BOISE, Idaho — This story originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
The audit report, done by the Legislative Services Office at the direction of the state’s budget-writing committee, found the deficiencies to be serious enough to warrant referral to the attorney general’s office.
Attorney General Raúl Labrador has already been embroiled in legal battles around an effort to gather information about the program to investigate alleged mishandling of the funds, which the state required be used only for programs for school-aged children, 5 to 13; the concerns stem from the fact that some of the funds went to pre-kindergarten programs.
In one recent decision, an Ada County district judge ruled that Labrador has a conflict of interest and cannot continue to pursue civil investigative demands, which are a kind of administrative subpoena, in his investigation of the department, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
The judge ruled that to continue pursuing the information, the office would need to appoint an independent special prosecutor.
Labrador in an emailed statement said of the report, “The (Legislative Services Office) report confirms that there were violations of Idaho law. The report records numerous serious violations and we welcome their referral under Idaho Code, Section 67-702(1)(e). We are now evaluating our next steps under both civil and criminal law.”
Labrador is involved in another legal challenge related to his office’s issuance of civil investigative demands to many of the recipients of the grants.
Greg Chaney, a lawyer representing more than 30 organizations that sued to end the civil demands, said in a statement that the report was “full of factual and legal errors.”
“Sadly, it seems that the auditors adopted the same flawed interpretation of the law that the Attorney General has embraced in the last few months,” Chaney wrote. “That would be the only way I can see that an auditor could conclude any of the Community Partner Grant recipients—or the Department of Health and Welfare for that matter—had violated the law.”
Chaney’s legal challenge has been appealed to the state Supreme Court.
At the center of much of the dispute is the language in the state law that authorized the health department to distribute the federal funds. The Legislature added language to the federal guidance that added the restriction to programs within the 5-to-13 age range — after the grants were distributed, lawmakers voiced concerns that preschool and pre-K programs that received the grant were ineligible under the state law.
Attorneys under previous Attorney General Lawrence Wasden had issued a legal memo on Nov. 30, 2022, that found, “The Department’s implementation of the CCDC program does not appear to violate federal and state guidelines.”
A similar opinion was released on Jan. 25, after Labrador took office, but the current attorney general has disavowed it.
During the legislative session, lawmakers reduced the health department’s budget by $14.4 million because of the reportedly ineligible grants that were distributed.
Gov. Brad Little in his April 5 transmittal letter wrote that although he signed the budget bill into law, he underscored he didn’t necessarily agree with this action.
“The order and meaning of words in appropriate language matter, not one’s subjective intent,” Little wrote. “Therefore, it is critical that language meant to place restrictions on appropriations are clear and unambiguous.”
Jeppesen in his statement said the department will "await the AG’s next step with confidence knowing the grants were distributed legally, as affirmed by his office. In addition, adequate controls were in place to ensure the grants went only to eligible purchases on behalf of eligible children."
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more at idahopress.com
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