We have now concluded the main run of the 2019 legislative session and we have fulfilled our duty to pass a balanced budget for South Dakota. We will return to Pierre for the very last legislative day later this month to consider any final Veto’s from the Governor. The Governor did veto two bills before we left Pierre and we did already consider both of those bills and unless she veto's any more bills we just have some housekeeping items to take care of on Veto Day.

Now a few highlights for the FY2020 budget that I think should be noted. We have been hearing for quite some time now that we need to better fund Nursing Homes if we want to try to prevent furtherclosures. In January Governor Noem proposed a 5% increase for Nursing homes during her budget address and we heard from our folks back home, that would not be enough. I am proud to say that we were able to focus on Nursing Homes and provide for a 10% increase in funding going forward and not just in FY2020. Through a focused effort by the legislature this increase will start flowing in April of this year and should really help to prevent any more facilities from closing in the short term. However, this 10% bump in funding only accounts for about a third of the total need in increased funding that Nursing Homes need, it's just too much to do all at one time. Additionally, many have begun asking questions are we providing quality affordable care to those who need it? Governor Noem is trying to answer this question by asking for $5M for long term innovation grants, which we did approve. This will allow for folks that have new ideas on how to better provide long term care to come to the table and share those ideas. In the long term we hope that we can lower the cost of long term care through innovation while raising the quality of care at the same time.

Through this year's budget we are also able to tackle a few other obstacles, such as needs for State Employees. State Employees this year will be seeing a 2.5% Market Adjustment as well as we have funded state employee health plans to eliminate the possibility of having an employee premiums. We also were able to follow through with another large request from the Community Support Providers as we have given them a 6.5% bump which should help take care of a large part of what they need to keep things running smoothly. Furthermore, Education will see a 2.5% increase as per state law requires which will raise the average teacher salary to $50,360.26. Altogether, I believe the FY2020 budget will greatly benefit the people of South Dakota.

If you have any questions for me during the summer please contact me as this is the best time to be able to work on legislation for next year, my cell is 605.933.2042 and my email Caleb.Finck@SDLegislature.Gov.

I wish everyone the best and may God Bless South Dakota!