WEEK NINE LEGISLATIVE REPORTS

The legislature is now in recess until Veto Day on March 30th. This past week, as I stated in my previous newsletter, was the ultimate test for where the appropriations committee was when it comes to asking each member to “Put your money where your mouth campaigned” as we battled it out over some spending line items in our on-going budget. Unfortunately, I must report that there should be quite a few less candidates running for re-election claiming the title “conservative,” especially those on record in appropriations. To give an example of the ridiculousness of this last week I will share a couple of the instances. The first one has to do with proper state budgeting practices. During budget hearings earlier in session, the Department of Ag and Natural Resources Secretary presented his budget which included a reduction for a program elimination, however it was not a full reduction of the amount that was originally appropriated for this program. When questioned about it the answer was, admittedly, that they had absorbed the remaining dollars and an FTE into the budget. This is not proper budgeting practice. It is deceptive, not transparent, and is how the budget gets padded and bloated. Senator Taffy Howard made sure to bring the motion sheet to remove the remaining funds from that program that was to be eliminated. In committee we had just enough votes the first time around to pass Howard’s motion sheet. Then came the governor and the Secretary in an uproar. They admitted the budgeting practice was not proper but convinced enough appropriators to cave and give them the money back. This was not the only Department that this happened with. The second test was over TANF. (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) Last year the appropriations committee approved a fund swap to begin a glide slope down reducing the benefit amount to take the state share of the program back down to the federally required MOE (maintenance of effort.) South Dakota was at one of the highest benefit amounts compared to surrounding states. As more federal programs are cut or shifted onto the states we need to begin making responsible, targeted cuts to keep up with our mandatory obligations. Unfortunately, the changes that were made by the Secretary and approved in appropriations and in Rules Review over the interim were just undone with the majority of appropriators voting to restore the state share. The state is also now going to pick up the tab for all local school lunch programs for those who qualify for the reduced priced meals, expanding state role yet again to subsidize a federal program. This funding was sold to legislators as a decision between starving kids whose parents couldn’t pay and the state paying, when in reality, no kid is starving at the schools. The schools pick up the costs and either cover it or donors help cover it. After working to bring suggested reductions, cuts, and right-sizing options to the table all session and then seeing certain members in appropriations not only fail to stand strong and fight for those items in the last week, but to actually go along with the increases, was indeed disappointing. The passed budget included an $80million increase in General Funds, which a large percentage will be contributed to the 1.4% inflationary increase for Medicaid providers, state employees, and education, along with the FMAP change, which increased the state share of the Medicaid costs. On a more positive note, the work groups this session delivered a more dialed in target for Medicaid utilization and education enrollment, which should result in less one-time dollars next fiscal year for the governor and legislature to fight over for all their spending ideas. We accomplished a great deal of right sizing that has not been done in over eight years as well. This resulted in a reduction of 121 Unutilized FTE, $58.2 million in Federal Fund Authority, and $32.5 million in Other Fund Authority. I am happy to discuss any of the votes from appropriations.