The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee approved Governor Brad Little’s request today to allocate an additional $1.3 million to ensure essential government services continue as the state addresses the 2019 coronavirus pandemic.
A total of $800,000 is set aside to ensure state workers can more easily work from home. The money will be used to purchase additional bandwidth capacity, Virtual Private Network licenses for targeted employees, virtual desktop infrastructure for IT technicians, collaborative applications to facilitate meetings and related equipment such as web cameras and microphones, among other priorities.
A total of $500,000 ensures agencies can provide employees advanced sick leave and paid administrative leave to help prevent many employees from being out sick at the same time.
The funds come in addition to the $2 million that Governor Little and the Legislature transferred earlier this month to the Governor’s Emergency Fund to help combat coronavirus in the state. Governor Little signed a state emergency declaration last week, which opened up access to more resources for Idaho to fight coronavirus. In addition, the President’s federal emergency declaration also directs billions of dollars to the states to cover costs. (Idaho Governor Brad Little)
