling investigation. About $435,000 from the fund was used to reimburse Idaho State Police and the Moscow Police Department, which had a total budget of $6.5 million in 2022.
Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of the college students, as well as one count of felony burglary. His murder trial is expected to start with jury selection in late July, and prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted.
The four victims were Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d'Alene; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.
Little, a University of Idaho alumnus, said the fund 'has been used to address serious unexpected situations that fall outside of a formally declared state of emergency,' including high-profile criminal cases.
Taxpayer costs for the Moscow homicides case have continued to climb as Kohberger awaits his chance for a defense at trial and remains jailed. The amount had already exceeded $3.6 million as of April 2024, with the University of Idaho shouldering the brunt of the cost, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.