On Tuesday, February 16, at 8:00 am the SD Joint Committee on Appropriations has a lot of bills on the agenda. This is compiled using the agenda at the time of composing this post. Agendas can and do change!
One way to listen to these meetings live is via the audio links on the Schedule page of the LRC website. While there you can also view the status board for the meetings as they are going on.
*** The two bills to really keep an eye on is HB 1130, which is an alternate plan to fund teacher pay, and SB 160, which is a stealth pay increase for legislators and even greater pay increase for legislative leadership.
HB 1130 (SoDakLiberty Posts) – Dedicate revenue from video lottery for the purpose of supplementing teachers’ salaries, to establish a teacher salary enhancement fund, to transfer certain moneys to that fund, and to make an appropriation therefor.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: Rep Lance Russell (R, Dist 30) and Sen Brock Greenfield (R, Dist 2) are the prime sponsors.
This is Rep Russell’s alternative to increasing sales tax in order to increase teacher pay. I like the plan because it doesn’t raise taxes, ensures the money goes to the teachers, and forces the state to cut other areas of the budget.
Currently all of the states share of money from video lottery goes into the general fund (remember that promise it would pay for education and then the crazy scheme to do so by paying property tax reduction?). This bill would change that and have the money deposited into the teacher salary enhancement fund. That fund is also created via this bill. If the fund collects over $75 million in a school year, that extra money goes to the general fund.
The money in that fund will be distributed equally between all “certified instructional teachers employed in public school districts”. The money will get distributed to each school district based up on the number of qualified teachers that district has. The school districts then have 30 days to get that money to the teachers.
Section 4 is a section I think is really good. At the end of each fiscal year any money that is not obligated to go anywhere will be deposited into the teacher salary enhancement fund. Currently part of that goes to reserves and some of it goes to the Governor’s economic development play fund,
Section 5 gives the teacher salary enhancement fund $7,426,643 immediately from the budget reserve.
Section 6 gives the teacher salary enhancement fund $3,500,000 immediately from the petroleum release compensation fund.
Section 7 gives the teacher salary enhancement fund $3,375,000 immediately from the South Dakota risk pool fund.
Section 8 gives the teacher salary enhancement fund $4,957,509 immediately from the Department of Corrections.
Section 9 basically says to pay for video lottery revenue being diverted away from the general fund there will be a cut in all other budgetary items, with a few exclusions.
I love this approach much better than the Governors proposed tax increase. There are maybe some items that need to be worked out on the exclusions. But overall I think this is a much better proposal. This is the proposal the teachers should be gathering for in Pierre.
HB 1203 (SoDakLiberty Posts) – Pay off bonds and make certain other changes necessary to effectuate a tuition freeze by the Board of Regents and the technical institutes, to make an appropriation therefor, and to declare an emergency.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: The Committee on Appropriations is the prime sponsor at the request of the Office of the Governor.
This was mentioned by the Governor in his budgetary address as his way to freeze tuition. The money saved by paying off the bonds can then be used to freeze tuition. My only problem with this is it does nothing to address the rising costs that cause tuition to go up.
SB 92 (SoDakLiberty Posts) – Continue a math pilot project at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, to make an appropriation therefor, and to declare an emergency.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: Sen Terri Haverly (R, Dist 35) and Rep Jeff Partridge (R, Dist 34) are the prime sponsors.
This would appropriate $250,000 to the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology for the continuation of the 2015 math pilot project.
SB 150 (SoDakLiberty Posts) – Provide for additional interns for the minority party under certain circumstances.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: Sen Billie Sutton (D, Dist 21) and Rep Julie Bartling (D, Dist 21) are the prime sponsors.
Apparently the Democrats in Pierre don’t have enough interns. I’ll have to listen to testimony on this one.
SB 160 (SoDakLiberty Posts) – Provide for per diem for constituent service, leadership service, and service on certain standing committees and to declare an emergency.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: Sen Deb Peters (R, Dist 9) and Rep Mark Willadsen (R, Dist 11) are the prime sponsors.
Before going on I’ll say state two things:
- I believe legislative pay should be raised. That would potentially allow more working class people to actually serve in Pierre.
- This bill is NOT the way to do that!
This is basically a pay raise for legislators without calling it that. It also gives an even greater pay raise for certain legislators.
First this bill would give $500 per month from April to December to cover “constituent services expenses”. That equates to an extra $4500 per year for legislators. That would make their total base pay $10,500 per year, plus per diem.
Second the bill would give an additional $500 per month from April to December to the following positions:
- House majority leader
- assistant House majority leader
- speaker of the House
- speaker pro tem of the House
- House minority leader
- assistant House minority leader
- president pro tempore of the Senate
- Senate majority leader
- assistant Senate majority leader
- Senate minority leader
- assistant Senate minority leader
- all Senate members appointed to the appropriations committee
- all House members appointed to the appropriations committee
That would increase the base pay for the legislators listed above to $15,000.
The addition of members of appropriations getting extra pay is interesting, since the prime sponsor on the Senate side happens to be the chair of Senate Appropriations.
Not only is the above stealth pay raise being asked for, this bill has an emergency clause so it can take effect after being signed into law.
This is NOT the way to raise legislators pay. Yes, that needs to be done. But not like this…
SB 161 (SoDakLiberty Posts) – Lower the state sales and use tax on certain food items and to increase the rate of taxation for the sales and use tax on certain goods and services.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: Sen Angie Buhl O’Donnell (D, Dist 15) and Rep Ray Ring (D, Dist 17) are the prime sponsors.
This is the yearly attempt to get rid of tax on food. If this bill passed there would be 0 state sales tax on food items. All other items would raise from 4% to “four and thirty-five hundredths percent”.
This bill is DOA so I’ll stop looking at it and move on to other bills.
SB 166 (SoDakLiberty Posts) – Make an appropriation to the aeronautics commission and to declare an emergency.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: Sen Brock Greenfield (R, Dist 2) and Rep Lana Greenfield (R, Dist 2) are the prime sponsors.
This would appropriate $3,033,581 to the aeronautics commission for the purpose of airport improvements. This was tabled last year when the prime sponsor Sen Greenfield was out with an injury. That was SB 157 (SoDakLiberty Posts).
If I remember correctly this aeronautics commission money was not new money. It was money that existed there before, and was taken to use for other appropriations items. This would then backfill what was taken previously.
If I’m remembering that wrong I’ll find out in committee testimony.
BILLS FOR POSSIBLE ACTION WHICH HAVE HAD PRIOR HEARING.
HB 1007 (SoDakLiberty Posts) –Make an appropriation to revise and update the values and methods used to determine the agricultural land production capacity and to declare an emergency.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: Rep Mary Duvall (R, Dist 24) and Sen Jim Peterson (D, Dist 4) are the prime sponsors on behalf of the Agricultural Land Assessment Implementation and Oversight Advisory Task Force.
Here is what I said when the bill was prefiled:
Here is how this legislation was explained during the December 7 Task Force meeting:
Mr. Baatz stated that the draft proposes a general fund appropriation of $175,000 for the purpose of requesting South Dakota State University’s (SDSU) Department of Economics to conduct research concerning the data and methods used to determine the agricultural land production capacity and update the data used in the soil tables.
There was a lot of support from public testimony for this legislation. Last year this legislation failed on the Senate floor 16-18. That was SB 4 (SoDakLiberty Posts), which asked for $151,000 (although Senate Appropriations reduced it to $1 as they like to do).
SB 75 (SoDakLiberty Posts) – Establish a grant program for adult community residential services designed to reduce the risk of recidivism, to provide a report to the Legislature, and to make an appropriation therefor.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: Sen Larry Tidemann (R, Dist 7) and Rep Jean Hunhoff (R, Dist 18) are the prime sponsors.
Section 1 of the bill explains the grant:
There is hereby established the alternative care program to be administered by the Unified Judicial System. The Unified Judicial System shall award grants to nonprofit entities within the state of South Dakota that provide indigent adults with extended residential alternative care programs designed to reduce the risk of recidivism. The grants shall be awarded for room and board costs for South Dakota residents of the program with a maximum award of thirty dollars per day per resident. Any grant award shall be distributed in quarterly installments.
This bill appropriates $250,000 to start the program.
SB 114 (SoDakLiberty Posts) – Make an appropriation for certain costs related to the commissioning of the USS South Dakota and to declare an emergency.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: Sen Corey Brown (R, Dist 23) and Rep Roger Hunt (R, Dist 25) are the prime sponsors.
This has had a prior hearing. Here is what I said before that hearing:
This would appropriate $100,000 for the following:
to the Department of the Military to support activities related to the commissioning of the USS South Dakota-SSN 790, educate the people of South Dakota about the nuclear-powered submarine, and sponsor visits of the submarine’s crew to South Dakota
To learn more about the USS South Dakota-SSN 790 watch theHouse or Senate floor video from last Thursday.
HB 1015 (SoDakLiberty Posts) – Authorize the Department of Human Services to dismantle and demolish buildings and to restore the demolition site to its natural state on the South Dakota Developmental Center campus, to make an appropriation therefor, and to declare an emergency.
SoDakLiberty Stance: Undecided
Prime Sponsors: The Committee on Appropriations is the prime sponsor at the request of the Department of Human Services.
HB 1208 would appear to be a companion to HB 1015 (SoDakLiberty Posts), which would demolish old buildings at the South Dakota Developmental Centers in Redfield.
This bill would allow the state to sell land currently in the control of the South Dakota Developmental Centers, including possibly selling land the to be demolished buildings are on. The sale of that land will be used for the South Dakota Developmental Center.
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