A bill proposed by Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, calls for the state to pay down bond debt with part of the budget surplus.
Gannon is sponsoring the resolution to pay bonds issued in 1999 to build the Idaho Corrections Center.
The pay-off would cost the state $33.5 million. Gannon says the early pay-off would free up the $4 million the state makes as an annual payment.
"It's about a 4.5 percent interest bond, and so we save that interest every year over the next ten years," Gannon says. "We actually save about four million dollars a year, and then we can use that for something productive."
The bill is currently awaiting a committee hearing.
